Three Camels

"Mmmm... That's Good Camel"*

*Have you ever heard the expression, "Straining
at a gnat while swallowing a camel?" I never knew
what the heck that was supposed to mean until
today. When I came upon the joke in the middle
of today's issue I determined to do a little research
and solve this mystery once and for all.

As you might have guessed, it has a biblical origin.
In Matthew 23 Jesus was chastising the Pharisees
for observing the letter of the law but not practicing
the spirit of the law.

He said, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your
spices­mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected
the more important matters of the law­-justice, mercy
and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter,
without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You
strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."

The important thing to understand is that according
to the laws of Moses certain things were forbidden
to eat, like insects, pigs and camels, among other things.

So Jesus was comparing the Pharisees devotion to the
minutia of the law while ignoring the large picture to
straining one minuscule little insect out of water or
wine so as not to contaminate it with a "forbidden"
animal, and then drinking that wine with a camel steak.

Anyway, it seems to make the joke just a little bit
funnier if you actually understand it.

{Thanks to Clean Laffs, Dec 2008 }

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"Three Camels"*

*Noah was standing at the gangplank checking
off the pairs of animals when he saw three camels
trying to get on board.

"Wait a minute!" he said. "Two each is the limit.
One of you will have to stay behind."

"It won't be me," said the first camel. "I'm the camel
whose back is broken by the last straw."

"I'm the one people swallow while straining at a
gnat," said the second.

"And I am the one that shall pass through the eye
of a needle sooner than a rich man shall enter
heaven." said the third.

"Well, I guess you had better all come in," said Noah,
"the world is going to need all of you."
Received on Mon Jan 5 00:25:14 2009