GEN 24:62-67 “HOW ABOUT THEM CAMELS”
A) This scripture passage is given in the context of Abraham sending his servant out to find a
bride for Isaac!
* This is one of the most beautiful Old Testament pictures of God sending the Holy Ghost out to
bring in a bride for His Son, the Lord Jesus.
* As Rebekah near where Isaac was, she saw him, and “lighted off her camel.”
* Someone once said this is the first place in the Bible that mentions smoking.
* No, it is speaking of a literal, walking, breathing, living camel, not a camel cigarette.
B) The camel is mentioned some 62 times in the King James Version of the Bible!
* They were mainly a beast of burden, (the pick up trucks, or ships of the desert, and were a sign
of wealth! * If you remember, Job owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, and other animals as well!
* Two times the camel is mentioned in the Bible as forbidden meat - Lev.11:4 and Deut.14:7.
* They could be worked but were not to be eaten.
* Jesus said in Matt.19:24 that, “And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
C) Some think the eye of the needle was a narrow gate that went into Jerusalem, through which
the camel could barely squeeze if it would shed its harness and ornamental trappings!
* It supposedly was a narrow, small gate that could be used by people after the main gates to the
city were closed.
* I believe the figure of the camel and the eye of the needle means exactly what it says ... it does
not refer to a small gate of Jerusalem!
* Matt.19:26 “With men this is impossible; but with God ...”
* If you recall, in the Bible it speaks of John the Baptist wearing a garment of camel’s hair in
Matthew 3:4
* The camel’s hair is woolly and can easily be pulled away in clumps from the skin of the animal.
D) In the NT, the camel is mentioned only six times, and those mentions are only in the
gospels!
* The camel is a desert animal ... It can survive longer than any other creature of its kind in the
desert ... It doesn’t require nearly as much moisture as does other animals of its kind.
* They can survive in a wilderness when other animals would be perishing!
* No other animal can live, and at the same time carry such burdens in such a dry and hot climate
on such small supplies of food and water.
* God created the camel with what it needs to adapt to desert life! * Note:
* Whether you realize it or not we are living in a wilderness area, this world system, but God has
put adequate spiritual resources in us that we might survive, hold up, and maintain our spiritual
health. * There are lessons for us to learn about when we think of the camel.
(1) THE CAMEL IS A BURDEN BEARER!
* As the OT Bible characters would go from place to place, they often had camels to carry the
heavy loads and the supplies that would be involved in taking on a long journey.
A) We carry our heavy loads in pickup trucks, but the patriarchs used camels.
* I read somewhere that a normal sized camel can carry a person on board and an additional some
800 pounds above that. * The camel itself can weigh up to 1500 pounds.
* That would mean if a human being were not on its back, the adult camel could carry as much as
1,000 pounds on its back. * Rebekah did not lead the camel, but she rode it!
* Her load was to rest upon the camel and it would get her where she needed to go.
* She was going to meet her new bridegroom.
B) Life has its burdens to bear ... It is not all shouting and laughing!
* There are sobering and serious times that we must face as we walk along in this journey of life.
* There are things that are difficult for us to carry along.
* It was tough on the desert traveler when there was no camel.
* They had to try to carry the load on their own backs.
C) What a relief it must have been to turn the weight over to a camel!
* The camel is designed to be able to handle it! * In 1Pet.5:7, “Casting all your care upon ...”
* That word “cast,” is an interesting word ... It means “to throw upon” or to “roll over on.”
* That is what we had better learn to do with our cares.
* We had better give them to Jesus before they get the best of us!
* Jesus mentioned that mankind worries about what he is going to eat, what he is going to wear,
whether or not material supply is going to come!
* That kind of frame of mind is inexcusable, if you realize that God controls your today and
your tomorrow!
D) I heard about a man who on a dark night, rolled down a steep place,
* Caught a bush growing out of the rocks, and held on with a sense of despair.
* His muscles strained and his grips was kept for a good while.
* Finally his endurance level dropped! * He was not able to hold on,
* So in despair he let go of the bush! * Guess how far he fell after he let go? * About six inches!
* So many people struggle and battle with problems, when really they need to let go of them and
find the Everlasting Arms underneath them.
E) Someone has rightly said, “Worry is like fighting shadows.”
* Engineers on a rail train do not like moonlit nights! Why?
* Because they are all the time fighting shadows.
* There comes a shadow across the track just ahead, and it may look like a man, a horse, or a tree,
but it really isn’t ... It’s just a shadow. * We spend a lot of our energy fighting shadows.
* We hardly get past one trouble until we are looking for another one to come!
* Dr. Vance Havner said, “Worry is like rocking in a rocking chair, it gives you something to do
but doesn’t get you anywhere.”
* Get in a habit of giving God your cares, your worries, your anxieties, because he can handle
them when you can’t.
(2) THE CAMEL IS EQUIPPED FOR SERVICE! * Body temperature:
* They do not pant or perspire hardly at all.
* Humans sweat when the outside temperature rises above the normal body temperature, but a
camel has a unique body thermostat.
* It can raise the body temperature tolerance level very high to adapt to the high temperatures in
the desert, and as a result, the body’s fluids are preserved and water loss is avoided!
* No other mammal can do this. * The camel’s body temperature is often lower than air
temperature so they often group together when they rest to avoid excessive heat!
* It’s body increases and decreases with the temperature outside of its body.
* That is why you seldom see a camel sweating.
A) It’s eyes ... They are equipped for the sandstorms that would blow in the desert!
* They are protected by a double row of long, curly eyelashes that also help keep out sand and
dust, while thick brushy eyebrows shield the eyes from the desert sun.
* A sand storm does not stop the camel!
* Hard Skin ... He has thick calluses, like bare spots of dry skin that appear on his chest and knee
joints when the animal gets 5 months of age.
* Those leathery patches help support the body weight of the animal when it kneels, rises and
rests. * The sand could be hard on their outer body were it not for the pads.
B) Travel speed ... The camel is designed to cover about 25 miles a day at a normal walk!
* Why are you saying all of that about the camel? * I am going to liken the believer to one.
* Just as God equipped the camel for service, so has he the believer.
* Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall
be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the .......”
* That equipping comes through our relationship to and fellowship with the Holy Spirit of God!
* So much is done today in the church in the energy of the flesh, we do not seem to need the
power of the Holy Ghost any more today.
C) I was watching a gospel presentation on TV here while back.
* It really turned my spiritual stomach on the inside.
* There was so much purely emotional hype and fleshly excitement, that I just thought,
* “Oh that they only knew the power of the Holy Ghost!”
* The gospel entertainment media seeks to encourage people to make a “hoot-n-nanny” out of a
worship service, and a lot of folks do not have enough spiritual discernment to tell the
difference!
D) I believe in old time shouting and praising God!
* But I do not believe in this “Nashville” mentality that has crept into churches all over this land!
* There’s some that’ll shout and praise God in the church, but not out of church!
* If what you got wont make you shout when you’re not in church, you aint got much!
* God will equip us for what He means for us to do, and that is to glorify His Name, and get His
Gospel out to those in need!
(3) THE CAMEL HAS AN UNUSUAL NOSE! * They have an ultra sensitive nose!
* In the desert he can smell water if there is any around!
* How many of you can smell water?
* You may an onion or garlic, but you just do not think of smelling water, that is, if it is fresh
water! * A camel can ... He can tell if there is water around!
A) In the Old Testament, a priest who had a broken nose was not accepted!
* Today men of God need to find out where the water is, spiritually sniff it out, and lead the
people of God there for refreshment!
* Most so called preachers do not have enough sense to get out of the rain spiritually.
* That is why so many churches are far from what God wants them to be.
B) Everything rises and falls on leadership!
* We do not need to drill a bunch of new wells, but get the cover off and get some of the rubbish
out of the old wells, and drink out of them again!
* We are in a dry and thirsty world, but there are wells of refreshment for the people of God.
* Get you a drink out of the cool, refreshing things of God! * If you do not drink, you dehydrate!
(4) THE CAMEL HAS A CUSHIONED RIM AROUND HIS HOOFS!
* Their feet have broad, flat, leathery pads with two toes on each foot.
* When the camel puts its foot on the ground the pads spread, keep the foot from sinking into the
sand ... That is how it is able to walk in the sand without sinking up in it!
* When it walks it moves both feet on one side of the body, then both feet on the other side.
* It rocks back and forth like a boat ... that is where it got it’s name ... the “ship of the desert.”
A) The Christian is able to walk above the “downward pull” of the world! * 1John 2:13-14
* You do not have to sink down into the ungodliness of this present age in which we now live.
* You can stay on top, through the Lord and His marvelous, abundant provisions!
* One sign that you are saved is that you walk in victory over the world, the flesh and the devil.
* 1John 4:4 “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he ...”
(6) THE CAMEL IS KNOWN FOR IT’S LONG, SHARP TEETH!
* It actually has 34 sharp teeth!
* If there is not a water source to be seen around anywhere in the desert, if there is nothing to eat,
the camel can eat into rough thorny bushes without damaging the lining of it’s mouth!
* It can find food when there is no food because of the way God formed it’s teeth!
A) Jesus said this in John 4:32, “But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not ...”
* The disciples were trying to get Jesus to eat physical food.
* They felt like he must have been hungry after his journeying.
* They said, “Master eat.” * He said to them, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.”
* As God’s people, we can find something to eat, when others eat, and eat of the worlds table, and
are never really satisfied!
(7) THE CAMEL HAS TWO HUMPS TO EQUIP IT FOR LONG TIRING JOURNEYS!
* It was thought years ago that the camels had water stored in the two humps on top of their backs.
A) Experts now say that is not so ... It does not have water sacks in the humps!
* It is actually fatty tissue!
* When food is hard to find, the camel uses its hump fat to make it on during a long journey.
* When a camel has been using the humps for a while as a nutrition source, the humps get flabby
and they shrink to a smaller size.
* After the camel has eaten for a few days, the hump will get back to its normal size and firm
condition.
B) The camel can go in summer 1 week without water!
* It can travel in winter 2 weeks without water!
* The bloodstream of the camel even stores water in it!
* That is a picture of grace ... Grace has brought us where we are today!
C) Where would we be without the grace of God?
* I hate to think about where we might be without His unearned favor!
* John Newton wrote in Amazing Grace:
* Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home!
CONCLUSION:
A) If you are here today and have never been saved, you need the saving grace of God.
* If you are here and are under a load you feel that you cannot carry much longer, you need the
sustaining grace of God.
* If you think death is near for you, if you are a child of God, you will know the dying grace that
only God gives! * You don’t get dying grace in a living hour!
* Thank God for His marvelous grace!
