Messenger Magazine

The Camel and the Eye of the Needle

Posted on 5/3/2005 at 3:51:13 PM

“In Jerusalem there is a gate called ‘the eye of the needle’ through which a camel could not pass until it stooped down to make it through the entrance.” This story has been taught to children in Sunday schools and by parents for at least two hundred years.¹ It teaches about the need to bow or kneel before God in order to take the path back to his presence.

In some other versions of this tale the gate is only narrow, and the camel must remove its baggage to squeeze through. This conveys the need to rid ourselves of our earthly faults and sins in order to take the narrow path of the righteous. This is a lovely story, which ever way it is told, and it makes a wonderful parable, but with one little problem - it is not true! There never was an ancient gate by that name! It was invented by the 12th century.

“In ancient Israel there was a pass through the mountains that caravans going had to often pass through. It was known as ‘the eye of the needle,’ because it was overrun with robbers, and it was almost impossible to pass through without losing everything.” This is another wonderful tale about the need to be cautious about our material goods, to remind us how they can be so easily lost, and how we can’t take them to heaven with us. It also is historically false.

There are many other variations on this same theme - involving an entrances to an inn (where the entrances we narrow to thwart fat camel-riding robbers), or a giant mysterious needle shape in the desert. It indeed seems very popular in Christian circles to make up, or repeat stories involving camels squeezing through narrow places.

Where have such ideas come from, and why have so many Christians been so keen to believe them? There can be few students of the scriptures who have never heard the statement of Jesus to his disciples that “it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”² It is one of the very few passages rendered exactly the same in several gospels - Matthew, Mark and Luke render it exactly the same, without variation. It undoubtedly must have been very clearly impressed upon their minds, and they were very particular about accurately rendering it.

Yet even for those who don’t believe in dubious camel stories the translation of this passage is sometimes disputed. Amongst amateur scholars there a several different explanations of what is meant by the words ‘camel’ and ‘needle.’

Some have proposed that the original Greek word we have translated “camel” (kamelos) was actually “rope” (kamilos) in the original language. The idea is that a rope may have been very difficult to thread into a rug knitting needle, but not impossible. It is an interesting theory, but it wasn’t actually until around the 12th century - when the Catholic church started having a problem with this passage - that they changed their Greek manuscripts to reflect the word “rope” instead of the original word (from all early texts³) of “camel.”

If this was not enough to end such a theory, others have brought up that the Aramaic word “gamla”⁴ could refer to a camel or perhaps a thick rope made from camel hair. The problem with this idea though is that the gospel were not written in Aramaic, and whilst the Apostles would have known and spoken Aramaic, what would the chances be of all three of the accounts of this passage being misrendered? As far as the idea of the needle being very large goes (whether a rug needle, or even a gate or a door), Luke’s account leaves no room for this interpretation as he uses the word “belonh”⁵ which means a small surgeons needle.

Some say that Jesus must have meant something else, because the idea of a camel passing through the eye of the needle is ridiculous and surreal. Yet Jesus also speaks symbolically of some people having a plank of wood (translated “beam” in the King James version) being in their eye⁶, and of the Pharisees figuratively swallowing camels.⁷

Ancient texts cooberate that the phrase “easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle” is not only very old, but was familiar to his audience. In the Talmud for instance it teaches that not even in dreams could one “see a palm of gold or an elephant passing through an eye of a needle.”⁸

The Koran also tells us that the impious (disrespectful and irreverent) “shall find the gates of heaven shut: nor shall he enter there till a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle.”⁹

What did Jesus really mean?

This may seem a revolutionary conclusion to some, but perhaps the verse actually means what it says! Maybe there actually is more chance of a camel going through the eye of a needle than a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven!

This is a hard concept for us in our relatively wealthy society to understand or accept. Many of us may have seen wealth as a sign of God’s blessings, and as a reward for righteousness. Indeed there are a few examples of godly men in the Bible who had obtained some degree of riches, such as Abraham.¹⁰ Yet the Savior referred to Abraham being in heaven,¹¹ how is this possible? Jesus answered this question straight afterwards to the confused Apostles who did not know how to interpret his words either. Said he, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”¹²

It being possible, even with God’s help, does not mean it will be easy however. Jesus made it clear when he began his analogy that “a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.”¹³ This is because “unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.”¹⁴

Riches come with greater responsibility, and the greater the obligations we have to God, his kingdom and our fellow men. The larger the condemnation will be from God and judgments against us by Him if we do not fulfill them. Therefore a rich man is in a precarious position, and faces unique temptations and diversions. In a future day of reckoning God will be his accountant, He will call into question his expenses and extravagances, and undoubtedly no penny wasted or horded will go unnoticed. At that day his money will not buy him or any of us entrance into heaven.¹⁵

NOTES

There is an interesting story from the apocryphal Acts of Peter and Andrew on this subject:

13 There was a rich man named Onesiphorus who said: “If I believe, shall I be able to do wonders?” Andrew said: “Yes, if you forsake your wife and all your possessions.” He was angry and put his garment about Andrew’s neck and began to beat him, saying: “You are a wizard, why should I do so?”

14 Peter saw it and told him to leave off. He said: “I see you are wiser than he. What do you say?” Peter said: “I tell you this: it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Onesiphorus was yet more angry and took his garment off Andrew’s neck and cast it on Peter’s and haled him along, saying: “You are
worse than the other. If you show me this sign, I and the whole city will believe but if not you shall be punished.”

15 Peter was troubled and stood and prayed: “Lord, help us at this hour, for thou hast entrapped us by thy words.”

16 The Saviour … said; “Fear not: let the needle and the camel be brought.” There was a huckster in the town who had been converted by Philip; and he heard of it, and looked for a needle with a large eye, but Peter said: “Nothing is impossible with God rather bring a needle with a small eye.”

17 When it was brought, Peter saw a camel coming and stuck the needle in the ground and cried: “In the name of Jesus Christ crucified under Pontius Pilate I command thee, camel, to go through the eye of the needle.” The eye opened like a gate and the camel passed through; and yet again, at Peter’s bidding.

18 Onesiphorus said: “You are a great sorcerer: but I shall not believe unless I may send for a needle and a camel.” And he said secretly to a servant: “Bring a camel and a needle, and find a defiled woman and some swine’s flesh and bring them too.” And Peter heard it in the spirit and said: “O slow to believe, bring your camel and woman and needle and
flesh.”

19 When they were brought Peter stuck the needle in the ground, with the flesh, the woman was on the camel. He commanded it as before, and the camel went through, and back again.

20 Onesiphorus cried out, convinced and said: “Listen. I have lands and vineyards and 27 litrae of gold and 50 of silver, and many slaves: I will give my goods to the poor and free my slaves if I may do a wonders like you.” Peter said: “If you believe, you shall.”

21 Yet he was afraid he might not be able, because he was not baptized, but a voice came: “Let him do what he will.” So Onesiphorus stood before the needle and camel and commanded it to go through and it went as far as the neck and stopped. And he asked why. “Because you are not yet baptized.” He was content, and the apostles went to his house, and 1,000 souls were baptized that night.¹⁶