Every now and then I’ll run across something in the Bible that makes me ask, “What’s significant about that? or “Why are those details listed?” One example of this is in Matthew (and also in Mark 1:6).
Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Matthew 3:4
Seems simple enough, right? Just a simple verse describing his clothing and his food. But why? What is the reason for listing those details?
First, let’s talk about his clothing, the camel’s hair and the leather belt. In 2 Kings, we meet the prophet Elijah. When King Ahaziah’s messengers returned to him,
He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?” They answered him, “He was a hairy man with a leather girdle bound about his loins.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.” 2Kings 1:7-8.
Elijah himself was hairy, or perhaps he wore a hairy garment. Later, Zechariah, we see another example of the significance of this hairy clothing.
“Also it will come about in that day that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not put on a hairy robe in order to deceive.” Zechariah 13:4
This verse implies that at least by this time, the hairy robe or garment is a type of uniform for prophets. Jesus confirms this later in Matthew.
“But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ palaces! But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way before You.’” Matthew 11:10.
Not only is Jesus confirming the use of the prophets’ “uniform,” but He’s also telling them that Malachi 3:1 has now been fulfilled!
What about the locusts and the wild honey?
Desert Locust
In the days when God was giving Israel His laws, He commanded them that they are not to eat any winged insects that walk on all fours (Leviticus 11:20).
“Yet these you may eat among all the winged insects which walk on all fours: those which have above their feet jointed legs with which to jump on the earth. These of them you may eat: the locust in its kinds, and the devastating locust in its kind.” Leviticus 11:21-22.
So one reason for eating locusts was to show John faithful to God’s law.
In Exodus, God sent swarms of locusts as a plague and judgment on Egypt for Pharaoh’s refusal to let the people of Israel free. So in a sense, by John eating locusts, it could be a way to demonstrate the need for the people to repent. Certainly, this was his message, as “one cyring out in the desert.”
As for the honey, it is usually connected to God’s promises of redemption and blessing. God tells them,
“So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” Exodus 3:8
By John eating honey, he is reminding the people of the promises of God spoken by Moses.
“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey.” Deuteronomy 8:7-8.
Ultimately, all of these is symbolic of the life that we have in Christ. John was Jesus’ prophet. His entire life demonstrated Jesus’ pending arrival.
It’s my prayer that my life be an outward sign of Christ just as John’s was. It’s my goal–as the name of this blog states–that God increases in my life and I decrease. May He Increase!
Megan (1)
