Camel'S Hair
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [1]
( Τρίχες Καμήλου ) , a material of clothing. John the Baptist was habited in raiment of camels' hair ( Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6), and Chardin states that such garments are worn by the modern dervishes. There is a coarse cloth made of camels' hair in the East, which is used for manufacturing the coats of shepherds and camel-drivers, and also for the covering of tents (Harmar, Obs. 2: 487; comp. Elian, Nat. Hist. 17:34). It was doubtless this coarse kind which was adopted by John. By this he was distinguished from ‘ those residents in royal palaces who wore soft raiment. Elijah is said in theEnglish Bible to have been "a hairy man" ( 2 Kings 1:8); but it maymean "a man dressed in hair" — that is, camels' hair. In Zechariah 13:4, "a rough garment" — that is, a garment of a hairy manufacture — is characteristic of a prophet. (See Manufactures of the Ancients, N. Y.1848, p. 312 sq.; Hackett's Illustra. of Script. p. 96.)
