Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 21:4
All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
4. that it might be fulfilled ] See note ch. Mat 1:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
All this was done … – The prophecy here quoted is found in Zec 9:9. It was always, by the Jews, applied to the Messiah.
Daughter of Zion – That is, Jerusalem. Zion was one of the hills on which the city of Jerusalem was built. On this stood the city of David and some strong fortresses. The names daughter and virgin were given to it often, in accordance with the Oriental figurative manner of expression. See the notes at Isa 1:8. Compare Amo 5:2; Psa 45:13; Psa 137:8; Isa 47:1. It was given to them as an expression of their beauty or comeliness.
Meek – See the notes at Mat 5:5. The expression here rather denotes peaceful, not warlike; not with pomp, and state, and the ensigns of ambition. He came in the manner in which kings were accustomed to ride, but with none of their pride and ambitious feeling.
Sitting upon an ass … – He rode on the colt (Mark and Luke). This expression in Matthew is one which is common with all writers. See Gen 19:29; Jdg 12:7.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. All this was done] The word all, in this clause, is omitted by some MSS., versions, and fathers.
Which was spoken] The Spirit of God, which predicted those things that concerned the Messiah, took care to have them literally fulfilled:
1. To show the truth of prophecy in general; and,
2. To designate Christ as the person intended by that prophecy.
See the note on Mt 2:23.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The words are, Zec 9:9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. The evangelist quotes no more of them than served for his purpose. John, in the short account he giveth of this our Saviours entrance, quotes them shorter, Joh 12:15. The former part of the words are found Isa 62:11. The Jews agree this prophecy to respect the Messiah, though they were so blinded as not to see it was fulfilled in Christ. Tell ye the daughter of Zion, prophesy you to the Jews, to the citizens and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: thy spiritual King, having salvation, the King promised and foretold, that shall bring salvation, cometh, that is, shall shortly come to thee for thy profit and advantage. And you shall know him by this; he shall come , poor, afflicted, meek, lowly, sitting upon an ass, an ass used to bear burdens, (so the word signifies), and a colt the foal of an ass: not upon both; they are exegetical of each other; the first denoted the species of the beast, the second its age. There was not any prophecy of Christ more plainly fulfilled than this. Asses were of old beasts that great persons used to ride on, Jdg 10:4; 12:14. But after Solomons time the Jews got a breed of horses; so as only poor people rode upon asses, mostly reserved for burdens. Whom could the Jews possibly expect to see coming riding into Jerusalem, under the notion of a King bringing them salvation, in so little state, upon the foal of an ass, but the person prophesied of by Zechariah, Zec 9:9, whom they themselves confess to be the Messiah? And had not there been a strange veil upon their hearts, Herods courtiers, and Pilates, might have understood his kingdom was not of this world, nor he such a King as threatened their grandeur.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
All this was done,…. The disciples were sent to the neighbouring village for the ass and colt, and they brought them, and Christ rode upon them; not because of the distance of the place from Jerusalem, for he was just at it; or because he was weary, or it would be very fatiguing to him to walk thither on foot; for he had been used to travelling, and had gone through most parts of Galilee and Judea; but
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: the Ethiopic version adds, Isaiah; for the former part of the following citation stands in Isa 62:11 as the latter does in Zec 9:9. It was usual with the Jews to cite Scripture in this manner, by taking a part from one writer, and another from anther, and joining them together: saying, the following words.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
By the prophet ( ). The first line is from Isa 62:11, the rest from Zec 9:9. John (Joh 12:14f.) makes it clear that Jesus did not quote the passage himself. In Matthew it is not so plain, but probably it is his own comment about the incident. It is not Christ’s intention to fulfil the prophecy, simply that his conduct did fulfil it.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
(4) All this was done.The Evangelist returns to the formula of Mat. 1:22. Literally, all this has come to pass. The words are his comment on the act. At the time (as we find from Joh. 12:16) the disciples did not understand its significance as connected with the prophecy that follows. The purpose lay in the mind of their Master, not in theirs. It is significant of what St. John records that neither St. Mark nor St. Luke alludes to the prophecy.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. All this might be fulfilled Our Saviour’s purpose in this entire performance was, as above said, to identify himself before the world as the Messiah predicted by Zechariah as a meek king.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Now this is come about, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,’
But Matthew then again points out that a further fulfilment of the Old Testament prophetic message was taking place. The Scriptures were coming to a head in Jesus (Mat 5:17). The citation is in fact taken from two places, Isa 62:11 and Zec 9:9. But in both cases there is a remarkable omission. Isa 62:11 reads, “Say you to the daughter of Zion, behold your salvation comes”, but Matthew drops ‘salvation’ replacing it with ‘King’ from Zec 9:9. Zec 9:9 then declares, “Behold your king comes to you, He is righteous and having salvation, lowly and riding on an ass, and on a colt the foal of an ass’. Again the reference to salvation is dropped. So in both cases Matthew deliberately drops the reference to salvation. Compare also Joh 12:15 where John also drops the reference to salvation, but there John includes the words, ‘do not be afraid’, emphasising the King’s lowliness and that He has not come with belligerent or harmful intent.
So the lack of mention of salvation is not to be seen as a threat. Rather it is a sad recognition of the fact that Jerusalem as a whole will not recognise or respond to the salvation that He has come to bring, a thought that continues to be emphasised throughout what follows, and is emphasised in Acts, where in spite of the glorious initial response Jerusalem eventually hardens itself against Jesus.
On the other hand for those who are ready to respond to Him the underlying message is that salvation is available, for all who knew their Scriptures would recognise that behind the King’s coming in terms of these two quotations salvation was in the air.
We must conclude therefore that it is not correct to say that Jesus was by His act making an offer of salvation to Jerusalem that was not accepted. Such a thought is deliberately excluded by the omissions of both Matthew and John. It is rather to be seen as an indication that their King had come, but that He was aware that, apart from the many whose hearts were open, (something revealed by the acclamation of the crowds), Jerusalem was not on the whole in a state of heart which made them ready to receive His salvation. His act therefore is a declaration rather than an offer, and identifies Him as the King coming as the suffering Servant, something which has been Matthew’s continual message throughout.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The prophecy fulfilled:
v. 4. All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
v. 5. Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass. This, the entire occurrence, with all its single incidents, was done in just this way in order that the words of the prophet, Zec 9:9, might be fulfilled. See Isa 62:11. The quotation of the evangelist is a free one, embodying all that the Old Testament says of the meekness and lowliness of this King of kings. Christ here discouraged all carnal, vulgar Messianic ideas and hopes. Not in the manner of a conqueror-hero, as the worldly-minded Jerusalemites expected, but on an ass, and that the foal of an ass. He made His entry into the city which was soon to reject Him altogether. It was a last great day of mercy for the city, that all the inhabitants might know the Redeemer, but they did not consider what pertained to their peace. All the greater should be the impression which the coming of the King of Grace into the hearts of His believers should make upon them. “And this it is that the evangelist admonishes to preach when he says: ‘Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek’; as though he would say: He comes for thy benefit, for thy peace, for the salvation and joy of thy heart; and since they did not believe that, he prophesies that it should be spoken and preached. Whosoever but believes that Christ comes in this way has Him thus. O what preaching, singular and at this time almost unknown! Mark well each single word. The word ‘Behold’ is a word of joy and admonition, and refers to a thing which one has expected long and anxiously. ‘Thy King,’ who destroys the tyrant of thy conscience, namely, the Law, and rules thee in peace and a pleasant manner, by giving thee forgiveness of sins and the power to perform the Law. ‘Thy,’ that is, promised to thee, for whom thou hast waited, whom thou, laden with sin as thou wast, hast called, for whom thou hast sighed. ‘He comes,’ voluntarily, without thy merit, out of great love, for thou hast not led Him hither nor hast thou ascended into heaven, thou hast not earned His advent, but He has left His property and has come to thee, the unworthy one, who under the compulsion and rule of the Law hast earned nothing but punishment with thy many sins. ‘To thee’ He comes, that is; for thy benefit, in whatever thou hast need of Him. He comes to seek thine own, only to serve thee and to do thee good; He does not come for His own benefit, not to seek His own from thee, as the Law formerly did; since thou hast not what the Law demands, therefore He comes to give thee what is His, and expects nothing from thee, but that thou permit thy sins to be taken from thee and thyself to be saved. The evangelist uses only the word ‘meek,’ and omits the words ‘just and having salvation’; for in the Hebrew language the word ‘poor’ is very closely related with the word ‘meek’ or ‘gentle,’ for the Hebrews call a person poor that is poor, humble, meek, restless, and downcast in spirit; as all Christian believers in general are called that way in Scriptures. For he is truly gentle and meek who does not consider the harm done to his neighbor in any other light but done to himself, takes it to heart accordingly, and has compassion on him. As such a person, that was poor and martyred for our sake, and truly meek, the evangelist describes Christ, who comes tortured with our evil and is ready to help us with the greatest of meekness and love.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 21:4. All this was done, &c. See the note on Zec 9:9.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 21:4 f. ] not accidental, but in accordance with the divine purpose of fulfilling, etc. This quotation, which is a free rendering, partly of the original Hebrew and partly of the Septuagint, combines Isa 62:11 ( ) and Zec 9:9 , where the riding of the ideal Messianic king upon an ass is simply a representation, not indeed of absolute humility (Hengstenberg, Christol . III. p. 360 f.), for such riding is a sign of , but of a peaceful disposition; comp. Ewald, Propheten , I. p. 256, Exo 2 . He does not come upon a war-horse, not , Chrysostom. The incident in which Jesus then realized the recognised fulfilment of the prophecy (Hengstenberg, Ewald, Keim) would suggest the strained interpretation of the figure, and quite properly, inasmuch as Christ’s riding into the city revealed the typical nature of the form in which the prophet embodied his prediction (Dsterdieck, de rei propheticae natura ethica , 1852, p. 78 f.). For the prophetic expression daughter of Zion (the locality of the town regarded as its mother), see Knobel’s note on Isa 1:8 . Comp. Lam 1:6 .
] Dative of ethical reference, common likewise in classical Greek along with .
] See note on Mat 21:2 . is epexegetical .
.] . For , beast of burden, a term more frequently used in the Septuagint to designate the ass, comp. Herod, ix. 24, 39, 41; Xen. Anab. i. 3. 1; Lucian, Cynic, x.; Polyb. iii. 51. 4; 3 Esdr. Mat 5:43 ; 2Pe 2:16 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
Ver. 4. All this was done that, &c. ] Here is the mystery of the history; which would otherwise seem to some ridiculous and to little purpose. He hereby declared himself that King of his Church before promised by the prophets, however poor and despicable, as the world accounts it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4. ] A formula of our Evangelist’s (see ch. Mat 1:22 ), spoken with reference to the divine counsels , but not to the intention of the doers of the act; for this application of prophecy is in Joh 12:16 distinctly said not to have occurred to the disciples at the time, but after Jesus was glorified.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 21:4 . : is to be taken here as always in this Gospel, in its strictly final sense. Such is the view of the evangelist and the view he wishes his readers to take. But it does not follow from this that Christ’s whole action proceeded from a conscious intention to fulfil a prophecy. On the contrary, the less intention on His part the greater the apologetic value of the correspondence between prophecy and fact. Action with intention might show that He claimed to be, not that He was , the Messiah. On the other hand, His right to be regarded as the Messiah would have stood where it was though He had entered Jerusalem on foot. That right cannot stand or fall with any such purely external circumstance, which can at best possess only the value of a symbol of those spiritual qualities which constitute intrinsic fitness for Messiahship. But Jesus, while fully aware of its entirely subordinate importance, might quite conceivably be in the mood to give it the place of a symbol, all the more that the act was in harmony with His whole policy of avoiding display and discouraging vulgar Messianic ideas and hopes. There was no pretentiousness in riding into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass. It was rather the meek and lowly One entering in character , and in a character not welcome to the proud worldly-minded Jerusalemites. The symbolic act was of a piece with the use of the title “Son of Man,” shunning Messianic pretensions, yet making them in a deeper way.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
was done = came to pass, fulfilled. Compare Luk 21:24; Luk 21:32.
spoken. As well as written.
by = through. Greek. dia. App-104. Mat 21:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4.] A formula of our Evangelists (see ch. Mat 1:22), spoken with reference to the divine counsels, but not to the intention of the doers of the act; for this application of prophecy is in Joh 12:16 distinctly said not to have occurred to the disciples at the time, but after Jesus was glorified.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
fulfilled
The king’s final and official offer of Himself according to Zec 9:9. Acclaimed by an unthinking multitude whose real belief is expressed in Mat 21:11, but with no welcome from the official representatives of the nation, He was soon to hear the multitude shout: “Crucify him.”
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
this: Mat 1:22, Mat 26:56, Joh 19:36, Joh 19:37
saying: Zec 9:9, Joh 12:15
Reciprocal: Psa 97:8 – Zion Mat 2:15 – that Mat 12:17 – it Mat 13:35 – it Mat 27:9 – Jeremy Mar 11:7 – the colt
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mat 21:4. Now this hath come to pass. Of this Divine purpose the disciples had no idea at the time (Joh 12:16). Lange: The occasion and need of the moment was the obvious motive. But to the Spirit of God these historical occasions were arranged coincidences with the prophetical word. Christ was in need of the foal of the ass, inasmuch as He could not make His entrance on foot in the midst of a festal procession. He must not be lost in the crowd; it was necessary that He should take a prominent position, and appear preeminent. But if He became conspicuous, it must be in the most humble and peaceable fashion: hence the choice of the ass. The dignity of the procession required the asss colt, and this made the history all the more symbolical. But it could not be concealed from the Spirit of Christ that here again the plain historical necessity coincided with the symbolically significant fulfilment of a prophetical word. Matthew was present, but only when afterwards inspired did he know what it meant.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here the reason is assigned why Christ rode upon the ass into Jerusalem; it was to fulfil an ancient prophecy, that the Messiah, or King of the Jews, should come riding upon that beast into Jerusalem. There was not any prophecy of Christ more plainly fulfilled than this. The prophecy alluded to, is Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass; and upon a colt the foal of an ass. Zep 3:20
Where note, The character given of the Messiah; he is the Supreme King and Governor of his church, thy King cometh. The errand that he comes upon, bringing salvation; and the entertainment which his church was to give him; namely, to receive him with triumphs of joy, and universal acclamations. Rejoice, O daughter of Zion; and shout, O Jerusalem, for joy.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 21:4-5. All this was done, &c. , that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that is, not only hereby the words of the prophet were fulfilled, but our Lord directed this to be done, that they might be fulfilled. As the prophets looked forward to him, and all bore witness to him; so he looked back upon them, that all things which were written of the Messiah might be punctually accomplished in him. Tell ye the daughter of Zion That is, Jerusalem, so called from mount Zion, which was in the city, and on which was erected a fortress for its defence. This poetical manner of personifying the cities and countries, to which they addressed themselves, was familiar to the prophets. The first words of the passage are cited from Isa 62:11, the rest from Zec 9:9. The ancient Jewish doctors were wont to apply these prophecies to the Messiah. On an ass The Prince of peace did not take a horse, a warlike animal: but he will ride on that by and by, Rev 19:11. In the patriarchal ages, illustrious persons thought it no disgrace to make use of this animal: but it by no means appears that this opinion prevailed, or this custom continued, till the reign of Tiberius. Was it a mean attitude wherein our Lord then appeared? mean even to contempt? We grant it: we glory in it: it is for the comfort of our souls, for the honour of his humility, and for the utter confusion of all worldly pomp and grandeur. Upon an ass, and a colt, &c. From the other evangelists it would appear that our Lord rode only on the colt; from this passage we should be apt to think that both had been used. But it is not unusual with the sacred authors, when either the nature of the thing spoken of, or the attendant circumstances are sufficient for precluding mistakes, to employ the plural number for the singular. Campbell.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
It is possible that Jesus spoke these words. However, it is probable that Matthew added them as he did other fulfillment passages in his Gospel (Mat 1:22; et al.). The first two lines of the quotation are from Isa 62:11, and the last two cite Zec 9:9. Zion is a poetic name for Jerusalem often used of the city under Messiah’s rule during the kingdom. [Note: Walvoord, Matthew: . . ., p. 155.] Jerusalem belonged to Messiah (Mat 5:35). Matthew omitted quoting the part of Zec 9:9 that speaks of Messiah bringing national salvation to Israel. Jesus would not do that then because of Israel’s rejection.
"Here was the King’s final and official offer of Himself, in accord with the prophecy of Zec 9:9." [Note: The New Scofield . . ., p. 1027.]
Rulers rode donkeys in Israel during times of peace (Jdg 5:10; 1Ki 1:33). This was a sign of their humble service of the people. Warriors rode horses. Jesus was preparing to declare His messiahship by fulfilling this messianic prophecy. By coming in peace He was extending grace rather than judgment to the city. He was coming as a servant now. He would return as a king on a horse later (cf. Rev 19:11).
Jesus rode on the colt (a young male donkey), not on its mother, the donkey (Mar 11:2; Luk 19:30). It would have been remarkable that Jesus was able to control a presumably unbroken animal moving through an excited crowd with an unfamiliar burden on its back. This was just one more demonstration that Jesus was the Messiah who was the master of nature (cf. Mat 8:23-27; Mat 14:22-32). Surely He could bring peace to Israel if He could calm the young colt (Isa 11:1-10).
"Matthew could hardly make the presentation of the royalty of Jesus more explicit." [Note: Toussaint, Behold the . . ., p. 238.]
Toussaint titled his commentary on Matthew "Behold The King" because he believed these words are the theme of Matthew’s Jewish Gospel.