18-19 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. (Or 'from these the whole earth was populated'.)

20-21 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22-23 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backwards and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backwards, and they did not see their father's nakedness. Genesis 9:18-23 English Standard Version

Today's verses will seem silly to many people in the times we live in. This is an age where people flaunt nudity and laugh at the modesty of the swimming costumes of past generations. Sexual encounters are openly shown in movies, strip shows are popular entertainment, and pornography has become one of the largest 'industries' in the world. Anyone who speaks of modesty is usually laughed to scorn and called a 'prude' or a 'puritan'. But what does God's word teach on this subject?

Firstly, the Bible doesn't teach that the human body is something shameful in itself. In Genesis 2:24-25 we read that: “A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” And in the case of Adam and Eve it was said: “The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” It was only after they disobeyed God and their minds were flooded with guilt that, when they heard God approaching, Adam said: “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:10) It was rebellion against God that turned nakedness from purity to a symbol of shame, and the flaunting of promiscuity in succeeding generations is evidence of mankind's ongoing rebellion.

As the Bible narrative unfolds, nakedness was often used as a picture of the shame of mankind's fallen condition. In the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy we find specific laws where nakedness is used to describe unlawful relationships. For example, Leviticus 18:6 says: “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness.” A more paraphrased translation puts it as: ‘No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations.” Many years later a prophet said: “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wine-skin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies!” (Habakkuk 2:15) This is why even long before the Law was given, Shem and Japheth were commended for how they handled the situation when Noah got drunk and lay naked in his tent.

But nakedness isn't only used as a symbol of our sin and shame, it was also used as a picture of desperate circumstances people can be in, especially through poverty or persecution. In Matthew 25:34-36 we read Jesus' words:“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'”

When the apostle Paul wrote about the different gifts God gives to people in the Church, he used the picture of the different parts of our human body and said “on those parts of the body that we think less honourable we bestow the greater honour, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty.” (1 Corinthians 12:23). Is that true of your life and mine? Are we known for our modesty when it comes to the fashions and pastimes of today's world? Does modesty play a big part in the things we choose to feast our eyes on?