Mark 10:25

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:23-31 Christ took this occasion to speak to his disciples about the difficulty of the salvation of those who have abundance of this world. Those who thus eagerly seek the wealth of the world, will never rightly prize Christ and his grace. Also, as to the greatness of the salvation of those who have but little of this world, and leave it for Christ. The greatest trial of a good man's constancy is, when love to Jesus calls him to give up love to friends and relatives. Even when gainers by Christ, let them still expect to suffer for him, till they reach heaven. Let us learn contentment in a low state, and to watch against the love of riches in a high one. Let us pray to be enabled to part with all, if required, in Christ's service, and to use all we are allowed to keep in his service.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Children - An expression of affection, perhaps also implying a reproof that their slowness of understanding was like that of children. When they should have seen at once the truth of what he said, they were slow to learn it. It became necessary, therefore, to "repeat" what he had said.

How hard - With how much difficulty.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mr 10:17-31. The Rich Young Ruler. ( = Mt 19:16-30; Lu 18:18-30).

See on [1473]Lu 18:18-30.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 10:23"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

It is easier for a camel,.... See Gill on Matthew 19:24.

Geneva Study Bible

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 10:25. In this proverbial saying the evangelists vary in expression in reference to the needle and the needle-eye, though one might have looked for stereotyped phraseology in a proverb. The fact points to different Greek renderings of a saying originally given in a Semitic tongue.—τρυμαλιᾶς, from τρύω, to rub through, so as to make a hole. According to Furrer, proverbs about the camel and the needle-eye, to express the impossible, are still current among the Arabs. e.g., “hypocrites go into paradise as easily as a camel through a needle-eye”; “He asks of people that they conduct a camel through a needle-eye” (Wanderungen, p. 339).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. It is easier for a camel] This figure has been variously interpreted. (a) Some have rendered it an “anchor-rope,” as though the word was “kamilon” and not “kamelon;” (b) others think it refers to the side gate for foot passengers, close by the principal gate, called in the East the “eye of a needle;” but (c) it is best to understand the words literally. Similar proverbs are common in the Talmud.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, etc. This is a strong hyperbolic proverbial expression to represent anything that is very difficult to do. Dr. John Lightfoot, in his Hebrew exercitations upon St. Matthew's Gospel (vol. 2 p. 219). He quotes instances from the binical writings of a very similar phrase intended to represent something that is possible. For example, he quotes one rabbi disputing with another, who says, "Perhaps thou art one of those who can make an elephant pass through the eye of a needle; that i,s, "who speak things that are impossible.' St. Jerome says," It is not the absolute impossibility of the thing which is set forth, but the infrequency of it." Mark 10:25

Vincent's Word Studies

Needle (ῥαφίδος)

A word stigmatized by the grammarians as unclassical. One of them (Phrynichus) says, "As for ῥαφίς, nobody would know what it is." Matthew also uses it. See on Matthew 19:24. Luke uses βελόνης, the surgical needle. See on Luke 18:25.