Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 9. King. Christ often came to Jerusalem; but his last entrance, to die for man’s redemption, was most excellent. Worthington.—If the Jews had not wilfully blinded themselves, they could not mistake Him, as he is here so minutely described, possessing the most humble and the noblest qualities. Not knowing how to reconcile them, they feign one Messias glorious and another poor and despised; while others admit only of one, and reject either the abject or the exalted things which the prophets have spoken of him. The Church alone can reconcile these apparent contradictions in our Saviour’s character. After predicting what would befall the Jews till about one hundred years before the birth of Christ, the prophet turns to Him who was the desire and comfort of the nation. Calmet.—Saviour. Hebrew Noshah, ( Bible.) or Jesus. Saint Jerome—Poor; or meek, as Saint Matthew quotes it, after the Septuagint and Chal. Menochius.—They have read v for i, as hani ( Bible.) means poor. Calmet.—Prot. “lowly,” which may signify devoid of riches, or of pride.—Ass. Septuagint “yoked animal, and upon a young foal.” Bible.—The former denotes the Jews.