2 Kings 1:8

8 And they say unto him, `A man -- hairy, and a girdle of skin girt about his loins;' and he saith, `He [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 And they say unto him, `A man hath come up to meet us, and saith unto us, Go, turn back unto the king who sent you, and ye have said unto him, Thus said Jehovah, Is it because there is not a God in Israel -- thou art sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub god of Ekron? therefore, the bed whither thou hast gone up, thou dost not come down from it, for thou dost certainly die.'

7 And he saith unto them, `What [is] the fashion of the man who hath come up to meet you, and speaketh unto you these words?'

8 And they say unto him, `A man -- hairy, and a girdle of skin girt about his loins;' and he saith, `He [is] Elijah the Tishbite.'

9 And he sendeth unto him a head of fifty and his fifty, and he goeth up unto him (and lo, he is sitting on the top of the hill), and he speaketh unto him, `O man of God, the king hath spoken, Come down.'

10 And Elijah answereth and speaketh unto the head of the fifty, `And if I [am] a man of God, fire doth come down from the heavens, and consume thee and thy fifty;' and fire cometh down from the heavens, and consumeth him and his fifty.