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God made the perfect garden of Eden uncorrupted. Adam and Eve did something wrong by eating the forbidden fruit. Then, they realized that they were naked.

Genesis 3:7a

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked

Centuries later, sin was rampant. God decided to reset the earth by a flood by killing all mankind except Noah's family. They came out of the ark to a cleansed earth. Then they did something wrong.

Genesis 9:20 Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.

Again, the immediate consequence was nakedness. Coincidence? Is there a significance for this?

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  • That's an interesting question, In fact, we also see a similar failed concealment. – Ruminator Feb 7 at 15:19
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    There was nothing 'wrong' with Adam and Eve being unclothed. Nor did God mention it. And they were unashamed. Only after partaking of the forbidden tree were they conscious of a lack of something. God had already made provision for that 'lack'. But they had not been patient enough to wait. The need is of another humanity than created humanity. And He would be manifest. The last Adam is come a life-giving Spirit. 1 Cor 15:45.# – Nigel J Feb 7 at 16:46
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According to this article by a Jewish OT scholar, the correct parallel for Noah's drunkenness is not Adam and Eve, but the time Lot gets drunk and his daughters sleep with him after Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed. His argument is basically that both stories are meant to be the same genre of destruction story as the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a genre that would have been familiar to Ancient Near East readers. He finds several parallels between the narratives of the flood (Genesis 6-9) and Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19). One of those parallels is that near the end of the story the main character gets drunk and is sexually abused (see here for a Jewish take on what is meant by by Ham "seeing" his father's nakedness--basically the Talmud says it means he either Sodomized or castrated him).

Although it relies to a certain extent on Jewish tradition, the connection between Noah's drunkenness and Lot's drunkenness seems pretty justified to me. The connection between Noah's vs. Adam and Eve's nudity, as is stated in the comments, seems more tenuous and less like a deliberate literary parallel since they're treated very differently. Adam and Eve are "good" when created and "not ashamed" of their nakedness, whereas Noah's nakedness is understood to be inherently shameful, hence Shem and Japheth walk into the tent backwards to avoid seeing him.

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Job lost everything, a great reset for his life. Guess what was the first word that came out of his mouth: yes, you guessed it: naked.

Job 1:21 and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

Another strange coincidence? I guess when you restart your life, you begin with your naked body with no attachment, not even your clothes.

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