THE WILD BEASTS IN THE WILDERNESS

And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. Mark 1:13

Two things I bear in mind about reading and STUDYING scripture is…

       1. (inspired) MEN are writing

       2. GOD is revealing

Men’s personal life experiences and individual personalities are necessarily incorporated in their recordings of the revelations of God. Otherwise they would have been robots and all four Gospels would read alike. So the applications are both practical and Spiritual. Accordingly, we should always have our spiritual “eyes” open.

We can discover from the Greek that the “wilderness” in biblical Palestine was NOT a vacation destination. It was not a place to commune with nature. It was, as the Greek defines, DESOLATE!

“wilderness” – Greek, eremos

Definition:

1. solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited

    a. used of places

    b. a desert, wilderness

    c. deserted places, lonely regions

How wild beasts survived there is amazing; but they probably ate each other when they could, or small animals. It was an area no sane person would voluntarily venture into. Jesus was “led” there. It was, even now, a test of obedience just to go.

In this verse, Mark’s is the only Gospel mentioning “wild beasts” which must be significant. But how?

“wild beasts” – Greek, therion

Definition:

1. an animal

2. a wild animal, wild beast, beast

3. metaphor - a brutal, bestial man, savage, ferocious

Metaphorically, the wilderness is the entire world.

The wild beasts of biblical Palestine are suggested (by google) as the lion, leopard, Syrian bear, hyena, wolf, snakes, and who knows what else, which, for the most part, are no longer there because man has, no doubt, encroached into the area and dominated it. But in Jesus’ day, no man would go there. It was utterly solitary and dangerous.

Isaiah 11 has a “list” of animals, wild and otherwise, which may have been in that particular wilderness in Jesus’ day. They include the lion, leopard, bear, wolf, cobra, viper.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea… 6-9.

I tend to agree with some commentators who suggest that this small reference to Jesus entering into a wilderness of wild animals, being there 40 days and (presumably) nights, and NOT being hurt or afraid, is an illustration of

       1. His Lordship over creation

       2. Evidence of His Messiahship as Savior of all creation

       3. The last Adam

Adam in the garden of Eden lived with no enmity between the animals and himself... and no death. Although there is now, as well as in Jesus’ day, great savagery in nature, Jesus the Messiah/Christ restores everything. So there was no need for Him to be afraid and no fear of man nor “appetite” from the wild beasts.

Also, there is fulfillment of the promise of protection from Psalm 91:12&13… They will bear you up in their hands, that you do not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

Verse 13 is a small declaration from Mark that Jesus was the Messiah!

Compare to Psalm 8:5-9…

For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen—even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!

What was a garden is now a wilderness. There should not be a “wilderness” nor any wild beasts.