The Camel.
WE come now to a very interesting animal, both naturally and from what we read of it in Scripture. The camel is an animal peculiarly fitted for the scene where God has placed it, and for the work He has given it to do. Found in a land where long journeys must be taken through the desert, where for days sometimes neither food nor water are to be procured; the camel has a wonderful provision for the way. Look at its picture. It has on its back a large hump, (sometimes two.) This hump is composed of a fatty substance which sustains the animal’s life when other food fails. Then it has two stomachs, one of which forms a reservoir of water which supplies the need in “a dry and thirsty land where no water is.” The feet, too, being flat and broad and protected by a thick sole, are suited for walking on the desert sand.
The first mention we have of the camel in Scripture is Gen. 24. Please take your Bibles and read the whole of this beautiful story in which Abraham sends his steward to get a wife for his beloved son Isaac. He took ten of his master’s camels, as he had a long joey before him over a desert country. When he reached the place where Abram’s kindred lived, he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water, at the time when women came out to draw. Then he prayed to God to show him who was the one to be Isaac’s wife, by this sign, that when he should ask a young woman to give him a drink, she should say, “Drink, and I will give thy camels drink, also.” This, Rebekah did, and he found she was one of his master’s kindred. He asked her if she would go with him to Isaac to be his wife. She said, “I will go.”
So the servant took her and her damsels and they rode on camels. When the desert journey was almost at an end, Isaac came to meet her and took her to his home; she became his wife and he loved her. Now, Isaac, we know, is a type of Jesus, the beloved Son of His Father. So Rebekah, his wife, is a picture of all the people who believe in the Lord Jesus, spoken of in the Bible as the Bride, the Lamb’s wife—the church.
And, dear ones, we, too, (I speak of those who believe in Jesus as their Saviour), are journeying through a desert or wilderness. This is not our home; and as Isaac came to meet Rebekah and took her home, so surely, some day, Jesus Himself will come for His people —His Bride. (1 Thess. 4:16-1716For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑17).) And what do we learn from the camel in all this? I think it means God’s perfect provision for the wilderness journey—food, water, and care for the feet. You may remember, those of you who have read how God cared for His ancient people those forty years in the wilderness, how He fed them with manna; He gave them water from the rock, and their feet swelled not. So He provides for us, not only for our bodily needs, but also for our souls. Jesus is the food for our souls, the bread which came down from heaven, (John 6:48,5148I am that bread of life. (John 6:48)
51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:51),) and He gives the living water to satisfy our thirst; for our feet, too, He makes full provision according to our aced and the roughness of the road. John 13; Deut. 33:2525Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be. (Deuteronomy 33:25). E. G. B.
ML 07/09/1899