CAMEL
53
CAMERARITJS
to the ctmels of Midian, Ephah, and Sheba, as in the fbtare to bring wealth to Zion (Ix, 6). The "chariot of camels" may be symbolical (xxi, 7), or it may refer to the mixed nature of the Persian army. Jeremiah makes mention of the camels of Kedar, Uazor, and the Bene-Kedem (xlix, 28-33). Ezekiel prophesies that the Bene-Kedem should take the land of the Ammon- ites, and Rabbah itself should be ** a resting-place for camels" (xxt, 1-6; see Buckingham, Trao, p. 829).— Kitto, Cydop. 8. T.; Smith, Did, s. t.
The camel is classed by Moses among unclean an- imals (Lev. xi, 4), " because he cheweth the cud, but dirideth not the hoof." Michaelis justly remarks, that m the case of certain quadrupeds a doubt may arito vhetber they do ftdly divide the hoof or ruminate. "In such cases," he says, **to prevent difficulties, a legislator must authoritatively decide ; by which I do not mean that he should prescribe to naturalists what their belief should be, but only to determine, for the sake of expounders or judges of the law, what animals are to be regarded as rumioating or parting the hoot" This doubt arises in the case of the camel^ which does mminste, and does in some sort divide the hoof; that is, the foot is divided into two toes, which are yfvry
lodde of a Camel's Foot A is the cashlon on vhich the animal treats, shown as lifted oat of its bed.
distinctly marked above, but below the division is lim- ited to the anterior portion of the foot, the toes being eoshioned upon and confined by the elastic pad upon which the camel goes. This peculiar conformation of the foot renders the division incomplete, and Moses, for the purposes of the law, therefore decides that it di- vides not the hoof. Perhaps in this nicely balanced question the determination against the use of the cam- d for food was made with the view of keeping the Is- rselites distinct from the other descendants of Abra- ham, with whom their connection and coincidence in manners were otherwise so dose. The interdiction of the camel, and, of course, its milk, was well calculated to prevent them from entertaining any desire to con- finoe in Arabia, or fh>m again devoting themselves to the fovorite occupation of nomade herdsmen, from ▼hich it was obviously the intention of many of the laws to wean them. In Arabia a people would be in a very unoomlbrtable condition who could neither eat camel's flesh nor drink its milk. Of the constant use of it» milk by the Arabs travellers fk«quently speak ; snd if we wanted a medical reason for its interdic- tioo, it mi^t be found in the fiict that to its con- stant use is attributed the obstructions and indura- tions of the stomach, which fbrm one of the most com- mon complaints of the Arabs. They do not kill the camel, or any other animal, fbr ordinary food; but when a camel happens to be lamed in a caravan, it is killed, and a general feast is made on its flesh. Cam- eb are also killed on great festival occasions, and fomethnes to give a large entertainment in honor of a distinguished guest. Sometimes also a man vows to eacrifice a camel if he obtain this or that blessing, as, for faistance, if his mare brings forth a female ; and in that case he slaughters the animal, and feasts his friends on the flesh. Burckhardt(iVb/esoiiM«£e<foiiMw) mentions the rather remarkable fkct that the Arabs know no remedy against the three most dangerous dis-
eases to which camels are subject ; but they believ that the Jews in their sacred books have remedies mentioned, which they withhold through hatred and malice. The flesh of the camel is coarse grained, but is rather juicy and palatable when the animal is young and not poorly fed. It is inferior to good beef, al- though at first it might readily be mistaken for beef; but it is at least equal, if not superior, to horse-flesh (Kitto, Piet, Bible, note in loc.).
To pau a camel trough the eye of a needle was a proverbial expression which our Lord employed in his discourse to the ^dples to show how extremely diffi^ cult it is for a rich man to forsake all for his cause and obtain the blessings of salvation (Matt, xix, 24 ; Bfark X, 25 ; Luke xviii, 25 ; see ttie treatises on this passage, in Latin, of Clodius [Yiteb. 1665], Pfeiffer [Regiom. 1679], Fetzlen [Yiteb. 1678]). Many expositors are of opinion that the allusion is not to the camel, but to the cable by which an anchor is made fSast to the ship, changing ca/iiyXoc, a camel, to KdfiiXoc, a caiiU ; but for this there is no critical foundation; and Light- foot and others have shown that to speak of a camel, or any other large animal, as going through the eye of a needle was a proverbial expression, much used in the Jewish schools, to denote a thing very unusual or very difficult. There is a similar expression 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." Roberts mentions a parallel proverb used in India to show the difficulty of accomplishing any thing: "Just as soon will the elephant pass tturough the spout of a kettle."