And they answered him, [He was] an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It [is] Elijah the Tishbite.
Ver. 8. He was a hairy man.] Hispidus et hirsutus. Either because Elijah had much hair on his head and face, or because, as a prophet, he wore a rough garment, Zec 13:4 as a pattern of repentance.
And girt with a girdle of leather.] So was John Baptist, that second Elijah. That this girdle here mentioned was made of the pelt of that ram which Abraham offered up instead of his son Isaac, is a Jewish fable, scarce worth relating.