Camel

The camel was the essential beast of burden and long-distance transport throughout the ancient Near East and figures prominently throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. There are two domesticated species — the one-humped dromedary (Camelus dromedarius), native to Arabia and the most common in biblical narratives, and the two-humped Bactrian camel. Abraham possessed camels as part of his considerable wealth (Genesis 12:16; 24:10), and the camel caravan of Ishmaelites that carried Joseph to Egypt is among the earliest commercial references (Genesis 37:25). Camel caravans transported the Queen of Sheba's gifts and spices (1 Kings 10:2). Under Mosaic law camels were classified as unclean animals because they chew the cud but do not have split hooves (Leviticus 11:4). In the New Testament, John the Baptist wore a garment of camel's hair (Matthew 3:4), and Jesus used the proverbial image of a camel passing through the eye of a needle to illustrate the near-impossibility of the rich entering God's kingdom (Matthew 19:24).