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What is a Camel?
        CAM'EL
        , a well-known and highly useful animal in Eastern countries, and justly called "the ship of the desert." It is by the law of Moses unclean. Lev 11:4. The camel is usually about 6 feet in height to the saddle. Though he makes loud complaints when caused to kneel or receive a load, he is still docile, and marches on as under a painful sense of duty. He varies in color from white to black, but is ordinarily tawny. In the Bible lands the Arabian or one-humped camel ( Camelits dromedcuius) is found. Two-humped camels (C. Bactrianus) are rarely used except in Central Asia. The feet of this animal are provided with a tough, elastic sole, which prevents them from sinking in the sand. His hump serves as a cushion for loads, Isa 30:6, and a store-house of food against times of scarcity. There is a large callus on his breast and three pairs of calluses on his legs, which protect him from laceration when kneeling upon sharp stones. His nostrils are adapted for breathing with safety in a sandstorm. A horny mouth with divided upper lip is fitted for the harsh and thorny shrubs of the desert, which he seems to prefer to more tender herbage. The second stomach of the camel, which is a ruminant animal, is divided into hexagonal cells, and receives and retains for gradual use the water which is drunk. On a full supply he can live even 20 or 30 days. As the camel never sensibly perspires, there is no loss in this direction. These qualities all combine to CAM CAM adapt the animal to the countries he inhabits and to the services required of him. He is, perhaps, more sure-footed than the ass, more easily supported, and capable of an incomparably greater burden. He can carry a load of 600 or 800 pounds Camel at the rate of 30 miles a day, and, on short journeys, 1000 to 1200 pounds. His usual speed is two and a half miles an hour, but the breed of fast camels called distinctively dromedaries, Jer 2:23, will travel 100 miles a day. Like a docile colt, this animal is driven or led by a rude halter. Crescent-shaped ornaments of cloth and cowrie-shells, or even of silver, are often hung to the camel's neck Jud 8:21, Acts 11:26. The flesh and milk are used for food (except by Jews); the skin and hair are employed for garments; the bones are cut into various articles and sometimes the dung is needed for fuel. The ordinary life of the camel is from 30 to 50 years. Camels were formerly, and are still, in the East, among the chief possessions of the wealthy. Gen 12:16; Gen 30:43; Gen 37:25; Jud 6:5 and Num 7:12; 1 Sam 30:17; 1 Kgs 10:2; 1 Chr 5:21;2 Chr 14:15; Job 1:3 and Job 42:12; Isa 30:6. The expression in Matt 19:24 is usually considered figurative, denoting something beyond human power. The same form of expression is used among the Arabs and by the Rabbins in respect to the elephant. Some believe that the expression refers to the small door within the large and heavy door of the Oriental gate, for this is called in Arabic "the needle's eye." Rolla Floyd (a well-known Syrian dragoman) told the writer that till recently it was the custom to close the gates of Jerusalem from 12 till 2 on Fridays during Mohammedan worship, but this small door might then be used. On one such occasion, Mr. F. was waiting outside the Jaffa gate for some travellers, when a train of camels arrived. He saw them enter the city by unloading each animal and taking it separately through "the needle's eye." Another figurative expression occurs Matt 23:24, in which the inconsistency of the scribes and Pharisees (who attended to the most unimportant ceremonies of their religion, while they were unjust, unmerciful, and faithless) is compared to one who should very carefully strain out (not at) a gnat or other small insect from the liquor he was about to drink, and yet swallow an animal as large as a camel. See Drink. Travellers sometimes throw over the camel, upon the top of his burden, a pair of panniers, in which they ride, one on either side. Two boxes like small carriage-bodies are often hung upon the animal in the same manner, and in these females may ride and be sheltered from the heat. Gen 24:64. It is easy to see how Rachel might have concealed her father's idols. Gen 31:34. The camel is said to choose ruinous and desolate places for his habitations, and hence the force of the prophetic language respecting Rabbah, Eze 25:5; though the prophecy would be abundantly verified if the place should merely become a stopping-place for caravans. Camel's Hair, Matt 3:4, was made into cloth. 2 Kgs 1:8; Zech 13:4. Sometimes the fabric was wrought of the finest and softest part of the hair, and was then a very rich and luxurious article of dress. A coarser kind was used for the covering of tents and for the upper garments of shepherds and camel-drivers. Travellers tell us that modern dervishes wear cloth of this kind, and also leathern girdles. The raiment of John the Baptist, Matt 11:8, was probably of this kind, for it is put in opposition to soft raiment; but some think it was of prepared camel's hide.


Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'camel' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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