2 Kings 1:8

8 “He was a hairy man, ^[a]” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.

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 They replied, “A man came up to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him that this is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’”

7 The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?”

8 “He was a hairy man, ” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.

9 Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’”

10 Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or He had a garment of hair