Can a camel pass through the eye of a needle?

One of the truly hard sayings of Yeshua is the story of the rich man and how hard it would be for him to get to heaven. In the story of the rich young ruler Yeshua makes a startling statement regarding the possibility of the rich getting into heaven. Let's pick up the story and see what this situation is all about:

Matthew 19:16-26 "Now a man came up to Yeshua and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Yeshua replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." "Which ones?" the man inquired. Yeshua replied, "'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?" Yeshua answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Yeshua said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man 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 a rich man to enter the kingdom of G-d." When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" Yeshua looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with G-d all things are possible.""

This statement used to worry me a great deal because I wanted to be rich. Now I know that I will never have that fear fulfilled, but the question plagued me because I couldn't figure out how it was possible to ever pass a camel through the eye of a needle. This question has plagued a lot of other people, too, because there have been many attempts to explain this. I have heard the following explanation of this "Eye of a needle"

Mountain pass and the robbers

In ancient times there was a pass between the mountains that caravans had to pass through. The pass was known as "The Eye of a Needle, because it was so difficult to pass through without losing everything to robbers. This pass was very frequently overrun with robbers making it almost impossible to get a camel through it without being robbed. While it was very difficult, it was still possible to get through.

Getting a camel through the low entrance to an inn

This story goes something like this: In ancient times the gates to some Inns were built to make it very difficult to get into to thwart robbers. These small gates were known as "The Eye of a Needle." So, it was very difficult to get a camel through the "Eye of a Needle."

There are several variations on speculations of what Yeshua was actually talking about. The notion that he was talking about the actual eye of a needle is rejected since it would be impossible to get a camel through one of those. However, if you look at the response of the disciples to Yeshua' comment, the real truth comes out. The disciples were aghast at Yeshua' statement and said, "How then can anyone be saved?" To which Yeshua replied, "With man it is impossible, but with G-d all things are possible." He really was talking about a literal needle and that by man's effort it would be impossible. Salvation is impossible through man's effort; it is only made possible through G-d's action in Yeshua' death and resurrection.

So, you see, it isn't possible to get a camel through the eye of a needle, just as it isn't possible for a man to achieve salvation on his own merit. The rich have greater difficulty because they have too many material possessions to keep them preoccupied with this life. The rich young ruler went away sad because he did not want to part with the many possession he had amassed. It wasn't the possessions that mattered so much as the place they held in the young man's heart. They were ahead of G-d. Anything that stands between G-d and man is an idol. Anything that keeps us from truly worshiping G-d can become an idol. The worship of any idol will keep us out of heaven.

The Word