“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.”
Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. The description of John's clothing and diet places him explicitly in the tradition of Elijah: 2 Kings 1:8 describes Elijah as wearing a garment of hair with a leather belt around his waist. John is the Elijah who was to come (Matthew 11:14; 17:12–13). The wilderness diet of locusts and wild honey communicates John's complete separation from the structures of comfortable society — he is not at the king's table, not in the courts of the powerful, not beholden to any patron. The freedom to speak without fear of economic or social consequences is one of the gifts of the wilderness life. Amos 7:14–15 describes a similar dislocation from mainstream religious life that produced prophetic clarity.
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