Bible Study series: Matthew 21:1-11. The people shout their approval and are glad to see him.
A warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together. I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11
1 And when they neared Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a tied donkey with her colt. When you untie it, lead them to me. 3 And if someone says something, you will say that Lord has need of them, and immediately he will send them.” 4 This was done in order that the word of the prophet would be fulfilled, saying:
5 Say to daughter Zion!
Look! Your king is coming to you,
Meek and mounted on a donkey
And upon a colt, the foal of a pack animal. [Zech. 9:9]
6 When the disciples went and did just as Jesus ordered them, 7 they led the donkey and colt and placed garments on them, and he sat on them. 8 The very large crowd spread their own garments on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds went ahead of him and followed him, crying out, saying,
“Hosanna to the son of David!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!”
10 As he entered Jerusalem, the entire city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee!” (Matt. 21:1-11)
Comments:
Triumphal Entry: Did Jesus Straddle Two Animals?
Next, this is the first of four signs that the Messiah entered the holy city: (1) Triumphal entry; (2) Cleansing of the temple; (3) Healing the blind and lame; (4) Destruction of a fruitless tree. They are about his rightful place as King and Messiah over Jerusalem and the temple, but the authorities over those longstanding institutions will soon reject him (see France pp. 770-96, though I modify his idea, who calls them three action parables and omits my third point).
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)
See my post on Messianic prophecies:
That link has a table of quoted prophecies. Jesus not only fulfills quoted prophecies, but also the patterns and types and theology of the Old Testament.
1:
Bethphage (“house of figs”) was a suburb of Jerusalem, across the Kidron Valley, on the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives. Jerusalem came in sight at this village. You can google a Bible map, nowadays, so go for it. From the east, the Roman road was seventeen miles (23.3 km) and climbs about 3000 feet (914.4m). Pilgrims often came from there for Passover.
“two disciples”: we don’t know who they were. Neither Luke19:28 nor Mark 11:1 name them. Luke 22:8 says that Jesus commissioned Peter and John to prepare the Passover meal, so maybe Jesus asked them to carry out this mission. We don’t know that, either.
Mount of Olives: a ridge that goes north to south about 1.8 miles long (3 km), east of Jerusalem, above the valley of Kidron, about 100 feet (30 m) high. A large number of olive trees grew on it.
“disciple”:
2-3:
The owner of the donkey and colt probably heard of Jesus and gladly permitted the use of his livestock. Often rulers would impress or conscript of commandeer animals from the locals. The rightful king must undermine the example of other kings who rode on large steeds to indicate status.
Jesus referred to himself as “Lord.” He was claiming authority for himself that normal or average people don’t claim. He was self-aware of his special divine status. He has repeatedly been called Lord: (8:2, 6, 8, 25; 9:28; 14:28, 30; 15:22, 25, 27; 17:4, 15).
Again Matthew likes to speak in “twos” (4:18, 21; 8:28; 9:27; 20:30). Mark and Luke simply omit these details because they say one animal. Yes, the authors of the three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) were inspired by the Spirit and gave themselves permission to omit or keep whichever details suited their purposes.
So how did Jesus know about these two animals? We already saw that he knew about the coin in the mouth of a fish (Matt. 17:24-27). How did Jesus know these bits of information? One could answer the question in two ways: (1) The first is by natural methods. Maybe he sent a team ahead to scout around for such a colt. But then how did Jesus know that no one sat on the colt?
What’s my opinion? (2) As it happens, the dominant image throughout the four Gospels is that Jesus worked these visible miracles and gifts of knowledge by the Spirit’s anointing. But I am surely open to the conclusion that his divine nature shone through his humanity, as well. Jesus stayed in close contact with his Father. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. I am in the Father, and the Father is in me” (14:9-10). Jesus “can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son does also” (John 5:19). “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
It is remarkable that we too, by the anointing of the Spirit, can receive such detailed information about our lives and even about the lives of others, when this knowledge is redemptive.
Is this the gift of the word of knowledge? See my post about the word of knowledge.
2. Gifts of the Spirit: Word of Knowledge
However, I don’t want to push this interpretation too far. He might have known about the colt and its mother by natural means: he already knew the owner.
You can decide.
Turner has a simple table about Matthew citing Zechariah (p. 495):
Matt. 21:4-9 …… Zech. 9:9
Matt. 21:12-13 … Zech. 14:21
Matt. 26:15-16 … Zech. 11:12
Matt. 26:26-29 … Zech. 9:11
Matt. 26:30-35 … Zech. 13:7
Matt. 27:3-10 …. Zech. 11:12-13
Matt. 27: 51-53 … Zech. 14:4-5
Jesus is fulfilling biblical prophecy, and Matthew sees this and records it.
Once again: Messianic Prophecies
Jesus not only fulfills the list of quoted verses in the table at that link, he also fulfills the types and shadows and patterns of the OT. For example, he fulfills the Aaronic priesthood (Heb. 8-10) and the kingship of David (Matt. 22:41-45).
4-5:
I nicknamed Matthew the Abbreviator, except in instances like these. Matthew mentions the two animals to literally fulfill the prophecy in Zech. 9:9. The colt would need its mother to keep it calm in a shouting crowd. Mark says that no one had ever ridden on the colt (11:2). Matthew knew from first-hand knowledge of the event of two animals, and he says that Jesus rode on the colt. Its mother was with the young animal.
Matthew may have in mind this royal prophecy about Judah all the way back in Genesis:
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;]
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 Binding his foal to the vine
and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
and his vesture in the blood of grapes. (Gen. 49:10-11, ESV)
Riding a donkey signified that his entry was one of peace, not coercion. Further, he was Jerusalem’s rightful king and Messiah, which is indicated by this action parable. In Israel’s history, two (or more) 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. Matthew clarified the two mounts to refer to the kingship of Jesus, as the son of David.
6-8:
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 “the very large 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.
They draped the garments on both animals, though Jesus sat on one—the colt. “Sat on them” refers to the garments. “The image of garments placed on both donkeys with Jesus sitting on them (hardly on both at the same time but on the colt [Mark 11:7] with the donkey accompanying) is royal imagery alluding to Solomon’s riding a mule to his coronation at Gibon in 1 Kgs 1:33, 38, 44. Since pilgrims were expected to walk into Jerusalem, this is a powerful image indeed” (Osborne, comment on 21:7).
9:
The crowd shouted Hosanna, which means literally means “help!” or “Save, I pray!” (Olmstead). 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). Jesus was ushering it in right now, in part. Later in his ministry he will correct the popular view and say that if the Messiah really was David’s son, then why does David call him Lord (Matt. 22:41-46)?
See my post on this title:
3. Titles of Jesus: The Son of David and the Messiah
Jesus will repeat these words in 23:39, when he laments over Jerusalem. This repeating of the verse probably refers to his coming in judgment over Jerusalem (see vv. 10-11).
The crowd of his followers, following him from Galilee in the north during the pilgrimage, celebrated his arrival, while the crowd in Jerusalem may have heard of him by reputation. The whole city was “shaken” or “stirred up.” Why? To the people of Jerusalem, the Galileans seemed to be foreigners. Jesus was from the north as far as the Jerusalemites were concerned (but see vv. 10-11, next). Jerusalem had a population of 30,000 in normal days but increased to 180,000 during Passover. Osborne refers to yet another commentator who says the numbers could swell to one million (comment on 21:8, note 11). People were camping all over the city, along the roads and in the fields, lodging wherever they could (France p. 771).
10-11:
During this season Messianic fervor ran high, and the crowds had been healed or knew of those who had been healed. His healing ministry also stirred up the crowd, and he will continue it in v. 14—all tied to his Messianic office. However, the people could not see that he was the Suffering Servant, not the conquering Military Messiah, even though he rode in on a foal or colt.
Matthew’s readers knew that Jesus was also born in Bethlehem, but the crowds did not know this. Saying he was from Nazareth surely surprised people because they may not have expected a “prophet” arising from that region. Always be sure of the point of view of the characters in the Bible. Often they get things wrong or have incomplete knowledge. The crowds referred to him as a prophet, but he is more than a prophet. He is the Messiah who will soon ascend and be enthroned just as Dan. 7:13-14 predicted.
GrowApp for Matt. 21:1-11
1. How have you personally welcomed the Messiah, the Lord, into your life? Did you surrender to his Lordship gladly, reluctantly, desperately, or what?
2 Do you publicly praise the Lord, as the crowds did during his triumphal entry?
RELATED
9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel
1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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