Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 2 Study # 9
October 30, 2018
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(024)
1901 ASV
6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and [
had] a leathern girdle about his loins, and did eat locusts and wild honey.
7 And he preached, saying, There cometh after me he that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
8 I baptized you in water; but he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit.
- I. John's Clothing.
- A. Hair of a camel...
- 1. The text literally reads, "And was The John having been clothed [Perfect Passive Participle] hairs [Feminine Plural Accusative] of a camel...".
- a. The imperfect, indicative, active main verb, coupled with the perfect, indicative, passive, participle indicates that this was John's everyday condition, having been clothed in a garment made of the hair of a camel.
- b. The use of the perfect passive indicates that this was not his own activity as in "I put on my garments", but, rather, this was an activity that was imposed upon him by someone else as in "I was compelled to wear camel's hair".
- 1) There is no real indication that he did, or did not, put the garments on himself.
- 2) The point is that whoever clothed him did it under someone else's mandate, as in "the king clothed his lords in bright and costly garments".
- a) There is no assumption at all that the king was the person putting the garments on them (this is a normal figure of speech).
- b) He simply mandated it, and left it to others to work out the details.
- 3) And the larger point is that the "mandate" had come from the Spirit of God by Whom he was "filled" daily.
- 2. This issue is actually explained by Zechariah 13:4-5.
- a. In this text, the word the Authorized Version translates "rough" in the phrase, "...neither shall they wear a rough garment [in order] to deceive..." is a word that means "hairy" with the focus upon the fact that the weaving left the fabric "bristly" (and, by implication, unpleasant to wear).
- b. The stated intention is that the "prophet" refused to allow his garment to indicate his identity as a prophet because he wished to make people think he was not a prophet (the reason in the text is that he would be killed if he was known to be a prophet).
- 3. Thus, Mark's point in telling us this about John was the he "fulfilled" the "voice" prophecy of Isaiah 40:3 by "being dressed", under a mandate, as a prophet of God.
- B. Belt of leather around his waist.
- 1. Acts 21:11 indicates that such a "belt" could be used, in a pinch, as a way to tie one's hands and feet so that he was held captive. Of itself, this text indicates that the word signals a rather long piece of cured leather that, typically, secured one's robe to one's body for ease of movement.
- 2. Mark's mention of this "leather belt" is explained by 2 Kings 1:7-8.
- a. The context is the story of how Ahaziah, king of Samaria, wanted to know if he was going to recover from a fall. He decided to send to the prophets of Baalzebub to find an answer.
- b. When Elijah met his messengers at Ekron, he told them to challenge the king's decision to seek his answer from Baalzebub and to tell him he was going to die from his fall.
- c. The king, naturally, wanted to know who had met his messengers and sent them back to him with the "challenge" and "decree" of death, so he asked, "What manner of man was he which came...and told you these words?"
- d. The answer was fundamentally simple: he was "hairy" and had a "leather belt" around his waist; and the king immediately knew it was "Elijah the Tishbite".
- e. By this means, Mark clearly indicated that John was supposed to be recognizably in the tradition of Elijah the prophet.
- II. John's Diet.
- A. The "locusts".
- 1. There is some "discussion" as to whether this refers to insects or to the fruit of a locust tree, but that is not where the "point" is to be found.
- 2. The "point" is to be found in "association".
- a. As a "dietary" issue for a "prophet", there are clear indicators that a "prophet's" food was symbolic of his message (Revelation 10:10-11; Ezekiel 3:3-4).
- b. The issue of "locusts" has a large presence in the Scriptures as "instruments of harsh judgment from God" (beginning in Exodus 10).
- 3. Mark was, by this, indicating that one major element of John's "grace" message was that of severe judgment from God, as in "...you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" (Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7).
- B. The "honey".
- 1. This, also from Revelation 10, is the "other" side of the "message" issue.
- 2. The "honey" is a metaphor of a message that is enormously appealing and very desirable.
- 3. Thus, Mark is using John's "diet" to indicate the twin prongs of his "grace" message.