CHAPTER VII.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEAS OF JESUS RESPECTING THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
Up to the arrest of John, which took place about the summer of the year 29, Jesus did not quit the neighborhood of the Dead Sea and of the Jordan.

An abode in the desert of Judea was generally considered as the preparation for great things, as a sort of "retreat" before public acts.

Jesus followed in this respect the example of others, and passed forty days with no other companions than savage beasts, maintaining a rigorous fast.

The disciples speculated much concerning this sojourn.

The desert was popularly regarded as the residence of demons.[1] There exist in the world few regions more desolate, more abandoned by God, more shut out from life, than the rocky declivity which forms the western shore of the Dead Sea.