A.T. Robertson Commentary


A.T. Robertson Commentary
"And he was in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan; And he was with the wild beasts; And the angels ministered unto him." — Mark 1:13 (ASV)
With the wild beasts (μετα τωυ θηριων). Mark does not give the narrative of the three temptations in Matthew and Luke (apparently from the Logia and originally, of course, from Jesus himself). But Mark adds this little touch about the wild beasts in the wilderness. It was the haunt at night of the wolf, the boar, the hyena, the jackal, the leopard. It was lonely and depressing in its isolation and even dangerous. Swete notes that in Ps 90:13 the promise of victory over the wild beasts comes immediately after that of angelic guardianship cited by Satan in Mt 4:6. The angels did come and minister (διηκονουν), imperfect tense, kept it up till he was cheered and strengthened. Dr. Tristram observes that some Abyssinian Christians are in the habit of coming to the Quarantania during Lent and fasting forty days on the summit amid the ruins of its ancient cells and chapels where they suppose Jesus was tempted. But we are all tempted of the devil in the city even worse than in the desert.