Genesis Camels | thebereancall.org

TBC Staff

Whadaya Expect From A Miraculous Book?

The listing of domesticated camels at the time of Abraham (2000 BC) as referenced in Genesis:12:16 and elsewhere in the Pentateuch was judged impossible by a number of scholars, pointing out that camels were not domesticated until about 1100 BC.

To the contrary, evidence of the early domestication of camels are found in a text from Alalakh (18th cent. BC), Old Babylonian lists from the same period, and a Sumerian text from Nippur mentioning camel's milk as a beverage.

Additional proof in the form of camel bones have been found in domestic contexts at the following sites: Megiddo, Jericho, el Jisr, Gezer (all 1800 BC), Mari (2500 BC), Arad (2900 BC), and various sites in Egypt (2900 BC).

Finally, consider these additional references: P. Wapnish, "Camel Caravans and Camel Pastoralists at Tell Jemmeh," JANES 13, 1981, p. 104-105, R. Bulliet, "The Camel and the Wheel," Cambridge Mass. 1975, p. 56, F.E. Zeuner, "A History of Domesticated Animals," Londen 1963, p. 344, R.D. Barnett, Lachish, Ashkelon and the Camel, in: J.N. Tubb, "Palestine in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Papers in Honor to Olga Tuffnell," Londen 1985, p. 16, D. Collon and E. Porada, 23rd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, "Archaeology" 30, 1970, p. 343-345, M. Ripinsky, "The Camel in Dynastic Egypt", JEA 71, 1985, p. 136.