Matthew 19:24

19:24 easier for a camel: This analogy reinforces the difficulty that wealthy people face in entering the Kingdom. A few manuscripts have a Greek word meaning rope (Greek kamilos) instead of camel (Greek kamēlos), a difference of only one letter. • to go through the eye of a needle: The image makes the wealthy entering the Kingdom an impossibility. The situation is not utterly hopeless, however (19:26-27). See study note on Mark 10:25.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 19:24. Κάμηλον, a camel) i.e. the animal of that name; cf. ch. Mat 23:24. It is not a rope[875] that is compared to a thread, but the eye of a needle to a gate.

[875] Bengel alludes to a reading which is evidently corrupt, and an interpretation which is manifestly erroneous. “Some ancient and modern commentators,” says Bloomfield, “would read κάμιλον, a cable, rope; or take κάμηλον in that sense. But for the former there is little or no manuscript authority, and for the latter, no support from the usus loquendi.” For interesting illustrations of the subject, too long to insert, see Kitto, and Wordsworth, in loc.—(I. B.)

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_19:24. Difficultatem exaggerat, Melanchthon. For πάλιν, comp. Mat_18:19. The point of the comparison is simply the fact of the impossibility. A similar way of proverbially expressing the utmost difficulty occurs in the Talmud with reference to an elephant[4] See Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. 1722, and Wetstein. To understand the expression in the text, not in the sense of a camel, but of a cable (Castalio, Calvin, Huet, Drusius, Ewald), and, in order to this, either supposing κάμιλον to be the correct reading (as in several cursive manuscripts), or ascribing this meaning to κάμηλος (τινές in Theophylact and Euthymius Zigabenus), is all the more inadmissible that κάμηλος never has any other meaning than that of a camel, while the form κάμιλος can only be found in Suidas and the Scholiast on Arist. Vesp. 1030, and is to be regarded as proceeding from a misunderstanding of the present passage. Further, the proverbial expression regarding the camel likewise occurs in Mat_23:24, and the Rabbinical similitude of the elephant is quite analogous.

εἰσελθεῖν after ῥαφ. is universally interpreted: to enter in (to any place). On the question as to whether ῥαφίς is to be recognised as classical, see Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 90. To render this word by a narrow gate, a narrow mountain-pass (so Furer in Schenkels Lex. III. p. 476), or anything but a needle, is simply inadmissible.

The danger to salvation connected with the possession of riches does not lie in these considered in themselves, but in the difficulty experienced by sinful man in subordinating them to the will of God. So Clemens Alexandrinus: τίς ὁ σωζόμενος πλούσιος. Hermas, Pastor, i. 3. 6.

[4] The passage in the Koran, Sur. vii. 38: Non ingredientur paradisum, donec transeat camelus foramen acus, is to be traced to an acquaintance with our present saying; but for an analogous proverb concerning the camel which. saltat in cabo, see Jevamoth f. 45, 1.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 19:24 . πάλιν δὲ λέγω : reiteration with greater emphasis. The strong language of Jesus here reveals a keen sense of disappointment at the loss of so promising a man to the ranks of disciplehood. He sees so clearly what he might be, were it not for that miserable money. εὐκοπώτερον , etc.: a comparison to express the idea of the impossible. The figure of a camel going through a needle-eye savours of Eastern exaggeration. It has been remarked that the variation in the parallel accounts in respect to the words for a needle and its eye shows that no corresponding proverb existed in the Greek tongue (Camb. G. T.). The figure is to be taken as it stands, and not to be “civilised” ( vide H. C.) by taking κάμηλος (or κάμιλος , Suidas) = a cable, or the wicket of an Oriental house. It may be more legitimate to try to explain how so grotesque a figure could become current even in Palestine. Furrer suggests a camel driver leaning against his camel and trying to put a coarse thread through the eye of a needle with which he sews his sacks, and, failing, saying with comical exaggeration: I might put the camel through the eye easier than this thread (Tscht., für M. und R.). τρήματος from τιτράω , to pierce. ῥαφίδος , a word disapproved by Phryn., who gives βελόνη as the correct term. But vide Lobeck’s note, p. 90. It is noticeable that Christ’s tone is much more severe in reference to wealth than to wedlock. Eunuchism for the kingdom is optional; possession of wealth on the other hand seems to be viewed as all but incompatible with citizenship in the kingdom.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Theophylact noteth, that by this word is meant a cable rope, but Caninius allegeth out of the Talmuds that it is a proverb, and the word Camel, signifieth the beast itself.

Word for word, it is of less labor.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 24. A camel] Instead of καμηλον, camel, six MSS. read καμιλον, cable, a mere gloss inserted by some who did not know that the other was a proverb common enough among the people of the east.

There is an expression similar to this in the Koran. "The impious, who in his arrogance 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." Al KORAN. Surat vii. ver. 37.

It was also a mode of expression common among the Jews, and signified a thing impossible. Hence this proverb: A camel in Media dances in a cabe; a measure which held about three pints. Again, No man sees a palm tree of gold, nor an elephant passing through the eye of a needle. Because these are impossible things. "Rabbi Shesheth answered Rabbi Amram, who had advanced an absurdity, Perhaps thou art one of the Pembidithians who can make an elephant pass through the eye of a needle; that is, says the Aruch, 'who speak things impossible.'" See Lightfoot and Schoettgen on this place.

Go through] But instead of διελθειν, about eighty MSS. with several versions and fathers, have εισελθειν, to enter in; but the difference is of little importance in an English translation, though of some consequence to the elegance of the Greek text.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(24) It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.—Two explanations have been given of the apparent hyperbole of the words. (1.) It has been conjectured that the Evangelists wrote not κάμηλος (a camel), but κάμιλος (a cable). Not a single MS., however, gives that reading, and the latter word, which is not found in any classical Greek author, is supposed by the best scholars (e.g., Liddell and Scott) to have been invented for the sake of explaining this passage. (2.) The fact that in some modern Syrian cities the narrow gate for foot-passengers, at the side of the larger gate, by which wagons, camels, and other beasts of burden enter the city, is known as the “needle’s eye,” has been assumed to have come down from a remote antiquity, and our Lord’s words are explained as alluding to it. The fact—to which attention was first called in Lord Nugent’s Lands, Classical and Sacred—is certainly interesting, and could the earlier use of the term in this sense be proved, would give a certain vividness to our Lord’s imagery. It is not, however, necessary. The Talmud gives the parallel phrase of an elephant passing through a needle’s eye. The Koran reproduces the very words of the Gospel. There is no reason to think that the comparison, even if it was not already proverbial, would present the slightest difficulty to the minds of the disciples. Like all such comparisons, it states a general fact, the hindrance which wealth presents to the higher growths of holiness, in the boldest possible form, in order to emphasise its force, and leaves out of sight the limits and modifications with which it has to be received, and which in this instance (according to the text on which the English version is based) were supplied immediately by our Lord Himself (Mar_10:24).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle] An expression familiar to Jews of our Lord’s time. The exaggeration is quite in the Eastern style. It is unnecessary to give other explanations, as that camel is a Greek word meaning “a rope,” or that “the eye of a needle” is a gate so called.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And again I say unto you,.... After the apostles had discovered their astonishment at the above expression, about the difficulty of a rich man entering into the kingdom of heaven; when they expected that, in a short time, all the rich and great men of the nation would espouse the interest of the Messiah, and acknowledge him as a temporal king, and add to the grandeur of his state and kingdom; and after he had in a mild and gentle manner, calling them "children", explained himself of such, that trusted in uncertain riches, served mammon, made these their gods, and placed their hope and happiness in them; in order to strengthen and confirm what he had before asserted, and to assure, in the strongest manner, the very great difficulty, and seeming impossibility, of rich men becoming followers of Christ here, or companions with him hereafter, he expresses himself in this proverbial way:

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: thus, when the Jews would express anything that was rare and unusual, difficult and impossible, they used a like saying with this. So speaking of showing persons the interpretation of their dreams (g);

"Says Rabba, you know they do not show to a man a golden palm tree i.e. the interpretation of a dream about one, which, as the gloss says, is a thing he is not used to see, and of which he never thought, , "nor an elephant going through the eye of a needle".''

Again, to one that had delivered something as was thought very absurd, it is said (h);

"perhaps thou art one of Pombeditha (a school of the Jews in Babylon) , "who make an elephant pass through the eye of a needle".''

That is, who teach such things as are equally as monstrous and absurd, and difficult of belief. So the authors of an edition of the book of Zohar, to set forth the difficulty of the work they engaged in, express themselves in this manner (i):

"In the name of our God, we have seen fit, , "to bring an elephant through the eye of a needle".''

And not only among the Jews, but in other eastern nations, this proverbial way of speaking was used, to signify difficulties or impossibilities. Mahomet has it in his Alcoran (k);

"Verily, says he, they who shall charge our signs with falsehood, and shall proudly reject them, the gates of heaven shall not be opened to them, neither shall they enter into paradise, "until a camel pass through the eye of a needle".''

All which show, that there is no need to suppose, that by a camel is meant, not the creature so called, but a cable rope, as some have thought; since these common proverbs manifestly make it appear, that a creature is intended, and which aggravates the difficulty: the reason why instead of an elephant, as used in most of the above sayings, Christ makes mention of a camel, may be, because that might be more known in Judea, than the other; and because the hump on its back would serve to make the thing still more impracticable.

(g) T. Bab. Beracot fol. 55. 2. (h) T. Bab Bava Metzia, fol. 38. 2. (i) Prefat. ad Zohar, Ed. Sultzbach. (k) Chap. 7. p. 120. Ed. Sale.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Ver. 24. It is easier for a camel, &c.] Or cable rope, as some render it, καμηλον, καμιλον funem nauticum. Either serves, for it is a proverbial speech, setting forth the difficulty of the thing. Difficile est, saith St Jerome, ut praesentibus bonis quis fruatur et futuris, ut hic ventrem istic mentem reficiat, ut de deliciis transeat, ut in coelo et in terra gloriosus appareat. Pope Adrian VI said that nothing befell him more unhappy in all his life than that he had been head of the Church and monarch of the Christian commonwealth. "When I first entered into orders," saith another pope (Plus Quintus), "I had some good hopes of my salvation; when I became a cardinal, I doubted it; but since I came to be a pope I do even almost despair." And well he might, as long as he sat in that chair of pestilence, being that man of sin, that son of perdition, 2Th 2:3. Ad hunc statum venit Romana Ecclesia, said Petrus Aliacus, long since, ut non esset digna regi nisi per reprobos (Cornel. a Lapide, Com. in Num 11:11). The popes, like the devils, are then thought to do well when they cease to do hurt, saith Johan. Sarisburiensis. They have had so much grace left, we see (some of them, however), as to acknowledge that their good and their blood rose together, that honours changed their manners, and that they were the worse men for their great wealth; and that as Shimei, seeking his servants, lost himself, so they, by reaching after riches and honours, lost their souls. Let rich men often ruminate this terrible text, and take heed. Let them untwist their cables, that is, their heart, by humiliation, Jas 5:1; Jas 1:10, till it be made like small threads, as it must be, before they can enter into the eye of a needle, that is, eternal life.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is easier for a camel,[5] &c. This might be a common saying, to signify anything impossible, or very heard. Some by a camel, would have to be meant a cable, or ship-rope, but that is differently writ in Greek, and here is commonly understood a true camel. (Witham) --- But nothing is impossible to God.

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Camelum, Greek: kamelun, which is observed to be different from Greek: kamilos, a cable, or ship-rope. See Mr. Legh, Critica Sacra.

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George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

24. Camel… eye of a needle — That is, it is absolutely a human impossibility. The emendation made by changing camel to cable is unauthorized. The phrase is a proverbial expression for an absolutely impracticable thing.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Again I say unto you. The disciples, St. Mark notes, "were astonished at his words," so he proceeds to state the startling proposition more unreservedly and energetically. It is easier for a camel, etc. This is a proverbial expression for an impossibility. A similar proverb is found in many countries, only substituting another great animal instead of the camel, e.g. the elephant. From taking a too literal view of the passage, some commentators have invented a gate at Jerusalem, low and narrow, designed only for foot passengers, which was called "the needle"s eye." Others have remedied the supposed absurdity by reading kamilov (if, indeed, there is such a word) "rope," for kamhlov , as if we were to say cable instead of camel. But there is no difficulty in the expression. Such hyperboles and paradoxes are common in all languages. (comp. Mat_23:24) The impossibility, indeed (as ver. 26 shows), is relative, but the warning is none the less real and terrible. The Lord says that the possession of riches prevents the owner from following him, and endangers his eternal salvation; for that is what it comes to. In St. Mark (whether the words are genuine or not is uncertain) we find a limitation introduced: "How hard it is for them that trust in riches!" Now, this is the effect of riches; men learn to trust in them, to deem that their earthly state is secure, that change and chance will not affect them, that they are, so to speak, independent of Providence; they love the world which is so good to them and so pleasant in their eyes, and they have no earnest longing for a better home. Such is the natural consequence of the possession of wealth, and that which makes the impossibility of entrance into the kingdom.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, (a proverbial expression, ) than for a rich man to go through the strait gate: that is, humanly speaking, it is an absolute impossibility. Rich man! tremble! feel this impossibility; else thou art lost forever!

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

These words were a proverbial speech among the Jews, to signify a thing of great difficulty, next to an impossibility; and they import thus much: "That it is not only a very great difficulty, but an impossibility, for such as abound in worldy wealth to be saved, without an extraordinary grace and assistance from God. It is hard for a rich man to become happy, even by God, because he thinks himself happy without God."

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man (i. e., as already explained, one who trusts in riches) to enter into the kingdom of God. In other words, one whose trust is in wealth cannot enter at all.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

24. κάμηλον διὰ τρυπήματος ῥαφίδος. An expression familiar to Jews of our Lord’s time. The exaggeration is quite in the Eastern style. Some attempts however have been made to explain away the natural meaning of the words. κάμιλον, which is said to mean ‘a thick rope,’ has been read for κάμηλον. But the change has no MS. support, and κάμιλος, which does not occur elsewhere, is probably an invention of the Scholiast. Others have explained τρύπημα ῥαφίδος to be the name of a gate in Jerusalem. But the existence of such a gate is not established; and the variety of expression for ‘a needle’s eye,’ τρύπημα ῥαφίδος (Matt.), τρυμαλία ῥαφίδος (Mark), τρῆμα βελόνης (Luke), is against this view. The variation also indicates that the proverb was not current in Greek. The expression in Luke is the most classical. ῥαφὶς is rejected by the Attic purists: ἡ δὲ ῥαφὶς τί ἐστιν οὐκ ἄν τις γνοίη (Lob. Phryn. p. 90). τρύπημα was a vernacular word and is found in Aristoph. Pac. 1234.

An eastern traveller has suggested that the association of ideas arose thus: every camel driver carries with him a large needle to mend his pack-saddle as occasion requires, hence the ‘camel’ and the ‘needle.’

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24.] No alteration to κάμιλον is necessary or admissible. That word, as signifying a rope, or cable, seems to have been invented to escape the fancied difficulty here; see Palm and Rost’s or Liddell and Scott’s Lex. sub voce, and for the scholia giving the interpretation, Tischendorf’s note here. Lightfoot brings instances from the Talmud of similar proverbial expressions regarding an elephant: we have a case in ch. 23:24, of a camel being put for any thing very large: and we must remember that the object here was to set forth the greatest human impossibility, and to magnify divine grace, which could accomplish even that.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(M) 24. It is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man into the kingdom of the heavens.] Mk. has: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the hole of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”—εὐκοπώτερος] see on 9:5.—τρήματος] for Mk.’s late and rare τρυμαλιᾶς.—εἰσελθεῖν] Mt. avoids the duplication of the verb διελθεῖν, εἰσελθεῖν] in Mk.—ῥαφίς] add to the examples in Lexicons, Ox. Pap. iv. 736, 75, (a.d. 1).

24. βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ] Z curss a b c e S1 S2 have βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. We should certainly expect the latter, but, in editing Mk., Mt. does not seem to have carried out his modifications with absolute uniformity, and he may have left τοῦ θεοῦ here. If so, it was inevitable that it should be altered into τῶν οὐρανῶν. But in view of the facts given in Introduction, p. lxvii, it must remain probable that τῶν οὐρανῶν is original here, and that it has been changed into τοῦ θεοῦ to assimilate to Mk.

τρἡματος] א* B, but אc D L X al, τρυπήματος.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Camel - through a needle 's eye [καμηλον δια τρυπηματος ραφιδος] . See on Mr 10:25; Luk 18:25. Compare the Jewish proverb, that a man did not even in his dreams see an elephant pass through the eye of a needle. The reason why the camel was substituted for the elephant was because the proverb was from the Babylonian Talmud, and in Babylon the elephant was common, while in Palestine it was unknown. The Koran has the same figure : "The impious shall find the gates of heaven shut; nor shall he enter there till a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle." Bochart, in his history of the animals of scripture, cites a Talmudic passage : "A needle 's eye is not too narrow for two friends, nor is the world wide enough for two enemies." The allusion is not to be explained by reference to a narrow gate called a needle 's eye.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.