632. Rough Garments - Locust Food

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Matthew 3:44And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. (Matthew 3:4). The same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
1. The “raiment of camel’s hair” was a coarse, rough outer garment, such as is still worn by the Arabs. It is made of the thin coarse hair of the camel. Some think, because Elijah is called “a hairy man” in 2 Kings 1:88And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. (2 Kings 1:8), that he wore a garment of this sort. A rough garment seems to have been characteristic of a prophet. See Zechariah 13:44And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: (Zechariah 13:4).
2. For a description of the girdle, see note on 1 Kings 18:4646And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. (1 Kings 18:46) (#314).
3. With many of the Bedouin on the frontiers locusts are still an article of food, though none but the poorest eat them. They are considered a very inferior sort of food. They are salted and dried, and eaten with butter or with wild honey. The fact that John ate this kind of food illustrates the extreme poverty or the forerunner of Christ, and shows the destitution he suffered by living in the wilderness far away from the haunts of men.