2 Kings 1:8

8 They answered him, "A {hairy man}^[a] with a leather belt girded around his waist." And he said, "It [is] Elijah the Tishbite."

2 Kings 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 1:8

And they answered him, he was an hairy man
Either the hair of his head and beard were grown very long, having been much neglected for a great while; or he had an hairy garment on, either of goats' hair, such as the Chinese wear ^F6, whose women spin it, see ( Exodus 35:26 ) and of which garments are made; or of camels' hair, such as John the Baptist wore, who came in his spirit and power, and imitated him in his dress, being also, as Elijah here, girt with a girdle of leather about his loins:
for more expeditious travelling, not for warmth, the climate being hot: and he said, it is Elijah the Tishbite;
for he had seen him formerly in his father's court in this dress.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Semedo's History of China, part 1. ch. 3.

2 Kings 1:8 In-Context

6 Then they said to him, "A man came up to meet us, and he said to us, 'Go, return to the king who sent you and speak to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you [are] sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore the bed upon which you have gone, you will not come down from it, for you will surely die.'" '"

7 Then he spoke to them, "What [was] the manner of the man who came up to meet you and spoke to you all these things?"

8 They answered him, "A {hairy man} with a leather belt girded around his waist." And he said, "It [is] Elijah the Tishbite."

9 So {Ahaziah} sent to him the commander of fifty with his fifty [men], and he went up to him while he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, "[O] man of God, the king says, 'Come down.'"

10 Then Elijah answered and said to the commander of the fifty, "If I [am] a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty!" Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "an owner of hair"