In the case of "gty" I tend to run in the other direction....however, does he state what the eye of the needle is?
DID IT ALL !
Apparently it was a common expression in Israel. Even in the Talmud, one such expression was FOR AN ELEPHANT TO PASS TRUTH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE.
It may be that we have to wait until the day we see HIM to ask HIM personally what HE MEANT by that Expression.
Matthew 19:22-26 (HCSB)
22 When the young man heard that command, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
23 Then Jesus said to His disciples,
“I assure you: It will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven!
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Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished and asked,
“Then who can be saved?”
26 But Jesus looked at them and said,
“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Now, look at that last sentence. It it appears Jesus is thinking about a Sewing Needle. But I just picked up on the main TRUTH in this VERSE, and it helps us prove, GOD DID IT ALL. LOOK AT WHAT THE DISCIPLES SAID TO HIM. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR MEN TO SAVE THEMSELVES, YET GOD CAN DO IT. Very interesting Observation, very interesting indeed. I have to save this in my verses that support OSAS.
Now to be fair, I have to look at the Needle Gate Theory.
IF it refers to a gate, the only one small enough would be this side entrance to the JUDGEMENT GATE, after the Gate was CLOSED. Here is another thought that just came to me. It looks like someone hurriedly used a Sledge Hammer to knock those blocks out, to make that GATE. Don't it? If it was designed to be a permanent passage way, would it not been more elaborate, if it was used every night after the Gates were Closed? When would it have been built? Not during the time of Jesus, but during the time of the Siege of 70 A.D. ALL THE GATES TO THE CITY WOULD HAVE BEEN CLOSED AND BARRACKED. Correct me, if I am wrong, but NO Running Water inside the City Walls, Just Cisterns. Bare in mind that if Archaeologists are right that what they think is the original Temple Mount is in the City of David, just south of the Southern Wall of the City. There was a GATE just East of the New Gate, that was not finished until 1887, called the CORNER GATE and at the time of Christ it was called GENNATH GATE, but there is some speculation that the Corner Gate and Gennath Gate may have been two seperate gate about 50 yards apart, along the same stretch of wall. It was torn down by orders of the King, and then a King after him ordered it rebuilt. There is no info if the Corner Gate was rebuild in the same Location or not. So the Corner Gate was there at the time of Christ. SUPPOSEDLY, according to the Catholics, that is the exit HE took Carrying the Cross out of the walled City to Golgotha.
I have been trying to research this most of today. Had to figure out that the same GATE, changed names at least 3 times. Makes my head spin, had to go to a multitude of websites to get bits and pieces of this info.
So years later the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, laid claim to the Property, walled off the external GATE, renaming it Judgement Gate; and built a huge Cathedral beside it to the right, and today it is called: Holy Sepulchre Church. Notice that Gate is now walled off.
Now I will give you what I speculate, happened during the 70 AD Siege.
So I based on my assessment on my personal tour of the Underground City, in south central Turkey, in the Air Force, 1969. They BUILT the Tunnels going down in the City's ten floors, (we were not allowed to go below the fourth flour), But every tunnel that went down to next level, was VERY NARROW HALLWAYS AND VERY LOW CEILINGS, so that an enemy could only attack in single file in a bent over position; so that one guy with a spear or a bow and arrow, could defend against an attacking army by himself. Look at the picture above with a woman coming through the supposed Needle Gate. That was DILIBERATE, so one guy could defend against the whole army of attacking Roman Soldiers. Giving them access to the water in the Pool of Amygdalon, without a FEAR of a Counter Attack. That had to of happened during the 70 AD Siege, and the other gates are all too wide.
So I lean towards, dc being right, it was an expression about God Doing the Impossible, by Saving Men because WE CANNOT FIT THROUGH THE EYE OF A SEWING NEEDLE to save ourselves out of our own efforts.
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