Everyone has heard of the scripture from a few different places in the Bible stating how hard it is to get into heaven if you are rich.King James Version
Mark 10:25 - "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."
Mathew 19:24 - "And again I say unto you, 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."
Luke 18:25 - "For 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."
I believe many people misunderstand this verse. Many people say to themselves, "Well, it's impossible for a camel to fit through an eye of a needle." But if you study and look deeper into history, you realize that this is not what was literally meant (however it is very clever).
Back in the old days, communities would build high stone walls around their villages and towns. In the wall there would be giant gates that remained open during regular hours. However, when night fell and the curphew took place, the main gates were closed, not allowing anyone to enter or exit the main gates without permission. This was supposedly for the safety of the community to keep out trouble makers from lurking in the night.
Some of you may be wondering "What about people who lived in the community that were traveling back home, arriving after hours?"
Well, in this particular case, there were small doors doors in the city walls (sometimes within the big doors themselves), created to allow residents to enter. A guard awaits as a stranger explains his business and/or purpose. Since there were no cars, bikes or other means of transportation... they used camels. Of course the outsider did want to leave his camel roaming free outside the city, therefore needed to bring it in and bind it to a post over night.
Remember, the big gates are closed for good. Only the smaller doors are able to be entered at these times. Here's what you may not know. These doors were called "The Eye of the Needle." These doors were (to my understanding) shorter than a typical door these days but maybe a hair bit wider. This was not impossible for a camel to go through, but very difficult.
In order to get a camel to pass through this eye, the camel had to be stripped down (remember, people used their camels to carry their goods and belongings). The camel, once stripped of it's baggage, was then coaxed into getting down on all four knees and then very patiently, a baby step at a time, walked through the doorway on it's knees. This took a while and was very frustrating. Then the owner would go back out and bring his things into the city walls.
I believe the message here as in the scripture just simply means that it's more difficult (not impossible) for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven because of his mental attachment to his material possessions. Someone who is obsessed with "things" usually is distracted from a life of God. Money can be a root of evil and is used as a weapon of Satan to tempt people (more so the rich). This scripture basically points out that in the end, when you die, you can't carry these material things with you. Therefore, like the camel, the rich man will be stripped of his possessions and will have to leave everything behind before entering the kingdom of heaven with nothing but a pure heart.
Rich or poor, when a man can mentally let go of his possessions for God, then his heart is where it needs to be, thus leading to entering the gates of heaven. This goes for the rich or poor, but it is much "harder" as the scripture says, for a rich man to do this.
Thoughts?
I believe the message here as in the scripture just simply means that it's more difficult (not impossible) for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven because of his mental attachment to his material possessions. Someone who is obsessed with "things" usually is distracted from a life of God. Money can be a root of evil and is used as a weapon of Satan to tempt people (more so the rich). This scripture basically points out that in the end, when you die, you can't carry these material things with you. Therefore, like the camel, the rich man will be stripped of his possessions and will have to leave everything behind before entering the kingdom of heaven with nothing but a pure heart.
Rich or poor, when a man can mentally let go of his possessions for God, then his heart is where it needs to be, thus leading to entering the gates of heaven. This goes for the rich or poor, but it is much "harder" as the scripture says, for a rich man to do this.
Thoughts?
wow! I have never heard that analogy before and it makes perfect sense. How do you come up with this stuff? I'm impressed.
ReplyDeleteHa. I didn't think anyone was reading this stuff anymore. This is old. Ha. I just studied and listened to multiple interpretations. Its fun to dig into things. Ask many questions, and challenge yourself to find the answers. Whether right or wrong, you learn many things, but never everything.
ReplyDelete:)
Greetings Mark. Ran across your site when looking for images to use in debunking/educating. Not so very long ago I heard Hendrik "Hank" Hanegraaff, also known as the Bible Answer Man, say something to the order that this interpretation (fed to me on felt-boards in Sunday School as a lad) is for all intents and purposes a later-day fabrication. (Get it? Felt? Fabric? All may groan now.) Hank indicated that there is no archaeological evidence that this architectural feature existed before the middle-ages (900-1400 years after Christ), or reference to such a structure in any writings of the period.
ReplyDeleteI ran across this site http://eyeoftheneedle.net/eye_of_a_needle.htm that states:
...explanation is given by EW Bullinger in his Companion Bible. He wrote, "...the eye of the needle, a small door fixed in a gate and opened after dark. To pass through, the camel must be unloaded. Hence the difficulty of the rich man. He must be unloaded, and hence the proverb, common in the East. In Palestine the "camel"; in the Babylonian Talmud it is the elephant"....
He also says that the "New Bible Dictionary" says concerning the existence of these gates, that "there is no historical evidence to support this"
He then goes on to provide a more likely explanation that the Greek was an incorrect translation of an Aramaic word that, depending on context could mean either a camel, a rope, or a beam. This sounds more compelling than any other ideas put forth that I've read.
-- quote ---
Most Christians realize that the Gospels weren't originally written in English. Some think they were written in Latin, most believe they were first written in Greek. Very possibly though, some if not all were written in the language of Yeshua and His followers, Aramaic. This language was all but forgotten until about a hundred years ago, which is why few students are familiar with it. Dr. George Lamsa, who has written extensively about the language and in his book entitled Gospel Light clarifies for us the probable meaning of Yeshua's words concerning the eye of a needle. I will quote from page 167.
"The Aramaic word gamla means camel, a large rope and a beam. The meaning of the word is determined by its context. If the word riding or burden occurs then gamla means a camel, but when the eye of a needle is mentioned gamla more correctly means a rope. There is no connection anywhere in Aramaic speech or literature between camel and needle, but there is a definite connection between rope and needle."
Nearly all of the English versions of the Gospels came from Greek texts by translators who may have known little about Aramaic. Thus camel would have been translated instead of rope. It takes little effort to imagine Yeshua, while walking along the sea coast, pointing to a rope and saying, "It is easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God".
No historical evidence for the eye of the needle gates? Nonsense. https://tinyurl.com/5h3xfzjh
DeleteGreat information
ReplyDeleteAlthough there is evidence of "needle's eye" gates or small doors, this is not the context in which Jesus used the term.The Greek word "rhaphis from a primary rhapto (to sew, perh,(strong's concordance 4476) through the idea of puncturing, a needle denotes a sharp point, hence, a needle in Luke 18:25.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of applying "the needle's eye" to small gates seems to be a modern idea; there is no ancient trace of it. The Lord's object in the statement is to express human impossibility and there is no need to endeavor to soften the difficulty by taking the needle to mean anything more than the ordinary instrument.
While it's impossible with man, all things are possible with God.