Camel, dromedary
Animals in the Bible
Camels belong to the same family as the South American llama, vicuna, alpaca, and guanaco, but camels are much larger and have a big fatty hump on their backs. Bactrian camels may reach a height of about two meters (6.5 feet), while dromedaries are even bigger. Dromedaries are a uniform light fawn color, while Bactrian camels are darker, especially in winter when they grow longer fur.
Camels do not have hooves but a large footpad with two broad toes ideally suited to walking on sand. In other ways too they are ideally suited to life in desert areas. They store excess food in their humps and this makes it possible for them to go a long time without eating. Special blood cells also enable them to go without water for long periods. They also have a very efficient digestive system and can extract the maximum amount of nutrition from apparently dry vegetation. This adaptation to harsh environments means that camels can make long journeys through dry areas which would be beyond the abilities of other types of pack animal such as donkeys. Camels were used for riding and for carrying heavy loads. They were also used to pull carts.
In winter the fur of camels thickens and grows longer and then when summer comes they shed their winter fur in large wads. These wads of camel hair are collected and twisted into cords and ropes or spun into thread which is then used for weaving coarse cloth. This cloth was usually used for making tents but it was sometimes used for making outer robes.
Camels’ milk was used as food and drink but their meat was considered unclean by the Israelites.
Pictures
In the Bible
The Hebrew and Greek words for it, and every verse where each is used
בֵּכֶר, בִּכְרָה beker, bikrah · 2 verses
גָּמָל gamal · 51 verses
כִּרְכָּרָה kirkarah · 1 verse
κάμηλος kamēlos · 9 verses
What it stands for
In spite of the fact that camels were considered to be unclean for food they were a symbol of wealth and commerce. People or nations with many camels were automatically viewed as commercially successful and wealthy as the possession of camels opened up the possibility of transporting goods long distances and engaging in trade.
More about it
While there is no doubt about the identity of the animal referred to by the above Hebrew, Greek and Latin words there has been some difference of opinion among scholars about the reference to camels in . Before 1960 it was thought that domestic camels were not in use in Egypt until around 1300 B.C. The evidence used in this argument was the fact that no hieroglyphs (pictures representing words) for camels or illustrations of camels seem to have been in use before that time.
However since then a limestone carving of a loaded camel and some line drawings scratched in stone have been found all dated by archeologists as coming from a period around 3000 B.C. Many camel bones from the period 1800-1600 B.C. have also been uncovered in ancient town sites and a camel hair cord dated about 2500 B.C. was found in Faiyum near Cairo. This new evidence has led scholars to conclude that domestic camels were indeed in use since about 3000 B.C. but that taboos associated with them may have been responsible for the fact that they were not depicted in hieroglyphs on commemorative stones or tomb decorations and that camel figurines were not made before 1550 B.C.
Whether or not these scholars are correct in their conclusions there is no doubt that the Hebrew text as we have it contains the word for “camel", and has to be translated accordingly.
There were two types of camel known in Bible times the most common being the Arabian Dromedary camelus dromedarius, which was indigenous to the area. The two-humped Bactrian Camel camelus bactrianus was also known and prized, but it was imported from Central Asia.
Also in Mammals
Sources
Plants and Trees in the Bible, Animals in the Bible and Human-made Things in the Bible © United Bible Societies, 2025 (adapted from Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible by Robert Koops, All Creatures Great and Small: Living Things in the Bible by Edward R. Hope, and The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible by Ray Pritz), CC BY-SA 4.0; adapted for eRhema