Bible Study series: John 12:12-19.It was a triumphal entry on his way to death, which he had already predicted.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together how to apply these truths to our lives.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click here:
For the Greek text, click here:
At that link, I provide a lot more commentary.
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: John 12:12-19
12 The next day, the huge crowd that had come in for the Feast, and hearing that Jesus came to Jerusalem, 13 took the palm branches of the date palm and went out to meet him and were shouting,
Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,
The king of Israel! [Ps. 118:25-26]
14 After Jesus had found a donkey, he sat on it, just as it had been written:
15 Do not fear, daughter Zion!
Look! Your king is coming,
Sitting on the foal of a donkey! [Zech. 9:9]
16 His disciples did not know these things at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and they did these things to him. 17 So the crowd who was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, testified. 18 Because of this even the crowd met him because they heard that he did this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You perceive that you are accomplishing nothing! See, the world is leaving to follow him!” (John 12:12-19)
Comments:
12-13:
“Next day”: Probably Sunday of Passion week. See Chapter 13 for a table detailing the events.
Also see this post:
Solving Passover Chronology Problems Between John and Synoptics
Date palm branches can be procured around Jerusalem. However, Borchert reminds us that maybe the palms cannot be found around Jerusalem. He replies to this objection:
The valley east of Jerusalem (around Jericho) has always been fruitful with various palms. Those who have lived there realize that Jerusalem can get quite cold and that palms might have at times difficulty growing there. But we must not assume that we know what it was like two thousand years ago. The problem is not simply one of weather. It is a problem of the history and geography of Jerusalem involving its many wars, its battered landscape, and the cutting of trees over the centuries. Nevertheless, the text does not demand that the palms grew in Jerusalem. (comment on vv. 13-15)
Further, palms were not part of Passover, so why lift them up to welcome Jesus? Lev. 23:40 says that at the feast of Tabernacles the people were to rejoice for seven days with the branches of palm trees. In reply, Bruce points out that since the days of the Maccabees (second century B.C.) palm branches were a national symbol and figured in the procession which celebrated the rededication of the temple in 164 B.C (2 Macc. 10:7). Palms were struck on coins by the Jewish insurgents during the first and second revolts against Rome (AD 66-70) and 132-35). Romans in turn struck their coins with the palm branches in celebration of crushing the revolts. In these people’s mind, the palm branch may have indicated national liberation (comment on vv. 12-13).
Mark’s Gospel says “leafy branches” (11:8). The NIV says “branches from the fields” (11:8). Matthew’s Gospel says that others cut branches from the trees (21:8). (Luke’s Gospel is silent.) So we can conclude that some pilgrims brought palm branches from Jericho (available year round because it is at a lower elevation than Jerusalem), while others got branches here and there, like the Garden of Gethsemane. Also, we are not required to believe that “a huge crowd” = thousands who lifted up branches. A few hundred (if that many), some from Galilee and others from Judea, are enough to send the message that the king is coming.
The crowd shouted Hosanna, which means literally means “help!” or “Save, I pray!” (Decker). It comes from Ps. 118, part of the Hallel psalms (Pss. 113-118) sung during this season. The crowds connected these psalms to Passover.
25 Save us, we pray, O Lord!
O Lord, we pray, give us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We bless you from the house of the Lord. (Ps. 118:25-26, ESV)
Originally, the people celebrated the psalmist entering the Lord’s temple. He is blessed when he comes in the name of the Lord. Now this verse is applied to and fulfilled in the Messiah.
Son of David was a popular Messianic title; it reflects the future age when the eyes of the blind would be opened and the ears of the deaf would be unstopped and the lame would leap like a deer (Is. 35:5:5-6).
John added the clause: “the king of Israel” because the Psalm was Messianic and royal. It may refer to a descendant of David, a prince. Now Jesus fulfills it.
That link has a table of quoted verses, but he fulfills more than individual verses. He also fulfills concepts and patterns of the OT, like God’s covenant to David and being seated on his throne.
“name”: Believing in his name means to believe in him, his person, his character, and his being—who he is, the Lord, the Son of God and the Messiah. The noun name stands in for the person—a living, real person. Let’s develop this thought, so it can apply to you.
What’s in a name?
You carry your earthly father’s name. If he is dysfunctional, his name is a disadvantage. If he is functional and impacting society for the better, then his name is an advantage. In Jesus’s case, he has the highest status in the universe, next to the Father (Col. 1:15-20). He is exalted above every principality and power (Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:20-23; Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8). His character is perfection itself. His authority and power are absolute, under the Father. In his name you are seated in the heavenly places with Christ (Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:1). Now down here on earth you walk and live as an ambassador in his name, in his stead, for he is no longer living on earth, so you have to represent him down here. We are his ambassadors who stand in for his name (2 Cor. 5:20). The good news is that he did not leave you without power and authority. He gave you his. Now you represent him in his name—his person, power and authority. Therefore under his authority we have his full authority to preach the gospel and set people free from bondages and satanic spirits and heal them of diseases.
Remember that believing in his name is more than just intellectual assent or agreement with a doctrine. Belief has to go from the head to the heart (1:6-8), or so says the entirety of the Gospel of John.
14-15:
The whole episode refers to Zechariah’s prophecy:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zech. 9:9, ESV)
Once again, see my post on Messianic prophecies:
As noted, Jesus not only fulfils individual verses in the OT, he also fulfills the types and shadows and patterns throughout the OT. Here, he fulfils Zech. 9:9.
The clause “do not fear” does not appear in Zech. 9:9, but it is common for NT writers to combine elements from different parts of the Hebrew Bible (e.g. Matt. 27:9-10; Mark 1:2-3). The clause is drawn from Is. 40:9. And Daughter Zion commonly refers to the people of Jerusalem. The rest of the quotation from Zech. 9:9 is an abridgement (Carson, comment on vv. 14-15). Once again, Jesus fulfils themes of Scripture, not just quoted verses. He even fulfills the promises not to fear.
In Israel’s history, donkeys were the mounts of kings; in addition to Gen. 49:10-11, also see 2 Sam. 15:30; 16:1-2; 17:23; 19:26. It refers to the kingship of Jesus, as the son of David. For a long time, it was the Mercedes Benz of the biblical world (Klink, comment on v. 14). Shhh! Don’t tell the Word of Faith teachers about it. We would never hear the end of it. They would omit the data points that Jesus momentarily borrowed it to demonstrate a larger point of his kingship. He did not own it. They may buy many luxury cars and extravagant things, like private jets, and then brag about how they are “doing all right,” as I heard one Word of Faith pastor boast in front of his congregation who could never afford, individually, his luxury items.
16:
“disciples”: Let’s discuss what a disciple is.
BDAG is considered by many to be the authoritative Greek lexicon of the NT, and it says of the noun (1) “one who engages in learning through instruction from another, pupil, apprentice”; (2) “one who is rather constantly associated with someone who has a pedagogical reputation or a particular set of views, disciple, adherent.”
They look retrospectively and learned the OT verses that covered the Messiahship of Jesus, and Ps. 118:25-26 and Zech. 9:9 were just a few of those verses. Right now, however, they were unclear about any of it. Recall what John recorded about the disciples, after Jesus cleared out part of the temple and said that if they tear down this temple, he will raise it up on the third day. “So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the Scripture and the statement which Jesus spoke” (John 2:22).
Some commentators see a contradiction because the crowds proclaim him as king, yet John says here that the disciple understood these after he was glorified (resurrected and ascended). However, neither the crowd nor the disciples understood the full extent of what the kingly Messiah actually was (Morris, comment on v. 16). The disciples got a fuller revelation later than the crowds ever did, unless they converted, as thousands did (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:7; 20:21).
17-18:
The huge crowd made the Pharisees nervous because they were testifying about the things Jesus did, specifically the sign of raising Lazarus from the dead. They also “bore witness” (another way of translating “testified”) that he was the coming king.
What Are Signs and Wonders and Miracles?
19:
Pharisees:
See this link for a short write-up about them.
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
They were the Watchdogs of Theology and Behavior (David E. Garland, Luke: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Zondervan, 2011], p. 243). The problem which Jesus had with them can be summed up in Eccl. 7:16: “Be not overly righteous.” He did not quote that verse, but to him they were much too enamored with the finer points of the law, while neglecting its spirit (Luke 11:37-52; Matt. 23:1-36). Instead, he quoted this verse from Hos. 6:6: “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7, ESV). Overdoing righteousness damages one’s relationship with God and others.
They were angry at each other because they had not taken action to arrest Jesus and stop the leakage of ordinary citizens from their version of Judaism to their Messiah. People flocked to Jesus, and the Pharisees were nervous about it (see vv. 10-11). For them the kosmos meant the world of Jerusalem, which they exaggerated to mean the whole world. However, John has a deeper meaning, the world or kosmos which God loves and to which God sent his Son to save (John 3:16-17). It was the place of darkness, but God invaded it with the light of his Son (see vv. 35-36, 46-47).
GrowApp for John 12:12-19
1. Have you ever celebrated the kingship of Jesus in your life? How do his subjects behave? What does his kingship mean in your life?
RELATED
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
12. Eyewitness Testimony in John’s Gospel
4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel
3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel
SOURCES
For the bibliography, click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 