Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 3:5

"Then went out unto him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about the Jordan;" — Matthew 3:5 (ASV)

Clothes of camel’s hair and a leather belt were not only the clothes of poor people but established links with Elijah (2 Kings 1:8; cf. Malachi 4:5). “Locusts” are large grasshoppers, still eaten in the East. Both Elijah and John had stern ministries in which austere garb and diet confirmed their message and condemned the idolatry of physical and spiritual softness. John’s impact was enormous (v.5), and his crowds came from a wide area.