The Eye of the Needle
As a child in Sunday school I recall being told a tale from the bible that one would think must surely be based on fact: _a parable really, though a very short one. ..It is attributed to Jesus of Nazareth, a direct quote as it were, which is something of a rarity in the bible.
“Easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the realm of heaven.” ..Wording like that apparently, in whatever language it was delivered [Aramaic, likely]. But the text relating this was written decades after the event, so the wording must at best be approximately what was said.
When this parable is offered it will be followed by commentary, more or less extensive, to bring forth its meaning. The wisdom of it gets dwelt upon, naturally enough, religious instruction being like that. But youngsters — and I was not very old at the time — tend to be quite literal, which can pose a bit of a problem concerning the commentary.
Assuming an ordinary needle was being spoken of, perhaps a sail mender’s needle whose eye is relatively large, it would then appear nearly impossible for a rich person to attain heaven, for surely the beast would need to be practically liquified in order to pass it through the needle’s eye! ..As a child this both puzzled and appalled me, for its extremism.
As an adolescent I set it among the several things about Christianity that made no sense to me, then or now. My feelings then could be concisely told: ..Between the Communists and the Christians, everybody was worshipping a dead Jew: ..be it Jesus of Nazareth or Karl Marx. (Adolescent thoughts at a time in Europe when the Red Threat was very alive and the Berlin wall intact.)
Explanation
Some while ago, while reading a book by an Amsterdammer about crossing the Sahara in an old Mercedes car, this parable became much clearer. Desert nomads value camels and collect them the way other pastoralists do cattle or goats or reindeer. Desert nomads will also steal camels, presented the opportunity.
So more-settled folk on the desert’s fringes corral their camels at night in an enclosure with high mud brick walls and one entrance door that is both narrow and low. ..The camels enter and exit on their knees, slowly, awkwardly and backwards, with much complaint!
There is no quick way to steal a camel from such an enclosure because the door — by tradition called the eye of the needle — prevents quick passage. And so the biblical parable becomes clear: ..it is merely difficult for a rich person to enter heaven, not virtually impossible.
The eye of the needle in the parable is the door to a camel compound, so it is a literal comparison rather than being allegorical, and a reference many in the original audience would have understood. ..As all would have if that fellow also explained about the door, in case some hearing him were unfamiliar with camel compounds. Bible instructors who treat it as an allegory should adjust their commentaries accordingly.