Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Matthew 21:1-11, A donkey, a colt and the Hallel
Jesus sends for a donkey and her colt, rides into Jerusalem as Zechariah foretold, and the pilgrim crowds spread cloaks and branches, crying Hosanna to the Son of David.
Matthew 21:1-11, in every translation this tool compares.
Approaching Jerusalem, Jesus has his disciples fetch a donkey and its colt, and Matthew reads the ride as Zechariah's gentle king arriving. Pilgrims carpet the road with cloaks and branches and greet him with festival shouts from Psalm 118, hailing him as David's son. The city is stirred, and the crowds identify him as the prophet from Nazareth. It is a royal entry, staged in humility.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/messiah\/","n":"The Messiah, son of David","s":"The anointed king most Jews expected from David's line, who would free Israel from its enemies. Nobody expected him to be killed.","r":""}
Following a common Jewish habit of reading the Hebrew text for all it held, Matthew takes Zechariah 9:9 to mean two animals; colts not yet ridden sometimes went with their mothers (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). The owner may have seen the loan as royal impressment, as hospitality to festival visitors, or as the honor of helping a famous rabbi (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Hosanna means save, and the cry comes from Psalm 118, part of the Hallel sung through the Passover season (Keener). Jesus was better known in Galilee than in Judea, and most of those who knew him in the crowd were Galileans (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Wright hears in the branches the welcome given to Judas Maccabaeus (2 Maccabees 10:7). Bethphage means house of unripe figs, and rabbinic texts treat it as the limit of Jerusalem's confines; palm branches appear on many coins of the period (Wilkins).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 21:1-3, 21:4-7, 21:9 and 21:10-11
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 21:3, 21:5-7, 21:8, 21:9 and 21:11
- N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part Two, comment on Matthew 21:1-11
- Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Matthew 21:1 and 21:8
