In this essay, I present a brief analysis of the construction of a single episode in Mark's Gospel and of the methods which were effectively used in the development and use of a significant building block of his Jesus narrative, reflecting an allegorical technique which reiterates earlier biblical narratives similarly composed within a biographical mode. I have earlier illustrated how specifically allegorical function of such biography has roots in the ancient Near Eastern and early Mediterranean world of narratives, particularly in narratives reflecting royal ideology. I have found the genre's allegorical function most accessible in the development of the figure of Job, but it can also be recognized, for example, in the narratives about Abraham and Esau, as well as in those of David, Solomon and Jesus. While considerable progress has been made in regard to such Samaritan and Jewish functions of commentary and prophecy in the development of the Gospel narratives through a reiteration or rewriting of the Old Testament, I here wish to pay as much attention to mythic functions which were developed in the broader literary world of antiquity.

A Summary of an Untold Story

The brief account of Jesus' temptation in the desert, which we find in Mk 1:12-13, appears at first to do little more than evoke a story which remains, however, untold. Although lacking a proper narrative, it, nevertheless, offers four clearly presented and distinct thematic elements of a plot-line: (1) the spirit who drives Jesus into the desert; (2) the forty days he is tempted by Satan; (3) he lived with the wild animals and (4) angels cared for him.