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Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24
#10
Shlama Forum:
We all understand the illustration of a "camel/beam" passing through the "eye of a needle". Some bring up the "camel's gate" hypothesis, but most appreciate the elegant simplicity of the illustration in Aramaic. Historically, there is no camel's gate, where camels had to pass through a wall on their knees. That argument is without historical foundation. If "gamal" can mean "beam" or "camel" and the illustration speaks of passing through with "great difficulty", then it's just "thick" through "narrow". The thick "beam" is a simple object and a "camel" is not, nevertheless the illustration works with "camel" but clumsily. The illustrations of Jesus were simple, not head scratching. A "beam" is inanimate and a "needle" is inanimate. The illustration of straining out gnats and swallowing camels, is comparing two living things. (Matthew 23:24) A gnat and a camel are both unclean for Jews to eat. The illustration deals with hypocrisy; allowing a huge faux pas while meticulously "straining the gnat" through a sieve. Jesus is not comparing a "gnat" with a "beam", even though the word "gamal" can mean "beam". It's a simple illustration of blindly allowing a huge personal error while "gnat picking" (pun intended).

The illustration of "beam and eye of the needle" is a classic example of "light and heavy", Hillel's first of seven hermeneutic laws, called "kal v'khomer". If X is true, then how much more is Y true? If it's with great difficulty, yes impossible for an "overhead house beam" to pass through the eye of a needle, how much more difficult is it for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
It's tedious to park on the "rope" just as it is to sit on a "camel" or "beam". Though "rope" is pliable and "beam" is rigid, "gamal" means "beam", not "rope". Now if someone can show me a reliable Aramaic lexicon where "gamal" means "rope or cord" then that would be definitive. However if one wants to use "rope" it's OK by me. A "rope" is thicker than the eye of a needle just as an overhead beam is. After all, if the illustration of "a camel passing through the eye of a needle" has worked as an illustration for nearly 2000 years then we're not going to lose our salvation if that "thread" continues. Notwithstanding, as I am a conservative Aramaic Primacist, I like "beam" as is, because it's "rigid", not "flexible" like a "rope" or a "camel", but I don't know evrything. God doesn't give us much "wiggle room" does he? The LAW is the absolute indictment of sin in the flesh, is it not? A "rich arrogant man" is not as spiritually flexible as a "poor humble man". The poor don't eat as well as the rich, and they are often gaunt/thin and undernourished. "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven". (Matthew 5:3)

Shlama,
Stephen
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Messages In This Thread
Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by ograabe - 06-26-2008, 11:30 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-02-2008, 08:40 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by yaaqubyl - 07-02-2008, 09:56 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-02-2008, 11:50 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by *Albion* - 07-03-2008, 12:12 AM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-03-2008, 12:58 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by yaaqubyl - 07-03-2008, 10:12 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by ograabe - 07-05-2008, 12:31 AM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-08-2008, 09:42 PM
Re: Camel or Beam? Matt: 19:24 - by Stephen Silver - 07-21-2008, 03:45 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-21-2008, 08:50 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-22-2008, 01:47 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-22-2008, 07:37 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-23-2008, 04:19 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-23-2008, 07:15 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-24-2008, 06:58 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-25-2008, 12:13 AM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-25-2008, 01:30 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by ograabe - 07-26-2008, 06:39 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by ograabe - 07-26-2008, 10:18 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-26-2008, 11:16 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by Paul Younan - 07-27-2008, 02:13 AM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by Paul Younan - 07-27-2008, 03:34 AM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by Paul Younan - 07-27-2008, 04:59 AM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-27-2008, 04:03 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by Paul Younan - 07-27-2008, 06:33 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by ograabe - 07-27-2008, 08:20 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-27-2008, 08:34 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by Paul Younan - 07-27-2008, 08:52 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-27-2008, 11:30 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by Amatsyah - 07-27-2008, 11:43 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by *Albion* - 07-28-2008, 04:39 AM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by gbausc - 07-28-2008, 02:21 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by konway87 - 05-19-2010, 12:15 AM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by konway87 - 05-19-2010, 04:34 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by Jerry - 05-22-2010, 05:03 PM
Re: Camel or Rope? Matt: 19:24 - by distazo - 05-23-2010, 06:58 AM

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