Then Jesus sent forth two of His disciples, with directions where to
find a colt, the foal of an ass, upon which He purposed to ride into
Jerusalem. The disciples did as they were directed, and "cast their
garments upon the colt, and they sat Jesus thereon": and He rode
towards Jerusalem, accompanied by many of the people who had been with
Him in Simon's house, and "that was with him when he called Lazarus
out of his grave." These were soon met by those who, with palm
branches in their hands, had come from Jerusalem. "And as they went, a
very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down
branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way." Casting
garments, branches of trees and flowers on the ground, for Kings and
Conquerors to tread upon, was a mark of honour and welcome in the
Eastern nations; and it was a fitting homage to Him, Who is King of
Kings, and the Conqueror of Sin and Death.
"And when He was come nigh the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of
the disciples, and the multitudes that went before, and that followed,
began to rejoice, and praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty
works that they had seen; and cried, saying Hosanna to the Son of
David--Hosanna in the highest. Blessed be the King that cometh in the
name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest."
"All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken" 400
years before "by the prophet" Zechariah, saying, "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."
At the Feast of Tabernacles, it had long been the custom for the
Jewish people to sing Hosannas, and also to carry in their hands
branches of palm or other trees, in honour of the Messiah whom they
were expecting; and by receiving Jesus as they now did, the multitudes
did, in fact, acknowledge Him to be that expected Messiah--at once God
and man--the King spoken of by the prophets; promised by the Almighty.
No other king ever entered Jerusalem in this manner, which had been
foretold by the prophets; and therefore what had now happened, ought
to have convinced all the Jews that Jesus Christ was indeed the
Messiah: but nothing will convince those who are obstinately
determined not to believe, and even now, "some of the Pharisees from
among the multitude," who chose to think it was blasphemy to give
Jesus, a man, the honour due to the Messiah, "said unto him, Master,
rebuke thy disciples." But instead of doing so, Jesus "answered and
said unto them, I tell you that, if these should, hold their peace,
the stones would immediately cry out." By this answer, Jesus plainly
told the Pharisees, that so far from meriting a rebuke for speaking
_blasphemy_, all that the people had said was so pleasing to God, that
if they were prevented from saying it, the Almighty would, even by a
miracle, raise up others to glorify His name, by proclaiming this
wonderful truth. Nothing, however, could overcome the obstinate
unbelief of the Pharisees. They "said among themselves, Perceive ye
how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him."
They could not but own, that in spite of all they had done, the people
did believe Jesus to be the Messiah; but this had no other effect than
to make them the more anxious to put Him to death. Mean time Jesus
rode on; "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over
it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day,
the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from
thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies
shall cast a trench about thee, and keep thee in on every side, and
shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and
they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou
knewest not the time of thy visitation." The meaning of what Jesus now
said is, that it would have been a happy thing for the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, if while He was with them they would have believed on Him,
for then He would have given them peace and happiness. And He wept in
pity, whilst He foretold the utter destruction that would come upon
the city, as a punishment to the Jews for refusing to believe in Him,
and receive Him as the Messiah.
Everything that Jesus foretold, came to pass exactly a few years
afterwards, when the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem, and made a
trench, and a wall with strong towers all round the city, so as to
prevent the inhabitants getting any help. The consequence was, that
the want of food caused the most dreadful suffering and misery. When
at last the city was taken, the Romans did destroy it so completely,
that it might truly be said, that one stone was not left upon another.
"And when Jesus was come into Jerusalem," accompanied by multitudes,
waving palm branches, and singing Hosannas, "all the city was moved,"
or filled with astonishment, saying, "Who is this? And the multitude
said, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus
went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and
bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers,
and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is
written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have
made it a den of thieves."
Very soon after our Lord's baptism, He thus cleared the temple for the
first time (Ch. VII.); then He blamed the people for making His
Father's house a house of merchandise; now he tells them that they
have made it like a den of thieves. There have always been people
wicked enough to break the eighth commandment. In the land of Judaea,
there were then many lawless men, who, instead of working to gain an
honest living, went about the country robbing their fellow creatures,
and so living on what they could get. These robbers joined together in
bands, and took up their abodes in hollow places in the sides of the
mountains, called dens or caves. These dens generally had a small
entrance, but inside were of different sizes: they had no light but
what came in through the entrance hole; but the inhabitants could burn
lamps or torches to give them light, and of course they were quite
sheltered from wind and rain. The robbers used to leave their
hiding-places at night, and prowl about to take whatever they could
find. Even if they met with cattle or sheep unguarded, they drove them
away into their dens, where they kept all manner of things which they
had stolen; and therefore when the court of the temple was filled with
oxen and sheep, and other animals, it might well be compared to a den
of thieves. Nothing like this can happen in our days; but let us
remember that Jesus referred to the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Mine
house shall be called an house of prayer for all people": Jesus blamed
the people for profaning the temple, and not making the proper use of
it: we are guilty of this sin, if we do not make a proper use of our
churches, and behave reverently when we are in them. Let us all be
careful to make our churches houses of prayer, by joining devoutly in
the prayers, and listening attentively to all that we hear there:
unless we do this, we shall sin against God by not hallowing His Name;
and He will be as much displeased with us, as He was with the Jews for
their desecration of the temple.
The blind and the lame came to Jesus in the temple; "and he healed
them. And when the Chief Priests and Scribes saw the wonderful things
that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying Hosanna
to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto Him,
Hearest thou what these say?" meaning that He should stop these
children from so speaking: instead of that, Jesus again plainly
declared Himself to be the Messiah spoken of by the prophets, by
applying to what had now taken place, the inspired words of David; for
we read, that "Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of
the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?"
"And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at
the feast." The Greek language was very much spoken at this time, and
the Jews called all foreigners who spoke it, Greeks: many of these
persons had been converted, or turned, from the worship of idols to
that of the one True God: but as they were not really Jews, they could
only be admitted to worship in the Court of the Gentiles. These men
wished to see Jesus, and expressed their wish to Philip--"Philip
cometh and telleth Andrew; and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus."
Our Lord in His answer, declared that the time was now come, when His
power and glory should be shown, not to the Jews alone, but to all
nations upon earth. But He also said, that before He could be
glorified, He must die; just as a corn or grain of wheat must be put
into the ground and die, or rot, before it could bring forth fruit and
fulfil its purpose: and then He warned His disciples, that any man
who really desired to serve and follow Him, must be ready to give up
everything he most values, and even to part with his life, if
necessary, for the service of God.
Jesus in his human nature must have shrunk from suffering as a man;
though firmly resolved to suffer the utmost agony for our sakes. He
would not, therefore, ask God to save Him from the approaching trial,
because He had come into the world for the express purpose of going
through it, in order to purchase the salvation of man.