Misunderstood Verses: Camel Through the Eye of a Needle

In Matthew 29, verses 16-30, we find Jesus telling His disciples the parable of the rich young ruler (see also Mark 10:17-21 and Luke 18:18-30). Most of us are familiar with the parable. A rich young ruler approaches Jesus with the question of how to be saved. Jesus then tells him to keep all of the commandments, and the ruler claims that he has. Jesus then instructs him to sell all his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor so that he might have treasures in heaven. He further instructs him to “come follow Me”. Unfortunately, the ruler rejected Jesus'command and went away sad because he refused to part with his earthly wealth.

Jesus then said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mt 29:23-24). These two preceeding verses sometimes cause some difficulty in their interpretation for some readers.

The first difficulty is in regard to the statement about the camel going through the eye of the needle. Some have interpreted the “eye of the needle” as a city gate in Jerusalem called the “Eye of the Needle” or the “Camel Gate”, a gate so small that a camel could only pass though by kneeling or crouching. This however, strongly appears to be an urban legend. Another version of the legend states that its rider had to dismount, thus becoming vulnerable to predators. These false illustrations did not begin before the eleventh century AD and there is no backing evidence. Jesus is using hyperbole to illustrate the impossibility of anyone obtaining salvation by trusting in riches or anything else other than Him.

The second misunderstanding is that Jesus was stating that it is easier to get to heaven if you are poor. But this is not the way the disciples interpreted His words. If they interpreted Jesus' words to mean that it was almost impossible for rich people to be saved, their reaction would have been of relief because they were poor. Instead, they clearly interpreted His words as meaning that no one could be saved. Notice their reaction in verse 25. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”.

To understand their reaction, remember that the New Testament had not even been started at this point. The only Bible they had was the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). In the Old Testament, the Jews were still under the Old Covenant that promised blessings for obedience and judgment for disobedience. During this time, the major OT “role models“ such as Abraham, Moses, David etc were also blessed monetarily.

Of course, in our day, regardless of economic status, there is still only one way to get to heaven, by trusting in the one-time sacrifice of our Lord Jesus.