Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Matthew 21:6 - 21:9
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The triumphant entry:
v. 6. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
v. 7. and brought the ass and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set Him thereon.
v. 8. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way.
v. 9. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!
While Jesus was waiting at the entrance to Bethphage, the disciples carried out His command, receiving, incidentally, further confirmation of their trust in Him. Obedience to His Word will never cause a Christian to be ashamed. The animals, as they were brought to the Lord, were not saddled. But now a peculiar ecstasy took hold of the disciples and of the ever-increasing multitude. Quickly taking off their outer garments, a kind of loose coat, they spread these upon the foal, to make a seat for their Master. The example of the first disciples was infectious. All the rest of them, as well as a large number of the people, took their garments and spread them out on the way, as if to receive an emperor, a mighty king. And still the excitement spread. Since many of the customs of the great festivals were, upon occasion, transferred from one to the other, the people did not hesitate, also in this instance, to borrow the usages of the Feast of Tabernacles. Some of them cut down or tore down branches from the trees along the way, and cast them down to make a leafy carpet before Him. But the climax of the exultation was reached at the summit of the Mount of Olives. Here the ranks of the early singers were swelled by great crowds of newcomers, and while the latter turned and marched ahead, the others followed behind the Lord. And in antiphonal shouting the joyous acclaim of the people rose up to heaven as they chanted sections from the great Hallel, with the doxology used on great festivals, Psa_118:25-26. They openly proclaim Him as the Son of David, as the true Messiah, they wish Him blessing and salvation from above. Far and wide, the people joined in this demonstration in honor of the lowly Nazarene. They gladly sacrificed their holiday garments, their festival ornaments, they brought the palm branches and waved the green fronds of early spring to give full expression to their joy, to their confession of their Lord, the Messiah. It is most unfortunate that this exultation was only temporary, and quickly forgotten. And yet the Spirit of the Lord had here, for a short while at least, taken hold of the people. God wanted thus to give testimony in behalf of His Son, before the shame and the horror of the cross would be laid upon Him. And it was prophetic of the time when every tongue would confess that Jesus is the Lord.