And he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him. Mark 1:13b
Mark’s temptation “story” consists of just 21 words in Greek. He gives us three short clauses that all begin with he word “and.” He doesn’t report that Jesus fasted and he says nothing about the three temptations found in Matthew and Luke. All Mark gives us is 40 days of Satan, wild beasts and angels.
“‘Wild beasts” translates a single Greek word: “theria.” This is the same word that the LXX uses to describe the beasts of creation and Garden of Eden (Genesis 1:25, 2:19). The serpent, of course, was one of those beasts – the most cunning one (Genesis 3:1).
For the most part, the primordial relationship between humans and theria in Genesis is peaceful. When it comes time to cleanse the earth of its wickedness, God preserves the beasts. That’s the story of Noah (Genesis 6-8).
Something new, however, enters the story in Genesis 9 just as Noah and the animals leave the ark. In one of the most ironic passages of the Bible, the theria become food for humans. Within the Genesis narrative, 9:3 paints primordial human beings as vegetarian. Beginning in Genesis 9, they are omnivores.
The theria, then, learn to fear human beings and begin to attack them. People and theria become threats to each other. They hunt each other. And so, Jacob naturally believes his sons’ report that Joseph has been attacked by wild beasts (Genesis 37).
The people of Israel have an adversarial relationship with the wild kingdom, just as they do with the other kingdoms of the region. When Israel comes to occupy Canaan, the presence of theria will be a threat to their very existence in the land of promise. (Exodus 23:29, Leviticus 26:6, Leviticus 26:22, Deuteronomy 7:22). In that sense, the presence of wild beasts is yet another threat to the covenant promise itself. Israel will displace the beasts, as it does its other enemies.
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Mitchell Lewis 