Matthew Chapter 3, Verse 4
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4: αυτος δε ο ιωαννης ειχεν το ενδυμα αυτου απο τριχων καμηλου και ζωνην δερματινην περι την οσφυν αυτου η δε τροφη αυτου ην ακριδες και μελι αγριον
4: And 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.
4: And the same John had his garment of camel's hair, and a leathern
girdle about his loins: and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
His raiment of camel's hair. His clothing. This is not the fine hair of the camel from which our elegant cloth is made, called eamlet; nor the more elegant stuff, brought from the East Indies, under the name of camel's hair; but the long, shaggy hair of the camel, from which a coarse, cheap cloth is made, still worn by the poorer classes in the East, and by monks. This dress of the camel's hair, and a leathern girdle, it seems, was the common dress of the prophets, 2Kg 1:8, Zech 13:4.
His meat was locusts. His food. These constituted the food of the common people. Among the Greeks, the vilest of the people used to eat them; and the fact that John made his food of them is significant of his great poverty and humble life. The Jews were allowed to eat them, Lev 11:22. Locusts are flying insects, and are of various kinds. The green locusts are about two inches in length, and about the thickness of a man's finger. The common brown locust is about three inches long. The general form and appearance of the locust is not unlike the grasshopper They were one of the plagues of Egypt, Ex 10:1. In eastern countries they are very numerous. They appear in such quantities as to darken the sky, and devour in a short time every green thing. The whole earth is sometimes covered with them for many leagues, Joel 1:4, Isa 33:4.
Wild honey. This was probably the honey that he found in the rocks of the wilderness. Palestine was often called the land flowing with milk and honey, Ex 3:8, Ex 3:17, Ex 13:5.
Bees were kept with great care and great numbers of them abounded in the fissures of trees and the clefts of rocks. There is also a species of honey called wild-honey, or wood-honey 1Sam 14:27, or honey-dew, produced by certain little insects, and deposited on the leaves of trees, and flowing from them in great quantities to the ground. See 1Sam 14:24ff. This is said to be produced still in Arabia; and perhaps it was this which John lived upon.
