Just found this great quote by James Scott about the opening of Mark’s Gospel and the theme of “end-of-exile.”
‘Taken as a whole, then, the introduction to Mark’s Gospel provides a mutually reinforcing, prophetic picture of the focus and intent of Jesus’ appearance on the scene: he will be the divinely appointed messenger of a gospel that, through his words and deeds, inaugurates the long expected end of exile and restoration of Israel.’
From DJG, second edition.