Swallow a Camel?

In the Holy Land in Jesus’ time, the camel was the largest animal around. Dromedary camels can be up to about 6.5 feet (2 meters) tall at the shoulder and weigh up to 1,325 pounds (600 kilograms).

Gnats were probably the smallest creatures that people were aware of. Quite a contrast!

The Cambridge Dictionary defines the idiom “strain at a gnat (and swallow a camel)” as: “To worry or think too much about something that is not important, often forgetting about something that is much more important.”

Context of Christ’s saying “strain out a gnat and swallow a camel”

Matthew 23 records Jesus’ powerful rebuke of the religious leaders during His last visit to Jerusalem, just a few days before His crucifixion.

Throughout His ministry, many scribes and Pharisees were jealous of His influence and angered by His teaching. At His triumphal entrance to Jerusalem, the religious leaders were indignant (Matthew 21:15). When He came to the temple, they challenged His authority (verse 23).

“Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk” (Matthew 22:15). But they failed, as did the Sadducees with their trick questions (verses 23-34).

Matthew 23 contains Jesus’ warnings about the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees.

He proclaimed eight woes against the religious leaders. His fifth woe was, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone” (verse 23).

This is a reminder to all of us to look at things from God’s perspective and to weigh things as He weighs them. For a fuller look at this verse, see “God’s Priorities: The Weightier Matters of the Law.”

Such surprising and humorous sayings can be an effective teaching tool, and Jesus was history’s greatest teacher. In this context, Jesus said, “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” (verse 24).

As William Barclay says in his Daily Study Bible, “This is a humorous picture which must have raised a laugh, of a man carefully straining his wine through gauze to avoid swallowing a microscopic insect and yet cheerfully swallowing a camel. It is the picture of a man who has completely lost his sense of proportion.”

Of course, the scribes and Pharisees were not laughing. Jesus’ words surely stung the leaders and sealed His fate in their eyes. Soon after, “the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him” (Matthew 26:3-4).

Though Jesus knew what was coming, He did not hold back, but powerfully taught God’s priorities.

The emphasis of “strain out a gnat and swallow a camel”

K.J. Went commented:

“Jesus was not criticising their gnat-straining but their inadvertent camel-swallowing. Just as, according to the previous verse (v23), they tithed mint and cumin, and left judgement, mercy and faith, to fend for themselves, so they should have ensured that they strained all unclean bodies from their drinks including the camels. ‘These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone’ (Matthew 23:23, NKJV).

“The criticism of the Pharisees was not about what they said, but what they chose to do. Their hypocrisy was to teach well and then not do accordingly, or to concentrate on one aspect of law to the detriment of the practice of another ‘weightier’ part” (StudyLight.org).

Memorable teaching tool

Such surprising and humorous sayings can be an effective teaching tool, and Jesus was history’s greatest teacher.

The mental image of a giant camel and a tiny insect probably stuck with everyone who heard Him that day. It got their attention, was spoken authoritatively and gave them something to think about.

Learn more about Jesus’ teaching methods in the article “Jesus the Teacher: How Did Jesus Teach?”

Exaggeration for effect? Or spiritual reality?

Some commentators note that “strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” is hyperbole—an exaggeration for effect. No one can actually swallow an entire camel!

But another way to look at this teaching is to consider that the misplaced spiritual priorities Jesus was really talking about may be even more dramatic than the word picture He used. It’s possible that the spiritual reality was not an exaggeration, but an understatement!

So we should carefully consider our choices and priorities. Are we, as the saying goes, “majoring in the minors”? Are we missing the forest for the trees? Are we penny-wise and pound-foolish?

Are we straining out a gnat, but gulping down a camel?

Study this important subject further in our articles “Christian Priorities: Putting God First” and “God’s Priorities: The Weightier Matters of the Law.”