Camel

The well-known ruminant, native in Asia and Africa. The word "camel" (Hebrew,

Otherwise the camel is mentioned as a possession only in post-exilic times among the Israelites (Ezra 2:67). In olden times the camel was also used in war; in Isaiah 21:7, camel-riders were part of the force of the Elamites. The Israelites were forbidden to eat the camel (Leviticus 11:4; Deuteronomy 14:7; see Bochart, "Hierozoicon," 1:11); it was the opinion of the Arabs that Jacob forbade it as food because it produced sciatica. As in Arabic, so also in Hebrew, the expressions "beker" (

The camel is also subject to rabies (see the Talmud Ber. 56a). Ḥul. 59a speaks of the distinctive teeth of the full-grown and of the young camel. The fat hump of a camel that has never carried burdens tastes like the meat itself (Mishnah and Gem. Ḥul. 122a). Camel's hair was made into clothing (Shab. 27a); but it must not be mixed with sheep's wool (Mishnah Kil. 9:1). John the Baptist was clothed in a coarse garment of camel's hair (Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6).