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Mat_21:9 ff. Ὡσαννά ] äåÉùÒÄéòÈä ðÈà , Psa_118:25, bestow blessing!—addressed to God. The dative is due to the meaning of the verb (opitulare) contained in ὡσαννά .
ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστ .] Grant blessing in the highest places (Luk_2:14), i.e. in the highest heaven (Eph_4:10), where Thy throne is fixed, and from which let it descend upon the Messiah. The interpretation of Fritzsche, Olshausen: let blessing be proclaimed (by the angels) in heaven! is far-fetched. No less so is that of de Wette, Bleek: let Hosanna be confirmed in heaven, let it be ratified by God! Nor is ἐν τ . ὑψ . equivalent to ὁ ὢν τ . ὑψ . (grant blessing, O Thou who art in heaven), as Beza, Vatablus, Calovius, Bengel, Kuinoel, are disposed to think.
ἐν ὀνόμ . κυρίου ] i.e. as sent by God to be His representative, Joh_5:43.
Speaking generally, the exclamation may be described as an outburst of enthusiasm expressing itself, in a free and impromptu manner, in language borrowed from the hymn for the feast of Tabernacles, Psalms 118. (Succoth iv. 5).
ἐσείσθη ] was thrown into a state of commotion (Pind. Pyth. iv. 484; Soph. Ant. 163), on account of the sensation created by this Messianic entry into the city. The excitement was contagious.
ὁ προφήτης ] the well-known prophet. The crowds that accompanied Him had, in most explicit terms, designated Him the Messiah; but the less interested people of the city wished above all to ascertain His name and rank. Hence the full reply, Ἰησοῦς … Γαλιλ ., in which the ὁ ἀπὸ Ναζαρ . τ . Γαλιλ . doubtless betrays somewhat of the Galilean consciousness of the multitude, inasmuch as it was for most part composed of Galileans.
REMARK.
The triumphal entry of Jesus is not a final attempt to establish the Messianic kingdom in a political sense (Wolfenb. Fragm.), such a kingdom having been entirely foreign to His purpose and His function. It is rather to be regarded as His last public and solemn appearance as the Messiah,—an appearance which, coming as it did immediately before His passion, was on the one hand a matter of deep personal interest because of the necessary bearing it was felt to have upon the mission of His life; while, if taken in connection with what happened so soon after, it was calculated, on the other hand, to destroy all expectations of a merely political kind. The time was now come when Jesus felt that, just because He was the Messiah, it behoved Him to do something—and for this He appropriates the prophet’s symbol of the Prince of Peace—by way of contrast to His practice hitherto of forbidding the publication of His Messiahship. This step, which, from the fact of the crisis being so near, might now be taken without risk, He had postponed till the eve of His death,—a circumstance of the utmost significance as regarded the sense in which His Messiahship was to be understood. This incident, too, was one of the things for which His hour had not previously come (Joh_6:15). Comp. note on Joh_7:5 f. Strauss asserts that there is here the possibility at least of a mythical story, though his objections are far from being to the point. See, on the other hand, Ebrard and Bleek. According to Wittichen, Jahrb. f. D. Theol. 1862, p. 365, Jesus did not intend this incident to be regarded in any other light than as an ordinary festival procession, but the multitude, without consulting Him, turned it into an occasion for a Messianic demonstration. This is not in keeping with the unusual preparations mentioned in Mat_21:2; comp. Mat_21:7.