The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 130

they hnd been ncouetomed to do in token of Tlui Nnme o/ the LMd is the manifestation the npproaoh of R oonqueror ( of. I Mace, xiii. and compendium of !\II the perfections of th9 61, whore Simon's return to the city wo.s Lord. For centuries the gracious hope hntl oelebrnled with "thankegivin~ and {Jo.fuw rung forth in the sacred liturgy, a.nd now and with harps Rod oymbnle," eto.). The the people see that the hope is on the point use to which the bro.nchee of the well-known of realizBtion. pnlm trees wcro put, differs from, but does Ver. 14.-And 1e811ll, having found a not exclude, the use to which 1t>..113o, and young ass, se.t thereon ; as it is written. 11,,-0,{Jd.3« were also put, Bethany (see note, The whole account of the process by which oh. xi. 1) wns "the house of dotes," and the our Lord secured the ovdp,ov is described palm brnnches for the Feast of Taberne.cles, e.t ~eat length _by the synopti~s (see MBtt. on its first oolebro.tion e.fter the Cnptivity ( cf. XXI. 2; Mark x1. 12; Luke x1x. 30), The Lev. xxiii. 40), were fetched from the mount foe.I implies that the animal had never bome (Neh. viii. 15). The no.Im tree was a BBCred another burden. The account of Matthew symbol for Israel. '''fo,ma.r," a palm tree, refers to the mother and the foe.I, ae though wo.s a favourite name for a woman, The they were inseparable, and together bore Maccabman ooins were decorated with the the- sacred bill'den. Mr. Holman Hunt, in pnlm and vine. The medal struck by Titus his picture of the 'Triumph of the Inno- represented n oaptive sitting under e. palm. cents,' has represented the beast bearing Throughout their history, in their gorgeous Mary and her Child as accompe.nied by the temple ritual, it continually reappears, and colt. The entire process of securing both nt tile laet the Apocalypse represents the must ha.ve t.a.ken time, and augmented victorious songs of triumphant elders accom- the excitement. Christ e.t length, on the panied by the waving of the palm. If we eve of his Passion which he so distinctly compo.re the four accounts of the demou- foreshadowed, allowed the enthusiasm of the stro.tion, we shall see age.in how in com- people to prevail, a.nd accepted the homage. bine.lion they vividly represent the whole The Galilee pilgrims take np the demon- scene. The IDJJltitude cry, according to-- stration, which was commenced, os we see Matthew (x:xi. 9): "Hosanna. 1 to the Son of from John's Goepel, by "the Jews" and David: Blessed be he that cometh in those Jerusalemites who had been pro- the Ne.me of the Lord; Bose.nna in the foundly moved by the significance of the highest." resurrection of Laze.rue. The circumstances Mark (xi. 9, 10): "Hose.nna; Blessed be he thus elucidated from the four narratives, re- that cometh in the Name of the Lord: veal undesigned coincidences. Theentryinto Blessed be the coming kingdom of our Jerusalem did not take place till the after- father David: Hosanna in the highest." noon, and so we find that all that our Lord Luke(xix.38),remembering the angel's song: did on arrival was to "go to the temple, "They praised God with a loud voice. look round on all things, e.nd, now that the . . . Blessed be the King that cometh in even was come, to revisit Bethany with the the Name of the Lord: in heaven peace, twelve" (Me.rk xi 11). and glory in the highest." Ver. 15.-John, as well as Matthew, sees John says they went forth to meet him, here a symbolical fulfilment of what had palm branch in hand, and cried, been declared by one of the latest of the Rosanna : :Blessed be he that cometh in prophets, as the peculiarity of the Messiah the Name of the Lord, and (blessed be) (Zech. ix. 9) : Fear not, daughter of Zion: (even) the Xing of Israel, behold, thy King oometb, sitting on an us's colt,' This oracle is admitted by co=en- These differences show how varions groups tators of opposite schools to refer to the nsed with freedom the tones and sentiment Messi!\h. There was no need, in order to of the hundred and eighteenth psalm, fulfil the spirit of the whole passage, that adopting the welcome with whioh the priests the King should come to his own litemlly were acoustomed to greet the pilgrims to npon the back of e. beast of burden. The the festival. But euch account demonstrates prophecy does, however, an~~~st the modesty, that, on this ocoasion, there was a general the absence of all pomp or aisplsy of worldly ascription to our Lord of Messianic honour. wealth and power; noy, the humiliation on He is ho.iled by the. people as King of Israel, as the Heo.d of the cowing kinguom of their 1 See C11?eful treo.tment of Zech. ix. 9, 10 father David, and o.s giviug glory to God, in Wright's ' Prophecies of Zechariah.' 1 '.n11avv~ is a Greoized form of the words, Turpie (the • Old Testament in the New,' pp. 221, 222) compares critically Me.tthew's Nrn~•l?\n, equivalent to "Save, I pray I" quotation of Zechariah with its modifications abbrevio.ted to N}~~in. It is followed here of both the HcbrelV o.nd the LX.X., with by the dative,,,-,; ulf .6.o.fJ/li, It is a quoto.tion John's abbreviated citotion of the same from Ps. ox viii, 25, 26, oracle, 136 THE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO 8T. JOHN. [crt. xit. 1--50.