Question: Does the camel through an eye of a needle refer to a needle’s eye gate (a small door in a big city gate through which a camel could enter if it got down on its knees)?

Answer: No. This idea was made up by a monk in the 10^th century. See Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, p. xx.

There is a parallel to the needle metaphor in the Babylonian Talmud.

Jesus was noting that it is quite difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.

William P. Griffin, Ph.D.

Wave Nunnally, Ph.D.