It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Eye of the needle for camel

Roman Makhankov, Vladimir Gurbolikov

There are words of Christ in the Gospel 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 property [*].”

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.

Firstly, a rich man cannot be a real Christian.

A Secondly, in order to be truly a 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 “beggars” to whom the “rich” must “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 “camelos”, camel, but a very similar word “kamilos”, rope

(especially since they coincided in medieval pronunciation). 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, nowhere does the Bible say that by itself wealth serves as a reason to condemn a person, and poverty by her own capable of justifying it.

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 possessions, 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, we 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 him 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 real Christian must give to God first of all my 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.

Magazine "Foma"

And I can’t help but add the interpretation of the teachers of the Church

St. John Chrysostom

Art. 23-24 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 say to 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.

Art. 26 And Jesus looked up and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Indeed, those who own little have less obstacles on the path to salvation than those who are immersed in the abyss of wealth, because the passion for wealth is then stronger.

And I will never cease to repeat that the increase in wealth more and more ignites the flame of passion and makes the rich poorer than before: constantly arousing new desires in them, it makes them aware of all their poverty.

Look at the power this passion showed here too. The one who approached Jesus with joy and zeal was so darkened and burdened by it that when Christ commanded him to distribute his property, he could not even give Him any answer, but walked away from Him silently, with a downcast face and with sadness.

What about Christ? As if the rich are inconvenient, they will enter the kingdom of heaven.

With these words Christ does not condemn wealth, but those who are addicted to it. But if it is difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven, then what can we say about the covetous?

If not giving from your property to another is already an obstacle on the path to the kingdom, then imagine what kind of fire is collected by the one who seizes someone else’s!

But why did Christ tell His disciples that it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven when they were poor and did not even have anything?

In order to teach them not to be ashamed of poverty and, as it were, to justify himself to them as to why He had previously advised them to have nothing.

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 is explained by the example of a camel and the eye of a needle.

Convenient, speaks, I will have to pass through the ears of needles, even if I am rich, into the kingdom of God.

And from this it is clear that a considerable reward awaits those who know how to live prudently with wealth.

Therefore, Christ calls such a way of life the work of God, in order to show that a lot of grace is needed for those who want to live like this. When the disciples were troubled when they heard His words, He further said: With man this is impossible, but with God everything is possible.

But why are the disciples embarrassed when they are poor, and even too poor?

What worries them?

Because they had too much strong love to all humanity, and already taking upon themselves the position of their teachers, they feared for others, for the salvation of all people. This thought confused them very much, so that they had a great need for consolation.

Therefore Jesus, looking at them first, said: What is impossible with man is possible with God(Luke XVIII, 27).

With a meek and quiet gaze He calmed their worried thoughts and resolved their bewilderment (the evangelist also points to this with the words: looking up), and then encourages them with words, pointing to the power of God, and thus arousing hope in them.

And if you want to know how the impossible can be possible, then listen.

This is not why Christ said: What is impossible with man is possible with God, so that you weaken in spirit and move away from the work of salvation, as if it were impossible; no, He said this so that you, realizing the greatness of the subject, would the sooner take up the work of salvation and, with the help of God, having set foot on the path of these wonderful exploits, receive eternal life.

Conversations on the Gospel of Matthew.

Right John of Kronstadt

And again I say to 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.

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., that is, it is extremely difficult for the rich to leave their whims, their luxury, their hardness of heart, their stinginess, their earthly pleasures and begin a life according to the Gospel, a life always abstinent, full of good fruits: mercy, meekness, humility, gentleness - pure and chaste.

Life in repentance and incessant tears. Is it not amusements, luxury, games, or commercial transactions that occupy them all their lives?

And their constant pride, like a necklace, surrounds them, and their inaccessibility to the poor, and their contempt is exorbitant?!

Just think that these are the same mortals who were created from dust and will return to dust!

Diary. Volume XIX. December 1874.

Blzh. Hieronymus of Stridonsky

Art. 24-26 And I also tell you: it’s more comfortable for a camel(camelum) to pass through the eye of a needle, rather than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Hearing this, His disciples 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.”

These words already show that it is not [only] difficult, but also impossible [for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven].

Indeed, if a camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle, and if likewise a rich man cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven; then none of the rich will be saved.

However, if we read in Isaiah about how the camels of Midian and Ephah will arrive in Jerusalem with gifts and treasures (Is. 60:6), and also that those who were originally bent and twisted by the ugliness of vices enter the gates of Jerusalem, then we We will see that these camels, with which the rich are compared, after they have laid aside the burden of sins and are freed from all the ugliness of the body, can enter the narrow gate and enter the narrow path leading to life (Matthew 7).

And when the students ask a question and are surprised at the severity of what was said [saying]: Who will be saved in this way? He mercifully mitigates the severity of His sentence, saying: What is impossible with people is possible with God.

Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.

Evfimy Zigaben

Again I say to you: it is more convenient to eat, I will let you pass through the ears of a needle, before you can bring a rich man into the Kingdom of God.

Having said that this matter is difficult, he calls it impossible, and even more than impossible.

It is impossible for a camel, an animal, to pass through the eye of a needle, or even more impossible than that.

Of course, the speech is somewhat exaggerated in order to arouse fear in the covetous.

Some here mean a camel as a thick rope used by shipbuilders.

With these words, Christ condemns not wealth, but addiction to it.

Great example!

Just as the eye of a needle cannot accommodate a camel because of its crampedness and its fullness and pomp, so the path leading to life cannot accommodate wealth because of its crampedness and its arrogance.

Therefore, one must put aside all pride, as the Apostle teaches (Heb. 12:1), and humble oneself through voluntary poverty.

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) 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

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.
From the Bible. (Gospel of Matthew, ch. 19, v. 24; Gospel of Luke, ch. 18, v. 25). There are two versions of the origin of this expression. Some Bible interpreters believe that the reason for the appearance of such a phrase was an error in the translation of the original biblical text: instead of “camel” one should read “thick rope” or “ship rope”, which indeed cannot be passed through the eye of a needle.
On the other hand, some scholars studying the history of Judea, accepting the word “camel,” interpret the meaning of the words “eye of the needle” in their own way. They believe that in ancient times this was the name given to one of the gates of Jerusalem, through which it was almost impossible for a heavily laden camel to pass.
The meaning of the expression: it means that a rich person, before becoming one, committed many sins and even crimes to achieve this goal. Therefore, it is difficult for him to count on reward for “righteous behavior” in afterlife.
Expressions similar in meaning are widely known in world literature: “Behind every great fortune lies a crime” (O. Balzac), “All large current conditions acquired in the most dishonest way” (I. Ilf and E. Petrov), etc.

• - a symbol of a problem whose solution seems unrealistic, the expression goes back to a quote from the Gospels “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”...

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• - eternal blissful life with God...

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• - Wed. I had an uncle - may he rest in heaven! I add the latter only because this is already customary when talking about the dead... Grigorovich. My uncle Bandurin...

  Mikhelson Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary

• - to whom. Outdated High An expression used when wishing the deceased an afterlife in paradise. - Our wife Avdotya Petrovna has died... Terenty, looking at the image, crossed himself. - The kingdom of heaven to her! ...

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• - whom. Volg., Don. Slander, disgrace someone. SDG 3, 167. 2. Volg. Live in extreme poverty. Glukhov 1988, 161...
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• - @font-face (font-family: "ChurchArial"; src: url;) span (font-size:17px;font-weight:normal !important; font-family: "ChurchArial",Arial,Serif;)    =   phraseol. eternal bliss prepared for the saints, paradise; foreigner gospel sermon...

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• “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.” Wed. Il est plus facile à un chameau de passer par le trou d’une aiguille, qu’à un riche d’entrer dans le ciel. Per. Some translate instead of: “camel” rope...
• - May the kingdom of heaven be upon him! Wed. I had an uncle - may he rest in heaven! I add the latter only because this is already customary when talking about the dead... Grigorovich. My uncle Bandurin...

  Michelson Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (orig. orf.)

• - Book Joking. About the complete impossibility of comprehending or doing something. Mokienko 1989, 113-115; BMS 1998, 74...

  Large dictionary of Russian sayings

• - Book Die. Mokienko 1990, 98...

  Large dictionary of Russian sayings

• - Volg., Mord., Novg. About an experienced, cunning, resourceful person. Glukhov 1988, 135; SRGM 2002, 70; Sergeeva 2004, 132...

  Large dictionary of Russian sayings

• - whom. Don. Slander, slander someone. SDG 3, 167...

  Large dictionary of Russian sayings

• - What. Volg. Complete a difficult, delicate task. Glukhov 1988, 135...

  Large dictionary of Russian sayings

• - to whom. Razg. Outdated Wishing the deceased an afterlife in heaven. FSRY, 512; BTS, 1457; Versh. 4, 113...

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