Matthew 21:1-7 - The Great Healer And The Lowly King
The Lord is always saying: What will ye that I shall do? Let us not ask small things. We honor Him by making great demands. Our greatest requests come far short of His generosity and resources. It seems as though we are always giving Him pain by the meagerness of our expectation. Whatever people say, cry out so much the more! But remember it is not the outcry, but your need and your faith which will arrest His steps.
Our Lord entered the city in fulfillment of prophetic vision, but in great lowliness, along the road carpeted by the loving enthusiasm of the crowds. It was largely a Galilean and popular outburst. The upper classes kept aloof. Remember that ancient prediction quoted here, Isaiah 62:11, and especially Zechariah 9:9. The King comes having salvation. That is the divine order! We shall never know the full power of Christ's salvation until we have welcomed Him to our hearts as King. [source]
Chapter Summary: Matthew 21
1Jesus rides into Jerusalem upon a donkey 12drives the buyers and sellers out of the temple; 17curses the fig tree; 23puts to silence the priests and elders, 28and rebukes them by the parable of the two sons, 33and the husbandmen who slew such as were sent to them
Greek Commentary for Matthew 21:7
And he sat thereon [και επεκατισεν επανω αυτων] not to the two asses. The construction is somewhat loose, but intelligible. The garments thrown on the animals were the outer garments (ιματια himatia), Jesus “took his seat” (επεκατισεν epekathisen ingressive aorist active) upon the garments. [source]
Set him thereon [] But the preferable reading is ἐπεκάθισεν , he took his seat upon. [source]
Their garments [ἑαυτῶν] Lit., “their own garments.” The disciples spread their garments on the beasts; the multitude strewed their own garments in the way. Dr. Edward Robinson, cited by Dr. Morison, speaking of the inhabitants of Bethlehem who had participated in the rebellion of 1834, says:” At that time, when some of the inhabitants were already imprisoned, and all were in deep distress, Mr. Farrar, then English consul at Damascus, was on a visit to Jerusalem, and had rode out with Mr. Nicolayson to Solomon's Pools. On their return, as they rose the ascent to enter Bethlehem, hundreds of people, male and female, met them, imploring the consul to interfere in their behalf, and afford them his protection; and all at once, by a sort of simultaneous movement, they spread their garments in the way before the horses.” The variation of tenses is not preserved in the English versions. Spread their garments, aorist tense, denoting one definite act. Cut down, spread in the way, imperfects, denoting continued action. As Jesus advanced, they kept cutting branches and spreading them, and the multitude kept crying. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]
A very great multitude [ὁ πλεῖστος ὄχλος] The A. V. is wrong. The reference is not to the size, but to the proportionate part of the multitude which followed him. Hence Rev., correctly, The most part of the multitude. [source]
What do the individual words in Matthew 21:7 mean?
they broughtthedonkeyandthecoltputuponthemtheircloaksHe saton
Greek Commentary for Matthew 21:7
not to the two asses. The construction is somewhat loose, but intelligible. The garments thrown on the animals were the outer garments (ιματια himatia), Jesus “took his seat” (επεκατισεν epekathisen ingressive aorist active) upon the garments. [source]
But the preferable reading is ἐπεκάθισεν , he took his seat upon. [source]
Lit., “their own garments.” The disciples spread their garments on the beasts; the multitude strewed their own garments in the way. Dr. Edward Robinson, cited by Dr. Morison, speaking of the inhabitants of Bethlehem who had participated in the rebellion of 1834, says:” At that time, when some of the inhabitants were already imprisoned, and all were in deep distress, Mr. Farrar, then English consul at Damascus, was on a visit to Jerusalem, and had rode out with Mr. Nicolayson to Solomon's Pools. On their return, as they rose the ascent to enter Bethlehem, hundreds of people, male and female, met them, imploring the consul to interfere in their behalf, and afford them his protection; and all at once, by a sort of simultaneous movement, they spread their garments in the way before the horses.” The variation of tenses is not preserved in the English versions. Spread their garments, aorist tense, denoting one definite act. Cut down, spread in the way, imperfects, denoting continued action. As Jesus advanced, they kept cutting branches and spreading them, and the multitude kept crying. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- [source]
The A. V. is wrong. The reference is not to the size, but to the proportionate part of the multitude which followed him. Hence Rev., correctly, The most part of the multitude. [source]