Mark 1:12

Mark 1:12-13 . Immediately the Spirit driveth him — Gr. εκβαλλει , thrusteth him out, or, sends him away, as the same word signifies, Mark 1:43 . Luke says, ηγετο , he was moved, or led; Matthew, ανηχθη , he was led up, namely, from the plain of Jordan. He was forty days tempted of Satan — Invisibly. After this followed the temptation by him in a visible shape, related by Matthew. These forty days, says Dr. Lightfoot, the holy angels ministered to Christ visibly, and Satan tempted him invisibly; at the end of them, Satan puts on the appearance of an angel of light, and pretends to wait on him as they did. See on Matthew 4:2-11 . And was with the wild beasts — Though they had no power to hurt him. Mark, we may observe, not only gives us a compendium of Matthew’s gospel, but likewise several valuable particulars, which he and the other evangelists have omitted; especially such particulars as might enable the Romans, or Gentiles in general, better to understand him. Thus, as a Roman might not know how wild and uninhabited the deserts of Arabia were, in which Christ was tempted, he adds here, that he was with the wild beasts.

Mark 1:12-13 . See on Matthew 4:1-11 ; Luke 4:1 ff. ἐκβάλλει ] He drives, urges Him forth ; more graphic than the ἀνήχθη of Matthew and the ἤγετο of Luke 4:1 . The sense of force and urgency is implied also in Matthew 9:38 . Observe the frequent use of the vividly realizing praesens historicus . And He was there ( ἐκεῖ , see the critical remarks) in the desert (whither the Spirit had driven Him), i.e. in that region of the desert, during forty days, being tempted by Satan ,—a manifest difference of Mark (comp. also Luke) from Matthew, with whom it is not till after forty days that the temptations begin . Evasive interpretations are to be found in Krabbe, Ebrard, and others. καὶ ἦν μετὰ τῶν θηρίων ] and He was with the wild beasts . This is usually [51] taken as merely a graphic picture (according to de Wette: “a marvellous contrast” to the angels) of the awful solitude (Virg. Aen. iii. 646, and see Wetstein in loc. ); but how remote would such a poetic representation be from the simple narrative! No, according to Mark, Jesus is to be conceived as really surrounded by the wild beasts of the desert . He is threatened in a twofold manner; Satan tempts Him, and the wild beasts encompass Him. The typical reference, according to which Christ is held to appear as the renewer of Paradise ( Genesis 1:26 ; Usteri in the Stud. u. Krit. 1834, p. 789; Gfrörer, Olshausen, comp.

Bengel, and also Baur, Evang. pp. 540, 564; Hilgenfeld, Evang. p. 126; Schenkel, Holtzmann), is not indicated by anything in the text, and is foreign to it. The desert and the forty days remind us of Moses ( Exodus 24:18 ; Exodus 34:28 ; Deuteronomy 9:9 ; Deuteronomy 9:18 ), not of Adam . οἱ ἄγγελοι ] The article denotes the category. ΔΙΗΚΌΝΟΥΝ ΑὐΤῷ ] There is no occasion at all, from the connection in Mark, to understand this of the ministering with food , as in Matthew; nor does the expression presuppose the representation of Matthew (Weiss). On the contrary, we must simply abide by the view that, according to Mark, is meant the help which gives protection against Satan and the wild beasts . There is in this respect also a difference from Matthew, that in the latter Gospel the angels do not appear until after the termination of the temptations. The narrative of Christ’s temptation (regarding it, see on Matthew 4:11 , Remark) appears in Mark in its oldest, almost still germinal, form. It is remarkable, indeed, that in the further development of the evangelic history (in Matthew and Luke) the wonderful element ἦν μετὰ τῶν θηρίων (which, according to Hilgenfeld, merely serves to colour and embellish the meagre extract), should have remained unnoticed. But the entire interest attached itself to Satan and to his anti-Messianic agency.

Driveth him (ἐκβάλλει) Stronger than Matthew's ἀνήχθη, was led up, and Luke's ἤγετο, was led. See on Matthew 9:38. It is the word used of our Lord's expulsion of demons, Mark 1:34, Mark 1:39. The Wilderness The place is unknown. Tradition fixes it near Jericho, in the neighborhood of the Quarantania, the precipitous face of which is pierced with ancient cells and chapels, and a ruined church is on its topmost peak. Dr. Tristram says that every spring a few devout Abyssinian Christians are in the habit of coming and remaining here for forty days, to keep their Lent on the spot where they suppose that our Lord fasted and was tempted.

12 . immediately ] See above, Mark 1:10 . The object of the Saviour’s first Advent was “to destroy the works of the devil” ( 1 John 3:8 ). His very first work, therefore, was to enter on a conflict with the great Enemy of mankind. driveth him ] This is a stronger word than that employed by St Matthew, who says He was led up ( Matthew 4:1 ), or by St Luke, who says He was led by the Spirit ( Luke 4:1 ). The same word is here used as in Matthew 9:38 , “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth labourers into His harvest;” in John 10:4 , “when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them.” The word denotes the Divine impulse of the Holy Ghost, which constrained Him to go forth to the encounter, and hints at a rapid translation, such as that by which Prophets and Evangelists were caught up and carried to a distance ( 1 Kings 18:12 ; 2 Kings 2:16 ; Acts 8:39 ).

Verse 12. - Driveth him ( ἐκβάλλει ); literally, driveth him forth. That Holy Spirit, which not long before he had received at his baptism, impelled him with great energy; so that of his own accord he went forth, armed with Divine power, into the desert, that there, as in a wrestling-place, he might contend alone with Satan. There Christ and antichrist met, and entered upon the conflict upon the issue of which our salvation depended. Mark 1:12

{6} And immediately the Spirit {i} driveth him into the wilderness. (6) Christ being tempted overcomes. (i) Driveth here does not refer to something violent and forcible: but the divine power clothes Christ (who had lived until this time as a private man) with a new person, and prepares him for the battle that was at hand, and for his ministry.

Ver. 12,13. Both Matthew and Luke relate the history of our Saviour’s temptations by the devil more fully. See Poole on "Matthew 4:1" . See Poole on "Matthew 4:2" . Mark saith immediately, but it is not to be taken strictly for the next moment, but after a day or two, as it should seem.