Mark 1:6 - Exposition

Clothed with camel's hair . This was a rough, coarse garment, characteristic of the doctrine which John taught, namely, penitence and contempt of the world. Camels abounded in Syria. And a leathern girdle about his loins . Not only the prophets, but the Jews and the inhabitants of Syria generally, used a girdle to keep the long flowing garment more closely about them, so as to leave them more free for journeying or for labour. Thus our Lord says ( Luke 12:35 ), "Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning." And he did eat locusts and wild honey. The insect called the locust ( ἀκρὶς ) was permitted to be eaten (see Le John 11:22 ). It was used as food by the common people in Judaea. The Arabs eat them to this day; but they are considered as a common and inferior kind of food. They are a sign of temperance, poverty, and penitence. The wild honey ( μέλι ἄγριον ) was simply honey made by wild bees, either in the trees or in the hollows of the rocks. Isidorus says that it was of an inferior flavour. Both these kinds of food were consistent with the austere life and the solemn preaching of the Baptist.