The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the Old Testament and intertestamental background of the words and concepts appearing in Mark 1:1-13. Our study will show that almost every word and phrase in these verses is charged with a complex of theological associations stemming from the Old Testament and the Apocrypha and Pseudopigraha. We will attempt to show what these associations are, the different nuances given to them by the writers of the Old Testament and the intertestamental literature, and the varying ways which they were combined in these writings
