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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
21:1-23:39 The Messiah Asserts His Authority over Jerusalem. Jesus' authority over Jerusalem is revealed in his triumphal entry (21:1-11), actions in the temple (21:12-17), cursing the fig tree (21:18-22), debates with religious leaders (21:23-22:46), and woes pronounced on the teachers of the law and the Pharisees (23:1-39).
21:1-11 The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem: Jesus' Authority as Messiah. As he enters Jerusalem, Jesus is acclaimed as the Messiah; but he enters humbly, riding on a donkey.
21:1 Jerusalem is the city of the Great King (Ps. 48:1-2), the center of Israel's religious life and messianic expectations. Bethphage (see note on Luke 19:29) is traditionally located less than
21:3 Jesus plainly refers to himself as the Lord, the sovereign orchestrator of these events.
21:4-5 This took place to fulfill. Matthew specifies that Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem upon a colt fulfills the prophecy of Zech. 9:9. Jesus' action is an open declaration that he is the righteous Davidic Messiah, for the prophecy says, "your king is coming to you." Matthew could also be alluding to Gen. 49:8-12, where Jacob prophesies about a kingly descendant of Judah whose rule will extend to the nations. The first line of the OT quotation, however, is from Isa. 62:11 and uses the phrase daughter of Zion to refer to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And on a colt can also mean "even on a colt" (see ESV footnote, using an alternative meaning for Gk. kai), which is the sense here. It is an example of Hebrew poetic parallelism, where an idea is stated twice, in successive lines, using slightly different wording.
21:5-7 the donkey and the colt. Matthew alone mentions two animals. The unbroken young colt's mother moving alongside would be the best way to calm it during the noisy entrance into Jerusalem. and he sat on them. "Them" refers to the cloaks (which is the closest antecedent in Gk.), not to the two animals.
21:8 Cloaks on the road symbolized the crowd's submission to Jesus as king (cf. 2 Kings 9:13). Branches (palms) symbolized Jewish nationalism and victory (see John 12:13). They were connected with prominent Jewish victories (e.g., 1 Macc. 13:51) and with the Festival of Tabernacles; palm motifs were common on both Jewish coinage and synagogue decoration.
21:9 Hosanna. Hebrew, meaning "O save" (cf. 2 Sam. 14:4). Son of David. The crowd acknowledges that Jesus is the Davidic Messiah (see note on Matt. 9:27).
21:10 whole city. Just as "all Jerusalem" was "troubled" in 2:3 when the King of the Jews was born, so here the religious establishment is once again stirred up, fearing that Jesus may usurp their power.
21:11 the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee. Although Moses had predicted the coming of a "prophet like me," to whom "you shall listen" (Deut. 18:15-18; see note on John 6:14), there is no indication that the crowds here in Jerusalem recognized Jesus as that prophet.
