The Camel in the Tent
Saying yes to anachronisms, and why I'm keeping the camels in my poems
“The camel carries the Great Deep withn his body. Sustained by this inner water, he travels across the emptiness.”
— Rachel Pollack1
Welcome back to The Life of H: Sarah, Reimagined. Here you’ll find poems and lyrical prose inspired by the life of the biblical matriarch, Sarah. It’s free! But a paid subscription helps support this project — and gives you access to exclusive content.
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The anachronism in the room
In today’s poem, “Dromedary,” I imagine a young Sarah and her family’s camel.
After all, camels plod on their padded two-toed hooves all through Genesis. Abraham and Sarah traveled with them, and shortly after Sarah’s death, Abraham sends a servant along with not one but ten camels to seek a bride for Isaac.
So, it seemed perfectly plausible that a young Sarah might have grown up around them. But then I read that domesticated camels didn’t exist in biblical times.
“The archaeologists…used radiocarbon dating to pinpoint the earliest known domesticated camels in Israel to the last third of the 10th century B.C. — centuries after the patriarchs lived ….”
John Noble Wilford, “Camels had no Business in Genesis,” New York Times, Feb. 19, 2014
I debated pulling the poem from the collection. But, then I thought, what’s wrong with anachronisms? I am an anachronism!
Yes, as a 21st Century woman inserting myself into an ancient story, I am defying the rules of chronology. I do it all the time. As a writer, I trespass into times and places that are not mine to inhabit. After all, the dreaming mind of the poet knows no boundaries.
And besides, if anachronisms are good enough for the Bible, where they appear with some frequency, then they are good enough for me!
So, enjoy this poem about Sarah and her camel. Then, keep reading to delve more deeply into my arguments, meditations, and obsessions on why I’m keeping the camels in my poems.
Listen to today’s poem
Press the blue arrow to hear today’s poem, “Dromedary” by Tzivia Gover. If you have trouble, try this link.
Copyright Tzivia Gover, all rights reserved
About those camels
I did a little digging and learned that there is enough factual evidence to make Sarah’s affinity for camels plausible. For example:
1. Timing is everything. The studies that dispute the role of camels in the Bible refer to domesticated camels. But archeologists have dated bones of wild camels to 3000 BCE. Sarah’s story takes place sometime between 2000 and 1600 BCE.
2. Location, location. Also, the studies claiming camels are misplaced in the Bible refer to Canaan. But several archeological sources point to people riding camels and drinking their milk in ancient Iraq.2 Sarah and Abraham came from Ur, located in the southern region of modern-day Iraq. So maybe the camels they traveled with came from there.
(Speaking of anachronisms, some say Ur of the Chaldeans is an anachronism, too, but let’s stick to the camels for now.)
3. Poetic resonance. If you were going to diagram the plot of Sarah’s story there would be a double climax: Sarah, in her old age, giving birth to Isaac—and then Abraham obeying God’s command to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah. So, the diagram of this story arc would have two humps, kind of like, well, a camel.
4. Feminine and Feminist. Finally, I’m sticking with the camels because of the feminist weight they carry. This one takes more than a bullet point to develop, so read on.
The Life of H: Sarah, Reimagined is a work in process where I try out drafts of poems with you, and also drafts of my thinking. I keep learning, and as I do I revise my poems and my understanding of this bible story. Today’s offer gives you a chance to sample a paid subscription for FREE for one month. (Don’t worry, if you do nothing, you’ll keep receiving plenty of free content each week!)
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