Camel

The camel walks through scripture as the great pack-animal of the patriarchs, the long-distance carrier of merchants and royal embassies, an index of household wealth, the bearer of an unclean verdict in the food laws, and a figure pressed into prophetic and proverbial speech. Where camels appear, the text is usually counting wealth, moving goods, transporting brides and exiles, or driving home a contrast.

Among Patriarchal Wealth

Camels stand alongside flocks, herds, and slaves whenever the text tallies a patriarch's holdings. Pharaoh's gifts to Abram include "sheep, and oxen, and he-donkeys, and male slaves, and female slaves, and she-donkeys, and camels" (Gen 12:16). Of Jacob's accumulated estate the text says, "the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, and female slaves and male slaves, and camels and donkeys" (Gen 30:43). When Jacob prepares his gift for Esau he sets aside "thirty milch camels and their colts" along with cows, bulls, donkeys, and foals (Gen 32:15). Abraham's slave reports the same prosperity to Rebekah's family: "Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. And he has become great. And he has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and male slaves and female slaves, and camels and donkeys" (Gen 24:35).

The same accounting marks Job. His opening estate is "seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-donkeys" (Job 1:3); his restored estate, doubled, includes "fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels" (Job 42:12). David's administration places a named officer over each kind: "over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite: and over the donkeys was Jehdeiah the Meronothite: and over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagrite" (1 Chr 27:30). Plunder taken from the Hagrites is told the same way — "of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of donkeys two thousand" (1 Chr 5:21).

Riding and Travel

Camels carry people across long distances. Abraham's slave takes "ten camels, of the camels of his master" and goes to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor (Gen 24:10). At the journey's end the text records the camels' docility at the well: "he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water" (Gen 24:11). The bride's return is by camel as well: "Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode on the camels, and followed the man" (Gen 24:61), and at first sight of Isaac, "Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel" (Gen 24:64). On the same evening Isaac himself "went out to meditate in the field at evening. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and noticed that there were camels coming" (Gen 24:63).

Camels carry families out of foreign lands too. When Jacob leaves Paddan-aram, "Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels" (Gen 31:17). And in war, the camel doubles as cavalry: of the Amalekite raiders David struck down at Ziklag, "not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled" (1 Sam 30:17). Isaiah's watchman is told to look for "a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels" (Isa 21:7).

Caravans and Burdens

The camel's defining task in scripture is bearing cargo on the long routes. The Ishmaelite caravan that crosses Joseph's pit comes "from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt" (Gen 37:25). Hazael's embassy from Damascus to Elisha is measured the same way: "took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' burden" (2 Kgs 8:9). At David's coronation feast the supply train comes in on every animal, "donkeys, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, victuals of meal, cakes of figs, and clusters of raisins, and wine, and oil" (1 Chr 12:40). In Isaiah's burden on the beasts of the South, the southern traders "carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who will not profit [them]" (Isa 30:6). Isaiah also names the long-distance carriers themselves: "The burden on Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you⁺ will lodge, O you⁺ caravans of Dedanites" (Isa 21:13).

The Royal Embassy from Sheba

The most famous caravan in the historical books is the Queen of Sheba's. "She came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart" (1 Kgs 10:2). The Chronicler tells it in the same form: "she came to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart" — having arrived "at Jerusalem, with a very great train, and camels that bore spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones" (2 Chr 9:1).

Isaiah projects the same pattern outward into a global one: "The multitude of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba will come; they will bring gold and frankincense, and will proclaim the good news of the praises of Yahweh" (Isa 60:6).

Hospitality at the Well

When Abraham's slave reaches Nahor, Rebekah's offer is camel-shaped. The slave's prayer fixes on a specific sign: "the damsel to whom I will say, Let down your pitcher, I pray you, that I may drink. And she will say, Drink, and I will give your camels to drink also" (Gen 24:14); Rebekah herself answers, "I will draw for your camels also, until they are done drinking" (Gen 24:19). Hospitality continues at the house: "Come in, you blessed of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels" (Gen 24:31), and "the man came into the house, and he ungirded the camels. And he gave straw and fodder for the camels, and water to wash his feet" (Gen 24:32). Gifts are produced as the camels finish drinking: "as the camels were done drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold" (Gen 24:22).

Hostile Camel-Hosts

Where the camel registers wealth in friendly contexts, in hostile ones it registers overwhelming numbers. Of Midian's invasion, "they came up with their cattle and their tents; they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number" (Judg 6:5); and again, "their camels were without number, as the sand which is on the seashore for multitude" (Judg 7:12). Saul's commission against Amalek lists the same animals to be devoted: "slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey" (1 Sam 15:3). The plague oracle on the firstborn of Egypt's livestock includes them too: "the hand of Yahweh is on your cattle which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks: [there will be] a very grievous pestilence" (Exod 9:3). Zechariah's eschatological plague repeats the listing: "the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the beasts that will be in those camps" (Zech 14:15).

Spoils and Ornaments

Camels carry their wealth on their bodies as well as on their backs. After Gideon's victory, the slain Midianite kings yield their crescents: "And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their camels' necks" (Judg 8:21). The full reckoning of Gideon's request for the spoil includes "the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were about their camels' necks" (Judg 8:26).

Forbidden as Food

Mosaic law fixes the camel's verdict on the unclean side of the dietary line. "Nevertheless these you⁺ will not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those that part the hoof: the camel, because he chews the cud but doesn't part the hoof, he is unclean to you⁺" (Lev 11:4); Deuteronomy reiterates the rule: "the camel, and the hare, and the coney; because they chew the cud but part not the hoof, they are unclean to you⁺" (Deut 14:7).

Camel-Hair Clothing

John the Baptizer's wilderness habit is described in camel terms: "And John was clothed with camel's hair, and [had] a leather loincloth about his loins, and ate locusts and wild honey" (Mark 1:6).

Stable, Saddle, and Idol

Two scenes turn on the camel's gear. Rachel hides Laban's household talismans in the saddle: "Now Rachel had taken the talismans, and put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. And Laban felt all about the tent, but didn't find them" (Gen 31:34). Ezekiel's oracle against Ammon turns the camel into a measure of judgement: "I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the sons of Ammon a couching-place for flocks: and you⁺ will know that I am Yahweh" (Ezek 25:5).

Figurative Uses

The dromedary supplies a prophetic image of restless apostasy. To Judah's protest of innocence Jeremiah answers, "See your way in the valley, know what you have done: [you are] a swift dromedary traversing her ways" (Jer 2:23). Sirach pairs the camel's thorn with the perfumes of the tabernacle: "As cassia and camel's thorn I have given a scent of perfumes" (Sir 24:15).

The most-quoted camel saying compares its bulk to the eye of a needle. "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 God" (Mark 10:25); Luke gives the same saying: "For it is easier for a camel to enter in through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" (Luke 18:25).