The-A-to-Z-Guide-to-Bible-Signs-and-Symbols-epubCS7-28

Camel

Camels were a common sight throughout Bible times, particularly in cities and villages along caravan routes, where these long-distance beasts of burden might pause for a night before trudging on to their destination. In addition to being a means of transportation, camels were also a source of milk and meat for Israel’s neighbors (though they are listed among the unclean animals for Israel and therefore not used for food—Lev. 11:4). Camel hair was woven to create a rough but durable material from which Bedouins still create tents and people like John the Baptist occasionally sewed simple garments (see Matt. 3:4).

Wild and Unruly

Some camels, called dromedaries, were cultivated for riding and racing. Jeremiah used this type of camel as a symbol for wayward Israelites who followed other gods (Jer. 2:23). In this way camels parallel the symbolic use of donkeys—a supposedly cultivated and trained animal that has become wild and unruly.

Status Symbol

We can see in the life of Abram and Job that camels were considered a symbol of wealth. Someone who owned 3,000 camels, as Job did, would have been considered a millionaire in today’s terms. Camels were also considered a powerful component of an army’s battle resources. The Midianites who oppressed Israel in Judges 6 wielded a vast cavalry mounted on camels.

Hyperbole

Much later, Jesus created an unexpected symbolic picture with the camel by way of hyperbole: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25). The idea of a large animal like a camel being compressed to pass through a needle’s eye is a ludicrous but effective way to emphasize that wealth has no standing when someone is seeking admission to God’s kingdom.

Jesus said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus also found camels a handy symbol for important matters when he pointed out to the scribes and Pharisees, “You blind guides! You strain gnats out of your wine, but you swallow camels” (Matt. 23:24). He was highlighting the hypocrisy of giving great attention to an exacting idea of the tithe (making sure that you gave a tenth of every herb and spice in your possession) while neglecting the large matters of “justice, mercy, and faithfulness . . . the most important things in Moses’ Teachings” (Matt. 23:23).

Camels were a symbol of wealth and prosperity, as well as useful beasts of burden or war.

Key Verse

Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. (Luke 18:25)

Not only those who heard the words when they were first spoken, but many others since have found the saying [“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven”] to be a hard one. Attempts have been made to soften it somewhat. The eye of a needle, we are sometimes assured, is a metaphor; the reference is to a small opening giving independent access or egress through a much larger city gate. . . . But this charming explanation is of relatively recent date; there is no evidence that such a subsidiary entrance was called the eye of a needle in biblical times. . . . No doubt Jesus was using the language of hyperbole . . . but the language of hyperbole was intended to drive the lesson home: it is impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God—humanly impossible, Jesus concedes, for God, with whom nothing is impossible, can even save a rich man.