Vertical Focus: Camels Domesticated As Bible Portrays

article by Mario Seiglie

With new archeological findings about domesticated camels making headlines, let's take a closer look at the Biblical record.

Source: sxc.hu/emmalemma

The Bible clearly states that Abraham possessed camels (Genesis 12:16), but just a few decades ago, many Bible critics pointed out that the mention of the domesticated camel during Abraham’s time was an anachronism-something mentioned at the wrong time period.

Even William Foxwell Albright, the great archaeologist of the 20th century, thought the Bible was in error in this regard, and that camels were only domesticated hundreds of years after Abraham’s day.

Yet, recent findings now indicate the camel was domesticated even before 2000 B.C., which corresponds to the period when Abraham lived. Excavations in eastern Arabia have revealed evidence that camels were first domesticated by Semites, Abraham’s ancestors, in the third millennium.

A team of archaeologists from the University of Oxford, England, studied ancient inscriptions in eastern Arabia during the 1990’s that led Prof. Michael MacDonald, one of the members of the team and an expert in inscriptions, to conclude the camel was domesticated in the third millennium, before Abraham’s time.

“Recent research,” notes Prof. Michael MacDonald, “has suggested that domestication of the camel took place in southeastern Arabia some time in the third millennium [B.C.]. Originally, it was probably bred for its milk, hair, leather, and meat, but it cannot have been long before its usefulness as a beast of burden became apparent” (“North Arabia in the First Millennium BCE,” Civilizations of the Ancient Near East , Vol. 2, 1995, p. 1357).

It is remarkable how much of MacDonald’s results match the biblical record. “According to MacDonald,” says Stephen Caesar, “the newly domesticated camel was used to traverse rough inhospitable terrain such as that between Mesopotamia, where Abraham was born, and Canaan, where he and his offspring eventually settled. This, of course, is in keeping with the frequent mention of camels in the biblical story of three individuals [Abraham, Abraham’s servant, and Jacob] who expended considerable effort traveling between Mesopotamian and the Levant (e.g., Genesis 12:4-5; Genesis 24:10-11; Genesis 28:2-5).

“Additionally, MacDonald noted that possession of camels by Semitic travelers endowed them with a special advantage over those who did not, particularly in economic and political terms. This conforms with the Genesis image of the Patriarchs as wealthy, respected individuals who could hold their own against monarchs and chieftains…Prof. MacDonald’s findings have an enormously important bearing on the Patriarchal narratives. First, the pre-Abrahamic date for domesticated camels nullifies the claim that their mention in Genesis is anachronistic. Second, ownership of camels would have greatly facilitated the Patriarchs’ frequent travels between Mesopotamia and Canaan. Third, domesticated camels in that era gave their owners an extraordinary advantage…” (“Patriarchal Wealth and Early Domestication of the Camel,” Bible and Spade , Feb. 19, 2009, online edition).

We see again that another biblical account proves to be accurate despite what many Bible critics originally thought.

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