Mark 1:12-13

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.