גמל. This animal is called in ancient Arabic, _gimel_; and in
modern, _diammel_; in Greek, κάμηλος. With very little variation, the
name is retained in modern languages. The camel is very common in
Arabia, Judea, and the neighbouring countries; and is often mentioned in
Scripture, and reckoned among the most valuable property, 1 Chron. v,
21; Job i, 3, &c. “No creature,” says Volney, “seems so peculiarly
fitted to the climate in which he exists as the camel. Designing this
animal to dwell in a country where he can find little nourishment,
nature has been sparing of her materials in the whole of his formation.
She has not bestowed upon him the fleshiness of the ox, horse, or
elephant; but limiting herself to what is strictly necessary, has given
him a long head, without ears, at the end of a long neck without flesh;
has taken from his legs and thighs every muscle not immediately
requisite for motion; and, in short, bestowed upon his withered body
only the vessels and tendons necessary to connect its frame together.
She has furnished him with a strong jaw, that he may grind the hardest
aliments; but, lest he should consume too much, has straitened his
stomach, and obliged him to chew the cud; has lined his foot with a lump
of flesh, which sliding in the mud, and being no way adapted to
climbing, fits him only for a dry, level, and sandy soil, like that of
Arabia. So great, in short, is the importance of the camel to the
desert, that, were it deprived of that useful animal, it must infallibly
lose every inhabitant.” The chief use of the camel has always been as a
beast of burden, and for performing journeys across the deserts. They
have sometimes been used in war, to carry the baggage of an oriented
army, and mingle in the tumult of the battle. Many of the Amalekite
warriors, who burnt Ziklag in the time of David, were mounted on camels;
for the sacred historian remarks, that of the whole army not a man
escaped the furious onset of that heroic and exasperated leader, “save
four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled,” 1 Sam. xxx,
17.
The passage of Scripture in which our Lord says, “It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of heaven,” Matt. xix, 24, has been the occasion of
much criticism. Some assert that near Jerusalem was a low gate called
“the needle’s eye,” through which a camel could not pass unless his load
was taken off. Others conjecture that κάμιλος should be read κάβιλος, _a
cable_. But there are no ancient manuscripts to support the reading. In
the Jewish Talmud, there is, however, a similar proverb respecting an
elephant: “Rabbi Shesheth answered Rabbi Amram, who had advanced an
absurdity, ‘Perhaps thou art one of the Pambidithians, who can make an
elephant pass through the eye of a needle;’” that is, says the Aruch,
“who speak things impossible.” There is also a saying of the same kind
in the Koran: “The impious, who in his arrogancy shall accuse our
doctrine of falsity, shall find the gates of heaven shut; nor shall he
enter there, till a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle. It is
thus that we shall recompense the wicked,” Surat. vii, 37. Indeed,
Grotius, Lightfoot, Wetstein, and Michaëlis join in opinion, that the
comparison is so much in the figurative style of the oriental nations
and of the rabbins, that the text is sufficiently authentic.
CAMEL’s HAIR, mentioned Matt. iii, 4; Mark i, 6. John the Baptist, we
are told, was habited in a raiment of camel’s hair; and Chardin assures
us, that the modern dervises wear such garments; as they do also great
leathern girdles. Camel’s hair is also made into those beautiful stuffs,
called shawls; but certainly the coarser manufacture of this material
was adopted by John, and we may receive a good idea of its texture, from
what Braithwaite says of the Arabian tents: “They are made of camel’s
hair, somewhat like our coarse hair cloths to lay over goods.” By this
coarse vesture the Baptist was not merely distinguished, but contrasted
with those in royal palaces, who wore “soft raiment,” such as shawls or
other superfine manufactures, whether of the same material or not.
modern, _diammel_; in Greek, κάμηλος. With very little variation, the
name is retained in modern languages. The camel is very common in
Arabia, Judea, and the neighbouring countries; and is often mentioned in
Scripture, and reckoned among the most valuable property, 1 Chron. v,
21; Job i, 3, &c. “No creature,” says Volney, “seems so peculiarly
fitted to the climate in which he exists as the camel. Designing this
animal to dwell in a country where he can find little nourishment,
nature has been sparing of her materials in the whole of his formation.
She has not bestowed upon him the fleshiness of the ox, horse, or
elephant; but limiting herself to what is strictly necessary, has given
him a long head, without ears, at the end of a long neck without flesh;
has taken from his legs and thighs every muscle not immediately
requisite for motion; and, in short, bestowed upon his withered body
only the vessels and tendons necessary to connect its frame together.
She has furnished him with a strong jaw, that he may grind the hardest
aliments; but, lest he should consume too much, has straitened his
stomach, and obliged him to chew the cud; has lined his foot with a lump
of flesh, which sliding in the mud, and being no way adapted to
climbing, fits him only for a dry, level, and sandy soil, like that of
Arabia. So great, in short, is the importance of the camel to the
desert, that, were it deprived of that useful animal, it must infallibly
lose every inhabitant.” The chief use of the camel has always been as a
beast of burden, and for performing journeys across the deserts. They
have sometimes been used in war, to carry the baggage of an oriented
army, and mingle in the tumult of the battle. Many of the Amalekite
warriors, who burnt Ziklag in the time of David, were mounted on camels;
for the sacred historian remarks, that of the whole army not a man
escaped the furious onset of that heroic and exasperated leader, “save
four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled,” 1 Sam. xxx,
17.
The passage of Scripture in which our Lord says, “It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of heaven,” Matt. xix, 24, has been the occasion of
much criticism. Some assert that near Jerusalem was a low gate called
“the needle’s eye,” through which a camel could not pass unless his load
was taken off. Others conjecture that κάμιλος should be read κάβιλος, _a
cable_. But there are no ancient manuscripts to support the reading. In
the Jewish Talmud, there is, however, a similar proverb respecting an
elephant: “Rabbi Shesheth answered Rabbi Amram, who had advanced an
absurdity, ‘Perhaps thou art one of the Pambidithians, who can make an
elephant pass through the eye of a needle;’” that is, says the Aruch,
“who speak things impossible.” There is also a saying of the same kind
in the Koran: “The impious, who in his arrogancy shall accuse our
doctrine of falsity, shall find the gates of heaven shut; nor shall he
enter there, till a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle. It is
thus that we shall recompense the wicked,” Surat. vii, 37. Indeed,
Grotius, Lightfoot, Wetstein, and Michaëlis join in opinion, that the
comparison is so much in the figurative style of the oriental nations
and of the rabbins, that the text is sufficiently authentic.
CAMEL’s HAIR, mentioned Matt. iii, 4; Mark i, 6. John the Baptist, we
are told, was habited in a raiment of camel’s hair; and Chardin assures
us, that the modern dervises wear such garments; as they do also great
leathern girdles. Camel’s hair is also made into those beautiful stuffs,
called shawls; but certainly the coarser manufacture of this material
was adopted by John, and we may receive a good idea of its texture, from
what Braithwaite says of the Arabian tents: “They are made of camel’s
hair, somewhat like our coarse hair cloths to lay over goods.” By this
coarse vesture the Baptist was not merely distinguished, but contrasted
with those in royal palaces, who wore “soft raiment,” such as shawls or
other superfine manufactures, whether of the same material or not.