It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than the Bible. eye of a needle

Some of you may have heard the Bible saying: “...It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”(MF.19:23-24). Strange for modern man the phrase was studied and researched before arriving at a definite opinion. By the way, there is no single opinion; there are several of them and each of them has the right to exist.

Let's start with the most common version, that eye of a needle in Jerusalem it is a narrow gate through which a camel without luggage could hardly squeeze through. Since the Bible often consists of metaphors, one must assume that Jesus gave such a comparison in his sermon for a reason. Moreover, when he uttered this phrase after a meeting and conversation with a rich young man. Let's remember this fragment.

To gain Eternal Life

One day a young man approached Christ and asked him to teach him what he needed to do to live eternal life. Jesus reminded the Jews of the 10 famous commandments that formed the basis of the religious and civil life of the Jews. But the young man said that he knew them. Then Christ suggested young man Give all your goods to the poor in order to find treasures in Heaven and eternal life. The young man sadly walked away from the Savior. It was then that a mysterious saying was uttered.

What did Jesus mean by the camel and the eye of the needle? If we take as a basis the assumption that the camel was freed from its luggage so that it could calmly enter the narrow gates of the city, then it is likely that Christ “offered” the young Jew to free himself from the burden of wealth. Then the path to the Kingdom of God will be open to him.

It was both a moral lesson and a test at the same time. Could the young man get rid of his property in exchange for the promised Life of a righteous man? Many interpreted this episode as the impossibility of a rich man becoming a true Christian. As if only a poor person can become a follower of Christ.

This is often how Jesus' sermons were interpreted religious organizations, who called on people to give everything for the good of their souls. By the way, the beggars, to whom the “unnecessary” wealth was supposed to go, were the leaders of these organizations.

Wrong translation?

No matter how the researchers found out, almost everyone comes to a common opinion: there were no narrow gates in the Old Town. In order to somehow logically explain the haunting phrase of Christ, the following version was invented and fully justified: an incorrect translation of the Gospel.

According to the current assumption, Holy Book was written in Aramaic. The word “gamla” has several meanings: “camel” and also “rope”. It’s as if everything falls into place, and the saying takes on a different coloring: “It is more convenient to pass a rope (rope) through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Linguists considered it more logical to use the eye of a needle in combination with a rope. Allegedly, in those days they tied loads with rope and attached them to horse-drawn animals, carrying the load. It was even believed that Jesus could have had this conversation somewhere in the house, where his gaze could have fallen on this subject. Seeing the rope, the Savior came up with a successful metaphor.

It would not be amiss to mention that in the East they used needles of all possible lengths, sometimes reaching a quarter of a meter. They were used to sew bags and carpets. And the camel in the metaphor is used to strengthen the comparison: a very large animal and a small piece of household utensils. By the way, the Babylonian Talmud contains approximately the same phrase, although the role of a large animal is played by an elephant.

So we have two opinions:

• the first indicates a certain narrow entrance to a large trading city: in the context of the saying, it is a symbol of the impossibility of changing anything;
• the second already has some outlines of the implementation of the plan: the task of pulling a rope through the thick eye of a needle is difficult, but real.

Another option

We present for your consideration another rather nice version. It was suggested by one tourist while walking the streets of Jerusalem and studying its history. One day he came across a very narrow street: two people could not walk side by side, only following each other. There can be no question of a ship of the desert sailing along it. Only a small donkey could get through there.

In the old days in Old city traders came and got through the main gate only after paying a tax. Many, in order to avoid paying, bypassed the main gate and followed the narrow street to the market. Since the amount of the tax directly depended on the number of bales, many cunning people took advantage of the opportunity to slip into the shopping arcades for free.

How did they manage to drag the cattle through the “ Eye of the Needle" in Jerusalem- mystery. Most likely, they removed the goods from the animals and carried the luggage manually. Walked across the street - trade without tax, if there is no opportunity - pay tax. There is an opinion that the publicans themselves sent some of those who were particularly “indignant” to prison. free entry in town. A merchant who could not get his bales of goods and animals through the Eye of the Needle had to return to the main gate and pay an entrance tax.

"Miser pays twice"

History is silent about how many camels were stuck in the narrow passage. But the street was considered a kind of measure not only of the available goods, but also of the greed of the merchant. To save the stranded animal, he still had to pay the rescuers working right there. Maybe, popular expression“The miser pays twice” was born in this place.

The saying of Jesus Christ had a slightly different meaning than they try to explain. He did not want the Jewish boy to quickly get rid of wealth in order to find Christian joy in his soul, but he gave him the opportunity to test how much he was dependent on his goods. Is the young man so greedy as to squeeze a poor camel through even a small eye of a needle for his own benefit, or is he capable of going the other way? Here everyone decides for himself.

Especially for Liliya-Travel.RU - Anna Lazareva

Everyone, of course, knows the amazing words of Christ in the final part of the episode with the rich young man: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24).

The meaning of the saying is obvious: a rich person, unless he leaves his wealth, cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And the further narration confirms this: “When His disciples heard this, they were greatly amazed and said: So who can be saved? And Jesus looked up and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:25-26).

The Holy Fathers understood “eyes of a needle” literally. Here, for example, is what St. writes. John Chrysostom: “Having said here that it is inconvenient for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, he further shows that it is impossible, not just impossible, but also highest degree impossible, which he explains by the example of a camel and the eye of a needle" /VII: 646/. If the rich were saved (Abraham, Job), it was only thanks to the special grace personally given by the Lord.

However, some, due to their weakness, thirst for wealth, do not like this conclusion at all. And that’s why they persistently try to challenge it.

And in modern times, an opinion has emerged: “the eye of a needle” is a narrow and inconvenient passage in the Jerusalem wall. “That’s how it turns out! - the people were delighted, - otherwise they were filled with fear: will a camel ever crawl through the eye of a needle? But now the rich can still inherit the Kingdom of Heaven!” However, the situation with these gates is extremely ambiguous. On the one hand, “eyes of a needle” are a reality. They are located on a fragment of the Jerusalem Wall discovered by archaeologists, which is now part of the architectural complex of the Alexander Metochion in Jerusalem. This beautiful building was built by Archimandrite. Antonin (Kapustin) in late XIX V. and now belongs to the ROCOR. So even now pilgrims can calmly go there and climb into a narrow passage, accessible only for a non-fat person, which they say are the same “eyes of a needle” - they say, the main gates were closed at night, but travelers could enter the city through this hole. The German archaeologist Konrad Schick, who carried out the excavations, dated this fragment of the wall to the 3rd-4th centuries. BC But the trouble is that such a gate is not mentioned in any ancient source, all the early commentators of the Gospel do not know about such an interpretation, and the Evangelist Luke, citing this saying (Luke 18:25), generally uses the term “belone”, meaning a surgical needle ... So this is just a hypothesis, and a very shaky one. But it is very desirable, so that now you can read about this gate in the Jerusalem wall in any book that touches on the property teaching of the Church.

However, the joy of lovers of combining God and mammon turns out to be premature. Even if the Savior meant “eyes of the needle” precisely in the sense of gates, they turned out to be so narrow that in order for a camel to pass through them, it must be unloaded, freed from all the loads on its back, in other words, “distribute everything to the poor.” But in this case, the rich man, loaded like a camel with his wealth, turns into a poor man, free from wealth, and therefore having the courage to ascend to the mountains. In other words, there is still only one way for salvation: “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me” (Luke 18:22).

However, many more attempts were made to weaken the Lord’s statement. Inventive theologians, leaving the “eyes of the needle” alone (by the way, in the Greek text plural no), they turned to “camel” and, replacing one letter, decided that it was a rope (“camel” and “rope” - kamelos and kamilos). Moreover, the Aramaic word “gamla” means both “camel” and “rope”. And then they made a “rope” out of the rope, or even a “thread of camel’s hair.” But even in the latter case, it was not possible to change the meaning of the Savior’s statement - the camel turned out to have such coarse wool that a thread made from it rather resembles a rope and will not fit into any eye of a needle.

Isn’t it better to leave alone this amazing hyperbole, which so amazes the imagination that it is immediately remembered for a lifetime.

Nikolay Somin

Christ's parable about the camel and the eye of the needle is often remembered when it comes to wealth. This is how Evangelist Matthew retells this parable: “And behold, someone came and said to Him: Good Teacher! What good thing can I do to have eternal life? Jesus said to him: if you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me. Hearing this word, the young man went away sad, because he had great possessions. Jesus said to His disciples: Truly I say to you, it is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; And again I tell you: it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
In fact, a camel and the eye of a needle are incommensurable things. Did Christ really want to say that a rich man cannot be saved under any circumstances? In 1883, during archaeological excavations in Jerusalem, a discovery was made that shed light on these mysterious words of the Savior.
Excavations were carried out at plot of land, belonging to the Russian Spiritual Mission. Today this is the territory of the Alexander Metochion, which houses the Alexander Nevsky Temple, the premises of the Orthodox Palestine Society and an archaeological complex. And a century and a half ago, here, on the land of “Russian Palestine,” there was nothing but ancient ruins. It was these ruins that attracted the attention of archaeologists. The teacher of the Department of Biblical Studies of the Moscow Theological Academy, priest Dmitry Baritsky, tells the story.

Comment (Fr. Dmitry Baritsky):

The land of the future Aleksandrovsky metochion was bought from the Ethiopian clergy. Initially, they were going to mark the residence of the consulate here. After a thorough inspection of the acquired territory, it became clear that a lot of work remains to be done. The official on special assignments wrote in the report: “Cleaning the dungeon will require long work and high expenses, because here there is a mound of centuries-old garbage more than five fathoms high.” One fathom is 2 meters 16 centimeters. It turns out that it was necessary to dig more than 10 meters! Therefore, it is not surprising that they turned to archaeologists for help. The work was headed by the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission, Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin). He himself was interested in history and archeology and was an honorary member of several archaeological societies. Perhaps, thanks to Archimandrite Antonin, the excavations were carried out with special care.

“Russian excavations” began in May 1882 and attracted the attention of the scientific community. A part of an ancient fortress wall more than 2.5 meters high was found, the Threshold of the Gate of Judgment, through which Christ’s path to Golgotha ​​passed. A narrow hole was discovered near the Judgment Gate. When the city gates were closed at night, this hole served as a passage into Jerusalem for late travelers. The shape of the hole resembled a needle, expanding upward. These were the very “eyes of the needle” that Christ spoke about! A person can easily pass through such a hole, but a camel is unlikely to squeeze through. However, this is also possible if the camel is without luggage and without a rider. Thus, thanks to excavations in “Russian Palestine,” the Savior’s words about the eye of a needle became more understandable. But this is only one of the mysteries gospel parable. There is also a second one - the camel itself. With this image, it turns out, everything is not so simple either. Trying to reconcile the camel and the eye of a needle, some scientists suggest that we are not talking about an animal, but about a rope. This time the research goes into the field of linguistics.

In the Gospel there are words of Christ that confuse modern man: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.” At first glance, this means only one thing - just as it is impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, so a rich man cannot be a Christian, cannot have anything in common with God. However, is everything so simple?

Christ uttered this phrase not just as an abstract moral teaching. Let us remember what immediately preceded it. A rich Jewish youth approached Jesus and asked: “Teacher! What good thing can I do to have eternal life?” Christ answered: “You know the commandments: do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not offend, honor your father and mother.” He lists here the ten commandments of the Law of Moses, on which all religious and civil life was built Jewish people. The young man could not help but know them. And indeed, he answers Jesus: “I have kept all this from my youth.” Then Christ says: “You lack one thing: go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me.” The Gospel says about the young man’s reaction to these words: “Having heard this word, the young man went away sad, because he had great possessions.”

The upset young man leaves, and Christ tells the disciples those very words: “It is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; and again I tell you: it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

This episode is easiest to interpret this way. First, a rich person cannot be a real Christian. And secondly, in order to be a truly true Christian - a follower of Christ - you must be poor, give up all your property, “sell everything and give it to the poor.” (By the way, this is exactly how these words of Jesus are read in many organizations that call themselves Christian, calling for a return to the purity of the Gospel ideals. Moreover, the very “poor” to whom the “rich” should “give everything away” are often the leaders of these religious organizations.)

Before finding out why Christ makes such a categorical demand, let’s talk about the “camel and the eye of a needle.” Commentators of the New Testament have repeatedly suggested that the “eye of a needle” was a narrow gate in a stone wall through which a camel could pass with great difficulty. However, the existence of these gates is apparently speculation.

There is also an assumption that initially the text did not contain the word “kamelos”, camel, but a very similar word “kamilos”, rope (especially since in medieval pronunciation they coincided). If you take a very thin rope and a very large needle, maybe it will still work? But this explanation is also unlikely: when manuscripts are distorted, a more “difficult” reading is sometimes replaced with an “easier”, more understandable one, but not vice versa. So the original, apparently, was “camel”.

But still, we should not forget that the language of the Gospel is very metaphorical. And Christ, apparently, meant a real camel and a real eye of a needle. The fact is that the camel is the largest animal in the east. By the way, in the Babylonian Talmud there are similar words, but not about a camel, but about an elephant.

There is no generally accepted interpretation of this passage in modern biblical scholarship. But whatever interpretation one accepts, it is clear that Christ is here showing how difficult it is for a rich man to be saved. Of course, Orthodoxy is far from the extremes of the above sectarian reading of the Bible. However, in our Church there is a strong opinion that poor people are closer to God, more valuable in His eyes, than rich people. In the Gospel, a red thread runs through the idea of ​​wealth as a serious obstacle to faith in Christ and to a person’s spiritual life. However, the Bible does not say anywhere that wealth itself is a reason to condemn a person, and poverty itself can justify him. The Bible says in many places, in different interpretations: God looks not at the face, not at social status man, but on his heart. In other words, it doesn't matter how much money a person has. You can waste away - spiritually and physically - both over gold and over several mite coins.

It is not for nothing that Christ valued the widow’s two mites (and the “mite” was the smallest coin in Israel) more expensive than all the other, large and rich contributions placed in the church circle of the Jerusalem Temple. And, on the other hand, Christ accepted the huge monetary sacrifice of the repentant tax collector - Zacchaeus (Gospel of Luke, chapter 19, verses 1-10). It is not for nothing that King David, praying to God, said: “You do not want a sacrifice, I would give it; but You do not favor burnt offerings. A sacrifice to God is a contrite and humble heart” (Psalm 51:18-19).

Regarding poverty, the Apostle Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians has a clear answer to the question of the value of poverty in the eyes of God. The Apostle writes: “If I give away all my substance, but do not have love, it profits me nothing” (1 Cor. 13:3). That is, poverty only has real value for God when it is based on love for God and neighbor. It turns out that it doesn’t matter to God how much a person puts in a donation mug. Another thing is important - what was this sacrifice for him? An empty formality – or something important that is painful to tear away from your heart? Words: “My son! Give it to me your heart"(Proverbs 23:26) is the criterion of true sacrifice to God.

But why then does the Gospel have a negative attitude towards wealth? Here, first of all, you need to remember that the Bible does not know a formal definition of the word “wealth” at all. The Bible does not specify the amount at which a person can be considered rich. The wealth that the Gospel condemns is not the amount of money, not the social or political situation man, and his attitude to all these benefits. That is, who does he serve: God or the Golden Calf? Christ's words: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” illustrates this condemnation.

When interpreting the Gospel episode with the rich young man, there is a risk of a literal, lecture-like understanding of what Christ said - said to him to a specific person. We must not forget that Christ is God, and therefore the Knower of the Heart. The eternal, enduring meaning of the Savior’s words in the case of the young man is not at all that a real Christian should give away all his property to the poor. A Christian can be poor, or maybe rich (by the standards of his time), he can work in church organization, and in secular. The point is that a person who wants to be a true Christian must give God, first of all, his heart. Trust Him. And be calm about your financial situation.

Trusting God does not mean immediately going to the nearest train station and giving all the money to the homeless, leaving your children hungry. But having trusted in Christ, you must, in your place, strive to serve Him with all your wealth and talent. This applies to everyone, because everyone is rich in something: the love of others, talents, a good family, or the same money. This is very difficult, because you really want to set aside at least a part of these riches and hide them for yourself personally. But it is still possible for the “rich” to escape. The main thing is to remember that Christ Himself, when necessary, gave everything for us: His Divine Glory and omnipotence and Life itself. In the face of this Sacrifice, nothing is impossible for us.

* The word “estate” in the Slavic language means not only a house, but also any wealth in general: money, livestock, land, etc. And in the Greek text there is the word “multiple acquisition.”

** V.N. Kuznetsova. Gospel of Matthew. A comment. Moscow, 2002, p. 389.

*** A burnt offering is the highest sacrifice to God, in which the entire animal was burned (except for the skin), unlike other sacrifices, where some pieces of the animal were left, which were then eaten.

On the screensaver is a fragment of a photo by Gabrielle Ludlow/www.flickr.com

Ill. Vera Makhankova

Camel caravan in the eye of a needle. The height of camels is 0.20-0.28 mm. The work of microminiature master Nikolay Aldunin http://nik-aldunin.narod.ru/

Everyone, of course, knows the amazing words of Christ in the final part of the episode with the rich young man: “ it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God"(Matthew 19:24). The meaning of the saying is obvious: a rich person, unless he leaves his wealth, cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And the further narration confirms this: “When His disciples heard this, they were greatly amazed and said: So who can be saved? And Jesus looked up and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:25-26).

The Holy Fathers understood “eyes of a needle” literally. Here, for example, is what St. writes. John Chrysostom: " Having said here that it is inconvenient for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, he further shows that it is impossible, not just impossible, but also extremely impossible, which he explains by the example of a camel and the eye of a needle" /VII: 646/. If the rich were saved (Abraham, Job), it was only thanks to the deep grace personally given by the Lord.

However, some, due to their weakness, thirst for wealth, do not like this conclusion at all. And that’s why they persistently try to challenge it.

And in modern times, an opinion has emerged: “the eye of a needle” is a narrow and inconvenient passage in the Jerusalem wall. “That’s how it turns out! - the people were delighted, - otherwise they were filled with fear: will a camel ever crawl through the eye of a needle? But now the rich can still inherit the Kingdom of Heaven!” However, the situation with these gates is extremely ambiguous. On the one hand, “eyes of a needle” are a reality. They are located on a fragment of the Jerusalem Wall discovered by archaeologists, which is now part of the architectural complex of the Alexander Metochion in Jerusalem. This beautiful building was built by Archimandrite. Antonin (Kapustin) at the end of the 19th century. and now belongs to the ROCOR. So even now pilgrims can calmly go there and climb into a narrow passage, accessible only for a non-fat person, which they say are the same “eyes of a needle” - they say, the main gates were closed at night, but travelers could enter the city through this hole. The German archaeologist Konrad Schick, who carried out the excavations, dated this fragment of the wall to the 3rd-4th centuries. BC But the trouble is that such a gate is not mentioned in any ancient source, all the early commentators of the Gospel do not know about such an interpretation, and the Evangelist Luke, citing this saying (Luke 18:25), generally uses the term “belone”, meaning a surgical needle ... So this is just a hypothesis, and a very shaky one. But it is very desirable, so that now you can read about this gate in the Jerusalem wall in any book that touches on the property teaching of the Church.

However, the joy of lovers of combining God and mammon turns out to be premature. Even if the Savior meant “eyes of the needle” precisely in the sense of gates, they turned out to be so narrow that in order for a camel to pass through them, it must be unloaded, freed from all the loads on its back, in other words, “distribute everything to the poor.” But in this case, the rich man, loaded like a camel with his wealth, turns into a poor man, free from wealth, and therefore having the courage to ascend to the mountains. In other words, there is still only one way for salvation: “ sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me"(Luke 18:22).

However, many more attempts were made to weaken the Lord’s statement. Inventive theologians, leaving the “eyes of the needle” alone (by the way, there is no plural in the Greek text), turned to “camel” and, replacing one letter, decided that it was a rope (“camel” and “rope” - kamelos and kamilos) . Moreover, the Aramaic word “gamla” means both “camel” and “rope”. And then they made a “rope” out of the rope, or even a “thread of camel’s hair.” But even in the latter case, it was not possible to change the meaning of the Savior’s statement - the camel turned out to have such coarse wool that a thread made from it rather resembles a rope and will not fit into any eye of a needle.

Isn’t it better to leave alone this amazing hyperbole, which so amazes the imagination that it is immediately remembered for a lifetime.

Nikolay Somin