Crafty wordplay hiding in Aramaic Ahiqar’s fable of the leopard and the goat and Proverbs 12:16,23

Abstract

There is a well-known wordplay in the story of the Garden of Eden created by the juxtaposed descriptions of the human and his woman as ערומים and the snake as ערום (Gen 2:25–3:1). Conventionally translated “naked” and “crafty,” respectively, the wordplay hints at hidden layers of meaning that add richness and complexity to the text. This essay suggests similar intentional ambiguity associated with related lexemes is a feature of wise sayings from the Aramaic book of Ahiqar and the biblical book of Proverbs. The Aramaic fable of the leopard and the goat (C1.1. 166–168a) employs the cognate lexeme ערי. Reading through rhetorical, philological, and comparative lenses, it is proposed that the text constructs multiple layers of meaning. The key to these, in the animal fable, is the different connotations of “covering” associated with Aramaic כסי pael and Hebrew כסה piel and their derivatives, in particular, the sense of provisioning. This latter sense is interconnected with an interpretation of Aramaic ערי and Hebrew ערום, often glossed “naked,” as, primarily, “destitute” or “emptyhanded” and in need of provisioning. Finally, the co-occurrence of the lexemes ערום “crafty” and כסה piel in Prov 12:16, 23 inspires a re-examination of these sayings, raising the possibility of layers of ambiguity not previously considered.