Props: locusts in a small aquarium or a plastic locust / honeycomb or bowl of honey
We call him “John the Baptist.” Some prefer to call him “John the Baptizer” just to be clear that John isn’t seen as baptizing Jesus into the Baptist church, making Jesus a Baptist. Some of you Baptist may disagree on this.
But when we think of “John the Baptist,” or “John the Baptizer,” the first thing that comes to mind is not water, but probably something else: strange clothing and weird eating habits. At least they seem strange and weird to us.
A diet of locusts and wild honey –that’s what we’re told by the gospel writers that John ate as his staple foods.
[Show people the locusts and the honeycomb. You can have kids come up and look at them. Then point to the locusts.]
Would you eat these? No?
Some horrified scholars, who decided John couldn’t have actually eaten the grasshopper-like insect critters, have tried to argue that John surely must have eaten the carob pods of the locust tree instead, much like the prodigal in Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son. But the Greek word, like its Hebrew counterpart in the First Testament, clearly indicates, it was the insect that he ate.
Yes, John ate insects.
Now to us in the West in particular, eating any insect is just plain GROSS! Can you imagine going out and plucking up the nearest creepy-crawly and popping it into your mouth? Not in a million years, right?
But there are two things to remember. First, there are certain parts of the world where insects are a major food source, and even delicacy. Second, going out and picking insects like we pick blueberries is not exactly how it was done then either.
Scholarship and ancient sources from the time of Jesus tell us that in first century culture, the cultures Jesus was born into, locusts were eaten in a number of ways and were a primary staple and source of protein, especially for those living in outlying areas. Usually the creatures, abundant in certain times, would be thrown live into boiling salt water and cooked until pink, much like we would cook shrimp.*Afterwards, they would either be roasted or dried in the sun. Some would then fry them in olive oil. After washing them and removing the head and legs, prepared locusts could be preserved in honey or vinegar or they would be ground into flour and made into a kind of biscuit or cake.
So, if you were to go to John’s abode at tea time, you may just find yourself snacking on locust biscuits with honey.
Ugh! you still say.
But wait a minute. Is this really any stranger than some of the foods we all grew up with? In both German and Appalachian cultures, a prize dish was “pig stomach,” an actual stomach of a pig, filled with diced potatoes, smoked sausage, and parsley, and then baked until crispy. That’s not a lot different from the Scottish haggis, which is basically offal and oats. What other strange foods do you eat in your culture? What about pigs feet? Or turtle soup? Frog legs? Or snails? Or that delicacy we call caviar –fish eggs on toast? Or dare I mention lobster, which lobster fishermen call “bugs” because that’s what they really are --bottom-feeder bugs. Turn a cockroach upside down, and look at all its white meat. Now turn a lobster upside down. A cockroach is a little lobster. A lobster is a cockroach on steroids. There’s a reason Jews couldn’t eat crustaceans.
In John’s and Jesus’ day, it was quite common to eat locusts, and in fact, Leviticus sanctions the critters for Jewish consumption as perfectly clean food.***
But why would the gospelers, who leave so much else out, including John’s education as a priest or where he grew up, tell us so specifically about what John wore and what John ate?
Maybe locusts and wild honey had a metaphorical meaning for John as well as a literal meaning. I think certainly so. Let’s think about it.
What do we know about locusts in the Hebrew scriptures? We know God sent swarms of them upon the Egyptians when they wouldn’t listen up to Moses, his prophet! We know, God threatened the Israelites with them multiple times, when they refused to turn back to Him.
Anyone know anything about locusts? Well, the biggest thing about locusts is, they are the ultimate consumer! No, they don’t shop ‘til they drop. They EAT like a FLEET! They eat every imaginable greenery in sight. When locusts take over the countryside, they eat the trees, the grass, the grains, the crops until nothing is left but barren wasteland. They are voracious eaters! They are the exact OPPOSITE of God’s abundance! They cause famines all on their own!
In the 1980s, a swarm of locusts hit Africa and consumed enough food for tens of thousands of people!^ And they don’t just eat crops! They also eat straw huts, peoples’ homes too!^^ They eat their bodyweight in food each and every day.
In 2013, modern day Israel underwent a similar experience. But they solved their locust problem with an unusual form of pest control –they ate them!#
Drop them into a boiling broth, clean them off, and roll in a mixture of flour, coriander seeds, garlic and chilli powder. Then deep-fry them. Pan-frying is another good option, and they are "crunchy, tasty and sweet", says [Chef Moshe] Basson [of the famous Eucalyptus Restaurant in Jerusalem], when mixed with caramel and sprinkled into meringue.#
Basson thinks they taste something like a cross between chicken, toasted sesame seeds, and prawns. Hmmm.
Most likely, the Jewish people in Jesus time did the same. After all, they ARE kosher. But let’s look at that description again. Surely, the gospel writers didn’t just want to let us know about John’s diet, just to inform us that there were lots of locusts that year. The locusts had a metaphorical meaning too! Armies of locusts were by their consumptive nature, the devastation of all food, home, and well-being. And they were seen in the Hebrew scriptures as the punishment or judgment for turning away from God (YHWH)!
Repent! the prophets warned! Repent! John the Baptizer warned! Don’t invite God’s wrath! But turn to God and repent, and all abundance will be yours –the land of milk and honey. Hmm. Say what?
Honey! That sweet, succulent stuff dripping from the rocks and trees in the holy land. Bees were everywhere –in the deserts, in caves, even in the rafters of homes and buildings. But “honey” meant much more. It referred to the “land of milk and honey,” that place overflowing with God’s abundant gifts of crops, land, sheep, pastures, trees, and bees. It was a place where food flourished and everyone could be fed and sated, physically AND spiritually. Honey was the symbol of sweetness, and in a culture without many desserts, wild honey was the equivalent of Godiva chocolate in Jesus’ day.
But the Promised Land of “milk and honey” wasn’t just a place either. The prophet Isaiah referred to the coming messiah as one who would eat “curds and honey.” The Messiah himself would bring in that abundance of God’s love and mercy.
Far from the judgment and devastation of the locusts, honey represented the promise and love and forgiveness of God, and the coming restoration of all of humankind.
And John –ate them both. Why?
Well, to understand why, we need to look at another prophet. Ezekiel. And another figure, the apostle John. Do you remember what happened? God presented Ezekiel with a scroll, and bade that he eat it. He was told it would taste as sweet as honey, but would sour in his stomach, as it contained not only the promise but the judgment of God that he would need to deliver as a prophet. Likewise, in the Book of Revelation, John tells us that an angel presented him with a scroll and asked him to eat it as well, preparing him for prophecy.
To “eat” something in the Hebrew Scriptures was to embrace and embody God’s Word. When John the Baptist eats locusts and honey, he is preparing himself in the wilderness for his role as God’s prophet. And John is clearly an Old Testament prophet! He dresses as Elijah. He consumes God’s message in his diet. And he delivers the messages of Joel, of Isaiah, and many other prophets before him: Repent! And he baptizes too!
What John ate, John would have to deliver! God’s warning, and God’s promise. And he did!
In a sense, John is the turning point from the First to Second Testament, from Old Covenant to New. He announces the messiah in the mode of a Hebrew Prophet. But the Messiah Jesus ushers in a NEW covenant, one that will include all people, one that will usher in the promised restoration for all who return to God. John calls him “The Winnower” –the breath that will blow away the chaff, so that the wheat may be harvested.
John the Baptizer delivers a message of God’s coming judgment to all who refuse to repent. And a message of hope and restoration and ingathering for all those whom God seeks out and who come willingly into His arms.
Like Ezekiel, John is a priest. And as a priest, he sanctifies and identifies the messiah. He is also a prophet. And he preaches a prophet’s message: What will it be? Will it be locusts? Or will it be honey?
And then he “passes the mantle” to Jesus.
“If people repent, God will restore everything that was stripped away,” says the prophet Joel (2:12-27)
What does God’s voice sound like to you? Does it sound like the noisy buzzzz of swarming locusts? Or the sweet, smooth sound of honey dripping by your ears?
The psalmist tells us, “taste and see that the Lord is good.” What will God’s presence in your life taste like? Slightly bitter like a locust cake? Or sweet and succulent as a honeycomb?
The Jewish people believed that God’s “Word” would taste like honey. In fact, in the medieval period, when students learned the Torah, their rabbis would place honey on the scroll, and they would taste it, so they would know, that the “Word” of the Lord is always wonderful and sweet. Just as God’s promises are wonderful and sweet.
As John was digesting God’s mission for him, those coming to be baptized also needed to digest the Word of the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms and internalize them into their own lives in order to return to following YHWH.
Today, we too come to the table to “digest” the presence and power of Jesus in our lives. We partake of the bread (body) and of the juice or wine (blood) of the Christ, so that we too may be reunited with God and restored to an eternal “kingdom of milk and honey!” A garden of delight.
God wants all of us to follow Jesus into eternity, to taste of his heavenly kingdom. For “milk and honey” is “kingdom food.”
Julaka, a woman in Africa was worried. The locusts were on the move, and they had begun eating up all of their crops and livelihood. She knew her children depended upon her to feed them from their land. She didn’t know what to do.
In a nearby village, a missionary pastor had come to teach the people, and Julaka thought it couldn’t hurt to go to see if the pastor man could help. So she went, and she listened to the words of God from the scriptures, and about a man named Jesus, who would bring hope and grace in the midst of struggle.
Julaka prayed. She prayed hard. For days, she sat outside of her hut, and asked Jesus to send her a message of hope. In a little while, Julaka had a vision.
She would gather in the crops they had left, and soak them in honey. She gathered all of the honey she could from the nests nearby and filled jar after jar with the sweet preservative. Then she stored as much as she could of their foods and grains in the jars and put them in a cool hole in the floor of her hut.
When the locusts left her farm in ruins, she fed herself and her children from the jars of vegetables and honey until the farm could be renewed. But more than that, a sweetness had come into her life that she couldn’t explain, except that she had found the Jesus that the pastor had spoken of, and he had guided her to a place of protection, calm, and joy.
I know we all have stories of struggle, even as we have struggles that tend to pull us further and further away from God. But when you return to the Lord, when you look in the direction of Jesus, and ask his grace, you will find your life has changed, and find that the world looks a little bit sweeter.
Jesus is honey for your soul.
What will you choose for your life?
Will you welcome the person and presence of the Holy Spirit of Jesus in YOUR life? Will you partake of the body and blood of the Savior of humanity and allow Him to take over you, body and soul? Will you allow Him to live in you and through you, so that the sweetness of God can be passed on to others in His name?
I invite you now to come forward to the bowl of honey, to dip your finger into the bowl, and to taste the “kingdom food” that Jesus has brought to all of us. This is what it’s like to live in relationship with the All Powerful God. This is a little taste of heaven.
*The photo for this sermon is from a blog on John the Baptist by Chandler Vinson. http://trivialdevotion.blogspot.com/2012/09/you-are-what-you-eat-matthew-34.html
**Patheos, “Daily Life in Time of Jesus: Locust Eating,” by Artur Rosman: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/cosmostheinlost/2015/03/26/daily-life-in-the-time-of-jesus-locust-eating-101/
A Trial Devotion” Blog: http://trivialdevotion.blogspot.com/2012/09/you-are-what-you-eat-matthew-34.html
***Leviticus 11:21-23
^Washington Post, Keith Richburg, 1986.
^^IRIN News
#BBC News Magazine. Cornelia Heppelthwaite. 2013.
Based on the Story Lectionary
Major Text
John the Baptist’s Prophecy and His Baptism of Jesus (Luke 3)
Minor Text
Those Who Walked with God in the First Covenant (Genesis 5)
God’s Plague of Locusts Upon the Egyptians (Exodus 10)
God’s Abundance for Those Who Turn to Him (Deuteronomy 28)
Psalm 19: The Lord’s Words Are Sweeter Than Honey
Psalm 78: Israel’s Disobedience Until David Comes to the Throne
Psalm 81: The Lord Fills His Faithful with Honey from the Rock
Psalm 103: The Lord’s Compassion on Those Who Keeps His Covenant
Psalm 105: God’s Covenant Promise to Those Who Worship Him
God’s Punishment of Locusts and His Abundant Restoration (Joel 2)
God Laments That Israel Will Not Return No Matter What He Does (Amos 4)
God Bids Ezekiel to Eat a Scroll and is Therefore Bound to Decree God’s Words of Warning (Ezekiel 3)
The Coming Restoration of Israel (Isaiah 40)
The Importance of Faith Throughout Covenant History (Hebrews 11)
The Prophecy About John the Baptist (Luke 1)
John the Baptist’s Prophecy and His Baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3; Mark 1:1-11; John 1:1-34)
Peter’s Sermon and the Prophesy of Joel (Acts 2:14-41)
The Punishment of Locusts (Revelation 9:1-11)
The Consuming of the Scroll of God and the Mission of Prophecy (Revelation 10)
Luke’s Witness to John the Baptist’s Prophecy and His Baptism of Jesus
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
“What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
“Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah.
John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.
But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josek, the son of Joda, the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, the son of Melki, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
Image Exegesis: The Prophet of Locusts and Honey
“Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: If you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” (Proverbs 24:13-14)
John, like Jeremiah, was called while still in the womb to be a prophet to the nations. Like Ezekiel, he “ate” the twin metaphors of which he would speak –locusts and honey. Like Joel, he delivered a message of repentance. Like Elijah, he wore the prophet’s garb. Like Micah, he denounced the evils of the leadership and called God’s people to return to God. Like Malachi, John spoke of Israel’s judgment and the promise to God’ faithful. Like Elisha, he told people they could wash their sins clean through baptism. Like Isaiah, he foretold of a great restoration and a messiah to come (one who will eat curds and honey).
In Genesis 5, some have thought that the genealogy given is really a secret prophecy based on the meanings of the names*:
Adam = man. The Hebrew word Adam means “man.” Adam is also phonetically very close to “adamma,” which means “ground,” from the dust of which Adam was formed (Gen. 2:7)
Seth = appointed, granted, given. After Cain murdered Abel, Eve became pregnant and gave birth to Seth, saying “God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew” (Gen. 4:25). The name Seth means “appointed,” “granted,” or “given.”
Enosh = mortal, frail, feeble. Enosh is from the root anash, meaning incurable, or leading to death, as in a mortal wound, a grief, a woe, a sickness, or a wickedness.
Kenan = Sorrow, dirge, lamentation. The exact meaning of Kenan is obscure, but it possibly means to chant a dirge or lamentation, or to sing a sad song. Other commentators state that the word means “possession.”
Mahalalel = The Blessed God, the Praiseworthy God. The first part of the name, Mahalal, means “blessed” or “praise.” The last part of the name, El, means “God.” (Interestingly, a plural form of El is Elohim, but when used in reference to the Hebrew God does not mean “gods” but “God,” as in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning, God [Elohim] created the heavens and the earth.”) Hebrew names often incorporate el, as in Daniel, which means “God is my judge.” Mahalalel means the “The Blessed God.”
Jared = Shall come down. The name Jared comes from the very common verb yaradh, which means to come down, go down, or descend, or to leave a prominent place such as a palace.Enoch = Discipling.
The name Enoch comes from the verb hanak meaning to dedicate (or initiate, or inaugurate), as one would dedicate a building, wall, altar, or image, after completing it. (Hanukka, which will be celebrated soon, means “feast of dedication.”) Alternative meanings are to imprint, to instruct, to make wise, and to train, as in, “train up (hanak) a child in the way he should go.” (Prov. 22:6) The derivative hanik means, “trained.” (see, e.g., Gen. 14:14) A composite that incorporates all of these actions—training, instructing, making wise, and dedicating (ordaining, consecrating, setting apart)--is discipling, and discipling is a large part of what Jesus did when He was here on earth. A disciple walks with his master, and Enoch exemplified this characteristic; he “walked with God until he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). In Patriarchs and Prophets, Ellen White states that Enoch was a prophet and an evangelist who taught and preached widely, not only among the descendants of Seth, but among the Canites as well. Enoch was a disciple who walked with God and also discipled others.
Methuselah = His death shall bring. God revealed to Enoch His plan to destroy the world with a Great Flood (PP 85), apparently telling Enoch that as long as his son was alive, God would forbear judgment. Enoch made his son's name a prophecy: “When he dies, it will come” or “his death shall bring it.” If you add up the numerical data given in the chrono-genealogy of Genesis 5, you will see that Methuselah lived until the year of the Flood. (See, e.g., Spirit of Prophecy, v. 1, p. 170: “Methuselah, the grandfather of Noah, lived until the very year of the flood; and there were others who believed the preaching of Noah, and aided him in building the ark, who died before the flood of waters came upon the earth.” ) Methuselah's name is thus a prophecy within a prophecy. Think about the fact that Methuselah lived longer than any other man who ever lived and died (969 years) in conjunction with the prophetic aspect of his name. God stated that he would bring the Flood at the end of Methuselah's life, then He made Methuselah the longest-lived man in history. Truly, God is “slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished” (Num. 14:18). “God is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-10).
Lamech = the despairingThe name Lamech does not come from any Hebrew root word, but may be constructed of the particle le, meaning to or towards; and the verb muk, meaning low, depressed, down. Hence, the word could literally mean to lower, to depress. Some commentators note that Lamech is phonetically related to the English word lamentation, which is a noisy form of grieving, mourning, or despairing.
Noah = comfort, rest. Genesis 5:29 tells us that Lamech named his son Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.” Although Enoch was a prophet, Lamech clearly was not; Noah's life work would not be to comfort but rather to warn of the coming judgment, an uncomfortable message for the rebellious antediluvians. And while the ground was cursed in Lamech's day, it would be even more cursed and require more toil after the Flood Noah warned of. But although Noah's named proved not to be prophetic for his own life, it is prophetic in the context of the prophecy contained within the Genesis 5 genealogy. Another meaning of the name Noah comes from the verb nuah, meaning to rest, to settle down, to stop wandering around. This root mainly signifies rest or repose, but with overtones of finality, victory, and salvation.
But while that may sound interesting, I suspect that the list simply says: these of my people walked with God throughout their lives. These are the Sons (and Daughters) of your faith. Be like them.
When John the Baptist came, he delivered a message that said, it’s not merely by your genealogy, but by your heart that you belong to God’s kingdom people. Like those first-covenant examples in Genesis 5, God will most bless people who “walk with God” throughout their lives. And it is this message that John must deliver! God spent all of the Hebrew scriptures, trying to bring His people back to Him. But as the prophet Malachi and others noted, it had not worked. Now God will send his last “prophet,” John who will call for repentance. And he will send his Son, the awaited Messiah, who will bring His people home.
John was called from birth. His identity was sealed while still in the womb. God had chosen him for a very special task, and so his mother Elizabeth became pregnant “out of season.” The son of High Priest, Zecharias, John would spend most of his time in the wilderness, only to emerge with a message of Repentance and Promise!
John delivered his message in the way he lived, as well as what he said. He dressed as an Old Testament Prophet, and he ate “locusts and honey.”
Locusts were seen in the Hebrew scriptures primarily as God’s plagues sent not only against Egypt, but against the Israelites, some even in the forms of armies, which were “like” locusts. Locusts are ravenous, destructive insects that eat everything to the bone, leaving desolation and famine. They are a metaphor for God’s judgment against those who refuse to turn back to Him.
Honey on the other hand is the metaphor of God’s promise. The land of milk and honey, the scroll that tastes like honey -- honey demonstrates the abundance and sweetness of God’s love for His people.
Just as the prophet Ezekiel is told to eat the scroll of God in order to embody His Words in prophecy, and just as John the Apostle is told in Revelation by an angel to eat the scroll presented in order to prophecy in Jesus’ name, here too, John the Baptist or Baptizer eats locusts and honey –the message he will present to the Jewish people, especially to the Jewish authorities, which he names “brood of vipers.” He will call for repentance in fear of God’s judgement (symbolized by the metaphor of locusts) and he will promise God’s restoration and sweet abundance to those who return to God (symbolized by honey).***
John comes out of the wilderness to deliver his message. The time of waiting is over. It’s time to announce the coming of the messiah –the winnower who with the Breath of God will blow away the chaff and harvest the fruit of the fields.
We don’t mind John eating honey, but we find it grotesque here in the west that he ate locusts. Some scholars have tried to claim that it was the carob pods of the locust tree that he ate. But it’s been firmly proven that the word in the Greek (corresponding to the Hebrew word as well) is the word for the insect.
Locusts were considered kosher for Jews, according to Leviticus. And even today, Arabs eat the creatures boiled in salt, cleansed, and dried in the sun. They then can be fried in olive oil or kept in brine or honey to preserve them. Often they are ground into powder, when mixed with flour will create cakes or biscuits –locust cookies!
John wore the prophet’s garb, as did Elijah (2 Kings 1). The mantle in Hebrew meant to wear the glory, splendor, or anointing authority of God. And just as Elijah passed on his mantle to Elisha, John’s message was designed to pass the baton (or the mantle) to Jesus.
John lives a role as messenger. He as priest introduces Jesus as messiah, as king, high priest, and prophet even greater than he. And he inaugurates a plan that God has laid to redeem His creation.
John, the embodiment of God’s message of warning and promise IS the signpost to the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
*http://advindicate.com/articles/2013/11/13/a-prophecy-in-genesis-5. See also John Wesley’s notes on Genesis 5: John Wesley’s theology of Genesis 5:
http://www.christianity.com/bible/commentary.php?com=wes&b=1&c=5
**See Locusts and honey (David B. Capes) 2015.
https://christianthought.hbu.edu/2015/03/16/locusts-and-honey/
***For more on locusts, see The Lord and the Book by William McClure Thompson.
