What does Mark 1:2-3 Mean?

This observation should raise a few questions in your mind. First, where does this quotation come from? Second, was it acceptable for Mark to misidentify the sources of his quotations? Third, and finally, why would he do that?

Each of these questions is worthy of our consideration.

Where do the citations come from?

Scholars have presented several theories about the origin of Mark’s quotation. Some have suggested that Mark simply misquoted Isaiah by adding extra material. Since the biblical authors were clearly well-versed in the Scriptures, Mark may have inadvertently spliced several quotes together.

Other scholars have suggested that Mark actually pulled this quotation from a collection of quotes called testimonia that would have circulated in the Christian community at the time. While we don’t have any surviving examples of these collections from that period, we know they existed before and after the New Testament era (see Atkins).

Given the well-known practice of combining sources for quotation and the logical connections between Mark’s quotation and the rest of his Gospel, it seems highly unlikely that Mark made a mistake in his quotation.

While it is possible that Mark pulled this quotation from a pre-established collection of Old Testament quotations considered relevant to Jesus’s story, this need not suggest that Mark used the material without considerable skill. As Richard Hays writes, “It is more likely…that Mark’s attribution of the mixed citation to ‘the prophet Isaiah’ reflects not ignorance but theological intentionality.” (Hays, 20).

The first portion of the quote comes from Malachi 3:1. If we read that verse in its literary context, we see that the messenger’s arrival leads to judgment (vv. 2-4).

“See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years” (Malachi 3:1-4 NRSV).

The judgment predicted by Malachi begins with the house of Levi (i.e., the temple apparatus). As we will see later in Mark’s gospel, Jesus issues harsh critiques of the prevailing religious system in Jerusalem (Mark 11:12–25, 13:1-2) (Hays, 21).

The first portion of the quote is also found in Exodus 23:20, which strikes a different chord than the Malachi reference. Whereas the messenger in the book of Malachi precedes a time of judgment, the messenger in Exodus leads the people into the promised land.

“I am going to send an angel in front of you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Be attentive to him and listen to his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him. But if you listen attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.” (Exodus 23:20-22 NRSV)

By alluding to Exodus 23:20 and its literary context, Mark frames John’s message about Jesus as the prelude to a new exodus from captivity into the Promised Land. As Richard Hays observes, instead of combatting Canaanites, Jesus wages war against the demonic forces that oppose God and enslave humanity (Hays, 22). This theme helps explain why Mark mentions Jesus’s battle with Satan in the wilderness in the opening section of the gospel (v. 12-13).

The final portion of Mark’s citation (v. 3) actually comes from Isaiah 40:3. The literary context of the Isaiah passage is important for understanding Mark’s rationale for citing Isaiah.

The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah focus on judgment for Israel’s sins primarily. A dramatic shift occurs in Isaiah 40:1 with the famous words, “Comfort, O comfort my people.” The emphasis on judgment gives way to a vision of a new future and a return from exile. Thus, Isaiah uses imagery from the exodus story to frame Israel’s return from captivity (Hays, 23).

In addition to the exodus themes in v. 3, Mark makes some remarkable theological claims with his alterations of Isaiah’s prophecy.

First, we should recognize that Mark has equated Jesus with YHWH. In the context of Mark 1:3, John the Baptist is clearly the voice crying out in the wilderness, and Jesus is certainly the “Lord” whose way is to be made straight. Yet the “Lord” in Isaiah 40:3 is none other than YHWH himself. Thus, we have a clear example of a New Testament text equating Jesus with the God of Israel. This verse is a prime example of what Kavin Rowe calls “trinitarian pressure” in the New Testament. (See my summary of his argument here.)

Second, in the Isaiah passage, the prophetic voice makes “straight the paths of our God.” If the reader has not caught Mark’s equation of Jesus with YHWH in the first half of the citation, he makes it clear in the second half of the quote. Instead of “our God,” Mark writes, “make his paths straight.” The word “his” refers to Jesus in Mark’s gospel, which is a not-so-subtle way of assigning divine status to Jesus.

How does this relate to ancient citation practices?

Even if Mark intentionally combined multiple sources to create this quotation, was that appropriate? Based on modern citation practices, Mark should have acknowledged the material from Exodus and Malachi, not just Isaiah. It appears that later scribes recognized the issue and tried to address it by replacing Mark’s reference to “the prophet Isaiah” (v. 2) with the more general phrase “in the prophets.” This textual tradition is still preserved in the King James Version of Mark’s Gospel (Strauss, 2014).

While it may seem strange to us, there is a well-established pattern of Mark’s contemporary Jewish writers and other early Christians using the same citation technique he uses in these opening verses. As Craig Keener observes, “Jewish teachers often combined several texts or parts of texts, especially if they had a key word or words in common (here, “prepare the way”). Because they were so learned in the Scriptures, they did not have to say which texts they were quoting and often assumed the context without quoting it” (Keener, Mk 1:2–3).

Why does Mark credit this material to Isaiah?

If we grant that Mark intentionally combined quotes from Exodus 20:3, Malachi 3:1, and Isaiah 40:3 to introduce John the Baptist and Jesus, we are still left with a critical question: Why would he do that? What does Mark accomplish by combining these passages?

Richard Hays’s work on the Gospel writers’ use of the Old Testament is helpful for answering this question. He argues that Mark communicates two messages by combining these sources.

First, Mark casts Jesus’ ministry and the whole gospel as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophetic vision about YHWH’s return to and restoration of Israel. As mentioned previously, Isaiah 1-39 focuses on the intense judgment God sent upon the people for their covenant unfaithfulness. Beginning with Isaiah 40, the prophet paints a picture of a coming day when God would deliver his people from their second great captivity. Isaiah repeatedly uses imagery pulled from the exodus story in his predictions of what God would do for his people.

Second, the citation also ensures the reader understands that Jesus is bringing God’s judgment with him (Hays, 20). Deliverance and judgment are often two sides of the same coin. Throughout the Old Testament, God uses judgment to awaken his people to their sin and reignite a passion for him in their lives. While many people in the modern West esteem Jesus for his teachings on love and compassion, they ignore much of what he had to say about judgment for wickedness. As we know, Jesus was particularly harsh against the religious establishment for the unnecessary burdens they placed on people.

This dual emphasis on judgment and deliverance matches Jesus’ initial declaration: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15 NRSV). In Christ, the kingdom of God has come, and that is good news. But it is also a reminder for each of us to humble ourselves and repent before the Lord.

Works Cited

Atkins, J. D. “New Testament Use of the Old Testament, Methods,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

Hays, Richard B. Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2018.

Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993: Mk 1:2–3.

Strauss, Mark L. Mark. Edited by Clinton E. Arnold. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014.

Miscellany

You can view the Dead Sea Scrolls fragment I mentioned in this article here.

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