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Mat 21:5. Εἴπατε, κ.τ.λ., tell ye, etc.) This passage is one of those which show that many things in the prophets ought to be received by us, not only as they were meant by them, but as they were destined to be meant by the apostles. This part occurs in Isa 62:11; the rest in Zechariah, whom St Matthew quotes, beginning at the more important part; for the word “rejoice” is thus supplied. At the time of its fulfilment it is to be told: joy then arises spontaneously.[904] In Zec 9:9, the LXX. have Χαῖρε σφόδρα θύγατερ Σιὼν, κήρυσσε θύγατερ Ἱερουσαλήμ· ἰδοὺ, ὁ Βασιλεὺς[905] ἔρχεταί σοι, δίκαιος καὶ σώζων Αὐτὸς·[906] πρᾳῢς καὶ ἐμβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ ὑποζύγιον καὶ πῶλον νέον,-Rejoice greatly, daughter of Sion; shout,[907] daughter of Jerusalem: behold the King cometh unto thee; He is just and having salvation:[908] meek, and riding on an ass, even a young colt.-τῇ θυγατρὶ Σιὼν, to the daughter of Sion) put synecdochically for Jerusalem.-Βασιλεύς σου, thy King) and also Bridegroom.-σαὶ, to, or for thee) sc. for thy sake or advantage.-πρᾳῢς καὶ, κ.τ.λ., meek and, etc.[909]) The same thing is frequently expressed in the same passage by literal and metaphorical words. The horse is a warlike steed, which the King of Peace did not make use of; see Zec 9:10. He will make use of it hereafter; see Rev 19:11.-ὄνον, an ass) not a she ass. In Hebrew, חמור.-υἱὸν ὑποζυγίου, the male foal of an ass[910]) who, though the offspring of one that had borne the yoke, had not himself yet borne it. Our Lord rode upon the foal, but employed also the mother as a companion to the foal.
[904] Beng. seems to mean, the introductory words in Zec 9:9, “Rejoice greatly,” etc., “Shout,” etc., are omitted here, on the occasion of the passage being quoted by St Matthew, because, at the time of the fulfilment of the prophecy, all that was needed was the telling (and therefore “Tell ye” is substituted from Isa 62:11, “Say ye”): the joy was sure to arise of its own accord.-ED.
[905] The Codex Alexandrinus reads βασιλεύς σου.-(I. B.)
[906] The Oxford Edition of 1848 has a comma after σώζων, and omits the colon after Αὐτὸς.-(I. B.)
[907] The word denotes, in the orig., the voice of a herald or a preacher.-(I. B.)
[908] Lit. “Himself saving.”-(I. B.)
[909] It is this very virtue that renders both her King, and the tidings as to the approach of her King, so delightful to the daughter of Sion.-V. g.
[910] Literally, the son of one who bears the yoke; rendered accurately by the Vulgate, which Bengel has followed here, filium subjugalis. He has not been equally exact in his German Version.-(I. B.)