The Son of Man Behaving Beastly: Reading Jesus and the Wild Animals of Mk 1.13 with Dan. 4

The temptation narrative in Mark’s gospel contains an unusual detail absent from the counterpart traditions in Matthew and Luke. In Mk 1.13, Jesus is described as being ‘with the wild animals’. Several Hebrew Bible texts and typologies have been suggested to explain this unique Markan feature; howev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal for the study of the New Testament Vol. 46; no. 3; pp. 401 - 416
Main Author Atkins, Peter Joshua
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.03.2024
Subjects
wilderness
Mark
animals
Jesus
Nebuchadnezzar
behavior
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Summary:The temptation narrative in Mark’s gospel contains an unusual detail absent from the counterpart traditions in Matthew and Luke. In Mk 1.13, Jesus is described as being ‘with the wild animals’. Several Hebrew Bible texts and typologies have been suggested to explain this unique Markan feature; however, none has gained widespread support. This article takes a different approach and investigates this enigmatic Markan phrase by focusing on the description of Nebuchadnezzar in the Greek editions of Dan. 4. While a connection between these biblical texts has been suggested before, this paper will expand upon such observations through a more detailed comparison of several key features of these texts. It will be shown that, due to these connections, it is probable that Mark’s reference to wild animals is a comment on the behaviors exhibited by Jesus by living in the wilderness.
ISSN:0142-064X
1745-5294
DOI:10.1177/0142064X231211524