The camd is frequently mentioned in Holy Scrip- ture. It was used not only in Palestine, but also in Arabia (Jud. rii, 12), in Bg^t (Exod. ix, 8), in Syria (2 Kings viii, 9), and in Assyria, as appears trom the
Two-hamped CamelB. From the BUck obelisk at Nimrud.
sculptures of Nineveh (see Layard, Nineveh and Bah, p. 582). It was used at an early date both as a riding animal and as a beast of burden (Gen. xxiv, 64 ; xxxvU, 25). It was likewise used in war (1 Sam. XXX, 17; Isa. xxi, 7; oomp. Pliny, N, H. viii, 18; Xenoph. Cyrop, vii, 1, 27 ; Herod, i, 80 ; vii, 86 ; Livy, xxxvii, 40). Of its hair coarse garments were man- ufactured (Matt iii, 4; Mark i, 6). The Jews were not allowed to eat its flesh (Lev. xi, 4 ; Deut. xiv, 7). The prophet Isaiah foretells the great increase and flourishing state of the Mes8iah*s kingdom, by the conversion and accession of the Gentile nations, by • comparing the happy and glorious concourse to a vast assemblage of camels (Ix, 6). He also predicts the march of the army of Cyrus to the conquest and de- struction of Babylon by an allusion to a chariot of camels (xxi, 7); and the foUy and presumption of those is remarked upon (xxx, 6) who, in the time of their trouble, carried treasures on camels into Egypt to purchase the assistance of that people, and acknowl- edged not the Lord their God, who alone could save and deliver them.
In the history of the Hebrews, however, the camel was used only by nomad tribes. This is because the desert is the home of the Arabian species, and it can- not thrive in even so fine a climate as that of the val- ley of the Nile in Egypt. The Hebrews in the patri- archal age had camels as late as Jacob's journey from Padan-aram, until which time they mainly led a very wandering life. With Jacob's sojourn in Palestine, and, still more, his settlement in Egypt, they became a fixed population, and thenceforward their beast of burden was the ass rather than the camel. The camel is first mentioned in a passage which seems rather to tell of Abraham's wealth (Gen. xii, 16, as xxiv, 85), to which Pharaoh doubtless added, than to recount the king's gifts. If the meaning, however, is that Pha- raoh gave camels, it must be remembered that this king was probably one of the shepherds who partly lived at Avaris, the Zoan of Scripture ; so that the pas- sage would not prove that the Egyptians then kept j few mentions of the camel seem' to refer wholly to for- camelp, nor that they were kept beyond a tract, at eign nations, excepting where Isaiah spealu 'of their this time, and long after, inhabited by strangers. The use, with asses, in a caravan bearing presents from narrative of the journey of Abraham's servant to fetch ' the Israelites to the Egyptians (xxx, 6). He alludes
a wife for Isaac portrajrs the habits of a nomad people, perhaps most of all when Rebekah, like an Arab dam- sel, lights off her camel to meet Isaac (xxiv). Jacob, like Abraham, liad camels (xxx, 43) : when he left Padan-aram he **set his sons and his wives upon cam- els" (xxxi, 17) ; in the present he made to Esan there were "thirty milch camels with their colts" (xxxS, 15). In Palestine, after his return, he seems no longer to have kept them. When his sons went down to Egypt to buy com, they took asses. Joseph sent wag- ons for his fether and the women and children of his house (xlv, 19, 27 ; xlvi, 5). After the conquest of Canaan, this beast seems to have been but little uaed by the Israelites, and it was probably kept only by the tribes bordering on the desert. It is noticeable that an Ishmaelite was overseer of David's camels (1 Chron. xxvii, 80). On the return frtnn Bab^^on the people had camels, perhaps purchased lor the journey to Palestine, but a fer greater num- ber of asses (Ezra ii, 67 ; Neh. vii, 69). There is one distinct notice of the camel being kept in Egypt. It should be ob- served, that when we read of Joseph's bu3ring the cattle of Egypt, though horses, flocks, herds, and asses are spoken of (Gen. xlvii, 17), camels do not occur : they are mentioned as held by the Pharaoh of the exodus (Exod. ix, 8), but this may only have been in the most eastern part of Lower Egypt, for the wonders were wrought in the field of Zoan, at wluch city this king then doubtless dwelt. It is in the notices of the marauding nomad tribes that wandered to the east and south of Palestine tliat we chiefiy read of the camel In Scripture. In the time of Jacob there seems to have been a regular traffic between Palestine, and perhaps Arabia, and Egypt, by camel caravans, like that of the Ishmaelites or Ifidianites who bought Joseph (Gen. xxxvii, 25, 28). In the terrible inroad of the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the Bene-Kedem, or chUdren of the East, ** both they and their camels were without number; and they entered into the land to destroy it" (Judg. vi, 5; comp. vii, 12). When Gid- eon slew Zebah and Zalmunna, Idngs of Midian, bo "took away the ornaments [or "litUe moons"] that [were] on their camels' necks" (viii, 21), afterward mentioned, with neck-chains (see Kitto, Phys, H%$L o^ Pal, p. 891 ; comp. Stat. Thebaid, ix, 687), both pn^ ably of gold (ver. 26). We also find other notices of the camels of the Amalekites (1 Sam. xv, 8 ; xxx, 17), and of them and other and probably kindred peoples of the same region (xxvii, 8, 9). In the account of the conquest by the Reubenites, the Gadites, and tho half trib« of Manasseh, of the Hagarites beyond Jor- dan, we read that fifty thousand camels were taken (1 Chron. v, 18-28). It is not surprishig that Job, whose life resembles that of an Arab of the desert, though the modem Arab is not to be taken as the in- heritor of his character, should have had a great num- ber of camels (Job i, 8 ; xlii, 12 ; comp. Aristot. HieL, Anim, ix, 87, 5). The Arabian Queen of Sheba came with a caravan of camels bearing the precious things of her native land (1 Kings x, 2 ; 2 Chron. ix, 1). We read also of Benhadad's sending a present to Elisha ** of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels' bur- den" (2 Kinus viii, 9). Damascus, be it remembered, is close to the desert. In the prophets, likewi<te, the