“I am inclined to see in the phrase a veiled reference to the Neronian
persecution, in particular to the state of affairs later described in Tacitus’s
statement that Christians were “covered with the skins of wild beasts and
torn to pieces by dogs.” Given the above arguments for the Neronian
persecution as the backdrop of Mark, it is not implausible that Mark
includes a reference to wild beasts in the temptation account of Jesus in
order to encourage Roman Christians undergoing Nero’s atrocities that
Jesus himself faced wild beasts — and in so doing was ministered to by
angels.”
James Edwards