Thursday 24Feb2022
Today I read in 2nd Kings chapter 1 that King Ahaziah ben Ahab, the eighth king of Israel, having injured himself badly from a fall through the lattice in his upper chamber, sent messengers to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron about his chances of recovery. Along the way, the messengers were intercepted by Elijah the prophet of the LORD and were told to return to the king and to tell him that he would surely die.
Whereupon, King Ahaziah asked the messengers in verse 7:
2 Kings 1:7 ESV English Standard Version
7He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?” 8They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
In the New Testament, a similar attire, garment of hair with a belt of leather was worn by John the Baptist. It is written in Matthew chapter 3 that,
Matthew 3:4 WEB World English Bible
Now John himself had clothing made of camel's hair, and a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
This similarity in the attire worn by John the Baptist with that worn by Elijah the prophet brings to mind a saying uttered by our Lord in Matthew chapter 11:
Matthew 11:13 - 14 WEB
13 . . . all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
14 If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come.
Later, as they were descending from the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples asked the Lord a question about Elijah:
Matthew 17:10 - 13 WEB
10 His disciples asked him, saying, 'Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?
11 Jesus answered them, 'Elijah indeed comes first, and will restore all things,
12 but I tell you that Elijah has come already, and they didn't recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted to. Even so will the Son of Man also suffer by them.'
13 Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptizer.
The conversation in the passage above is related to a prophecy written in the last two verses of the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi 4:5,6 as shown below:
Malachi 4:5 - 6 ESV English Standard Version
5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
The above passage from Malachi is quoted by the Angel who appeared to Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, at the altar of incense in the Holy Place, as written in Luke chapter1:
Luke 1:17 King James Version
And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Today, we learn that John the Baptist wore a garment of hair and a belt of leather just as Elijah the prophet did. John was a fulfilment of the prophecy by Malachi that Elijah would come to Israel again to "restore all things". Sadly, the religious leaders of Israel did not recognize him and he was eventually imprisoned and beheaded by Herod Antipas the ruler of Galilee.
