Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

‘ârûwm - עָרוּם (Strong's #6175)
Crafty

"Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1, NKJ)

In its first use in Genesis 3:1 the original King James Version rendered the word ‘ârûwm עָרוּם "subtil", like the French, Middle French soutil, Middle English sotil/sutil and Latin subtilis - literally sub + tela, referring to the cloth on a loom and having to do with weaving. So it involved craft in the sense of manufacture rather than craft in the sense of cleverness or craftiness. Yet this is where craftiness comes from, cleverness and ability and design.

Of the 11 occurrences of ‘ârûwm עָרוּם (Strong's #6175) just the one is rendered "subtil", the remainder are covered by "prudent" x8 and "crafty" x2 in the KJV whilst the NAS translates 3 of them as "sensible" and 1 as "shrewd" and chooses "crafty" here.

The Latin Vulgate translated it as callidior "crafty", in this instance, a word deriving from callere "to be thick-skinned, hardened, practiced", and from which we derive "callous" and the rarely used word "callid".

So is the serpent "crafty", "sensible", "subtle", or just good at needlework? It was certainly able to "weave" a good tale and convince Eve to doubt God.

The root verb ‘âram עָרַם (Strong's #6191) can be taken two ways. It only occurs 5 times, twice in Proverbs (15:5; 19:25) where it is used to good intent and twice in 1 Samuel 23:22 where the import is negative as it is in Psalm 83:3 [Heb.v4]. It can mean "to uncover" or "make naked", or "make manifest", which is exactly what the serpent ultimately did, finally causing the most famous fig-leaf "cover-up" of all time once Adam and Eve realised their nakedness.

Indeed, the Hebrew wordplay between Genesis 3:1 and the preceding verse 2:25, given that the chapter and verse divisions are not original, portrays the full contrast between Adam and Eve's, "And they were both naked...", innocence, rendered by the Hebrew ‘ârôwm עָרוֹם (Strong's #6174) and the following "naked nastiness" of the serpent described by ‘ârûwm עָרוּם.

Apart from Genesis 3:1 every other reference to ‘ârûwm עָרוּם is found in either Job or Proverbs. In Job, probably older than Proverbs and more contemporary with the writing of Genesis (to some traditional scholars, at least), the word is generally negative referring to the "devices of the crafty" (Job 5:12) and the "tongue of the crafty" (Job 15:5). By contrast, every reference in Proverbs (12:16, 23; 13:16; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3; 27:12) is positive and is more appropriately translated as "prudent" or "wise". Indeed, had Eve the same ‘ârûwm עָרוּם as the serpent she would have followed Solomon's advice "A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself; The simple pass on and are punished." (22:3; 27:12) and hidden herself from the serpent's cunning rather than from God's coming.

Curiously, Jesus commands his disciples to be as "cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16), using the same Greek word as used to translate ‘ârûwm עָרוּם in the Greek Septuagint Old Testament of Genesis 3:1.

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