Metaphysical Bible Dictionary - Unity of Citrus County

CALNEH 137
to the reading of the text (I Chron. 2:24), but the interpretation is thought to be wrong. Fallows
says concerning this text: "The reading of Jerome's Hebrew Bible, 'Caleb came in unto
Ephrath,' is probably the true one, as no such place is elsewhere heard of. Ephrath, or
Ephrathah, was a second wife, married after Hezron's death."
MD 137/1.1 Meta. Ephrathah means fruitfulness, fertility, abundance. The union of Caleb with
Ephrathah therefore bespeaks faith's fruition--the abundance of spiritual riches that man
realizes in his soul through an active faith in God--the omnipotent, ever present good.
MD 137/1.2 Calneh, cal'-neh (Heb.)--complete concentration; centralized ambition; a fortress.
A literal rendering of Calneh would be "all in self."
MD 137/1.3 A city in the land of Shinar that was built by Nimrod (Gen. 10:10). It is mentioned
in Amos 6:2 as a one-time powerful city that had been overthrown because of its trust in
materiality.
MD 137/1.4 Meta. Selfishness, a centering in self; also confidence in material conditions
rather than trust in God. Calneh was destroyed because of evil; even so the state of thought
that it represents will be overcome and its seeming power will be taken away from it because it
is founded and built up in error, in materiality, in idolatry, instead of Truth.
MD 137/1.5 Calno, cal'-no (Heb.)--his complete concentration; his centralized ambition; his
selfishness; his fortress.
MD 137/1.6 The same place as Calneh (Isa. 10:9).
MD 137/1.7 Meta. See CALNEH.
MD 137/1.8 camel.
MD 137/1.9 Meta. An explanation of John the Baptist's being clothed with "camel's hair" (Matt.
3:4) is given as follows: A camel symbolizes power of endurance, strength, and patient
perseverance. Hair is symbolical of the power to equalize the inner and outer life forces.
MD 137/1.10 He who sets himself to do the work of manifesting God must have (be clothed
with) the power, patience, perseverance, and strength of Spirit. He must will to seek, to know,
to understand God and to do His holy will; he must learn to discriminate between the thoughts,
imaginations,
CANA
desires, of self and the visions and commands of God. He must have strength to receive the
wisdom of Spirit, to equalize the flow of thought substance, and to harmonize the ideas of
Spirit with the manifestations of the outer world. He must put into practical, everyday use the
Truth of the absolute, uninfluenced by the praise or condemnation of man. He must put God
before self. All this must be done before he can recognize the Christ, the Spirit of God in
himself. You will see readily that the work cannot be done by the human self; it can be
accomplished only through the power of Spirit.
MD 137/2.1 A comparison to the camel may be made of the Jews. In their zeal for God, their
religious worship, they had the camel's persistence and patient determination, to the point of
seeming obstinacy. On the other hand, they were just as zealous in their pursuit of idols.
MD 137/2.2 Camels are "appropriately called the ships of the desert," Fallows says. To the
ability to go long distances without outer nourishment, "are added a lofty stature and great
agility; eyes that discover minute objects at a distance; a sense of smelling of prodigious
acuteness . . . a spirit, moreover, of patience, not the result of fear, but of forbearance, carried
to the length of self-sacrifice in the practice of obedience.... Without the existence of the camel
immense portions of the surface of the earth would be uninhabitable and even impassable.
Surely the Arabs are right: 'Job's beast is a monument of God's mercy !' " The Arabs call the
camel "Job's beast" in reference to its great patience and forbearance. The thought of these
characteristics in the camel, and their great value, recalls to mind the words of the Master: "In
your patience ye shall win your souls" (lives, margin; Luke 21:19).