“‘Now this John wore a garment of camel’s hair (Matthew 1:4)‘.  Even by his appearance John called them to repentance, for  he wore the garb of mourning. It is said that the camel is somewhere between a clean and unclean animal: it is clean in that is chews its cud, but it is unclean in that its hoof is not cloven [see Leviticus 11:1-8]. Another reason, then, that John wore camel’s hair is that he was leading to God both the Jewish people, who appeared clean, and the Gentiles, who were unclean, and he was a mediator between the Old and the New Testaments.”

– St. Theophylact, Blessed Theophylact’s explanation of The Holy Gospel of Matthew