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The Life and Times of Jesus the MessiahAlfred Edersheim1883
Book VTHE CROSS AND THE CROWNChapter 1THE FIRST DAY IN PASSION-WEEKPALM-SUNDAYTHE ROYAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM(St. Matthew 21:1-11; St. Mark 11:1-11; St. Luke 19:29-44; St. John 12:12-19.)
At length the time of the end had come. Jesus was about to make Entry into Jerusalemas King: King of the Jews, as Heir of David's royal line, with all of symbolic, typic, andprophetic import attaching to it. Yet not as Israel after the flesh expected its Messiahwas the Son of David to make triumphal entrance, but as deeply and significantlyexpressive of His Mission and Work, and as of old the rapt seer had beheld afar off theoutlined picture of the Messiah-King: not in the proud triumph of war-conquests, but inthe 'meek' rule of peace.It is surely one of the strangest mistakes of modern criticism to regard this Entry ofChrist into Jerusalem as implying that, fired by enthusiasm, He had for the momentexpected that the people would receive Him as the Messiah.
1
And it seems little, if at allbetter, when this Entry is described as 'an apparent concession to the feveredexpectations of His disciples and the multitude . . . the grave, sad accommodation tothoughts other than His own to which the Teacher of new truths must often haverecourse when He finds Himself misinterpreted by those who stand together on a lowerlevel.'
2
'Apologies' are the weakness of 'Apologetics' - and any 'accommodation' theorycan have no place in the history of the Christ. On the contrary, we regard His RoyalEntry into the Jerusalem of Prophecy and of the Crucifixion as an integral part of thehistory of Christ, which would not be complete, nor thoroughly consistent, without it. Itbehoved Him so to enter Jerusalem, because He was a King; and as King to enter it insuch manner, because He was such a King - and both the one and the other were inaccordance with the prophecy of old.
1. So notably
Keim 
. Of course, the theory proceeds on the
assumption 
that theDiscourses reported by St. Luke are spurious.2. Dean
Plumptre 
on St. Matt. xxi. 5.
It was a bright day in early spring of the year 29, when the festive procession set outfrom the home at Bethany. There can be no reasonable doubt as to the locality of thathamlet (the modern
El-'Azariye 
, 'of Lazarus'), perched on a broken rocky plateau on theother side of Olivet. More difficulty attaches to the identification of
Bethphage 
, which is
 
associated with it, the place not being mentioned in the Old Testament, thoughrepeatedly in Jewish writings. But, even so, there is a curious contradiction, sinceBethphage is sometimes spoken of as distinct from Jerusalem,
3
while at others it isdescribed as, for ecclesiastical purposes, part of the City itself.
4
Perhaps the nameBethphage - 'house of figs' - was given alike to that district generally, and to a littlevillage close to Jerusalem where the district began.
5
And this may explain the peculiarreference, in the Synoptic Gospels, to Bethphage (St. Matthew), and again to'Bethphage and Bethany.'
6
For, St. Matthew and St. Mark relate Christ's brief stay atBethany and His anointing by Mary not in chronological order,
7
but introduce it at a laterperiod, as it were, in contrast to the betrayal of Judas.
8
Accordingly, they pass from theMiracles at Jericho immediately to the Royal Entry into Jerusalem - from Jericho to'Bethphage,' or, more exactly, to 'Bethphage and Bethany,' leaving for the presentunnoticed what had occurred in the latter hamlet.
3. Siphré, ed.
Friedm 
. p. 55
a 
, last lines; Sot. 45
a 
; Tos. Pes. viii. 8.4. Pes. 63
b 
; 91
a 
; Menach. 78
b 
; Babha Mets. 90
a 
.5. See also
Caspari 
, Chron. Geogr. Einl. p. 161. The question as to the proposedidentification (by some) of Bethany with the
Beth Hini 
, or
Beth Hanioth 
, where theSanhedrin (apparently of Sadducees) sat after leaving the Temple and which wasdestroyed three years before the City, must be left here undiscussed.6. St. Mark and St. Luke. 7. St. Augustine has it,
recapitulando dixerunt 
.8. St. Matt. xxvi. 6-13; St. Mark xiv. 3-9.
Although all the four Evangelists relate Christ's Entry into Jerusalem, they seem to doso from different standpoints. The Synoptists accompany Him from Bethany, while St.John, in accordance with the general scheme of his narrative, seems to follow fromJerusalem that multitude which, on tidings of His approach, hastened to meet Him.Even this circumstance, as also the paucity of events recorded on that day, proves thatit could not have been at early morning that Jesus left Bethany. Remembering, that itwas the last morning of rest before the great contest, we may reverently think of muchthat may have passed in the Soul of Jesus and in the home of Bethany. And now Hehas left that peaceful resting-place. It was probably soon after His outset, that He sentthe 'two disciples' - possibly Peter and John
9
- into 'the village over against' them -presumably Bethphage. There they would find by the side of the road an ass's colt tied,whereon never man had sat. We mark the significant symbolism of the latter, inconnection with the general conditions of consecration to Jehovah
10
- and note in it, asalso in the Mission of the Apostles, that this was intended by Christ to be His Royal andMessianic Entry. This colt they were to loose and to bring to Him.
9. Comp. St. Luke xxii. 8. 10. Num. xix. 2; Deut. xxi. 3.
The disciples found all as He had said. When they reached Bethphage, they saw, by adoorway where two roads met, the colt tied by its mother. As they loosed it, 'the owners'and 'certain of them that stood by'
11
asked their purpose, to which, as directed by the
 
Master, they answered: 'The Lord [the Master, Christ] hath need of him,' when, aspredicted, no further hindrance was offered. In explanation of this we need not resort tothe theory of a miraculous influence, nor even suppose that the owners of the colt werethemselves 'disciples.' Their challenge to 'the two,' and the little more than permissionwhich they gave, seem to forbid this idea. Nor is such explanation requisite. From thepilgrim-band which had accompanied Jesus from Galilee and Peræa, and precededHim to Jerusalem, from the guests at the Sabbath-feast in Bethany, and from the peoplewho had gone out to see both Jesus and Lazarus, the tidings of the proximity of Jesusand of His approaching arrival must have spread in the City. Perhaps that very morningsome had come from Bethany, and told it in the Temple, among the festive bands -specially among his own Galileans, and generally in Jerusalem, that on that very day -in a few hours - Jesus might be expected to enter the City. Such, indeed, must havebeen the case, since, from St. John's account, 'a great multitude' 'went forth to meetHim.' The latter, we can have little doubt, must have mostly consisted, not of citizens ofJerusalem, whose enmity to Christ was settled, but of those 'that had come to theFeast.'
12
With these went also a number of 'Pharisees,' their hearts filled with bitterestthoughts of jealousy and hatred.
13
And, as we shall presently see, it is of greatimportance to keep in mind this composition of 'the multitude.'
11. St. Mark; comp. also St. Matthew. 12. St. John xii. 12.13. St. Luke xix. 39; St. John xii. 19.
If such were the circumstances, all is natural. We can understand, how eagerquestioners would gather about the owners of the colt (St. Mark), there at the cross-roads at Bethphage, just outside Jerusalem; and how, so soon as from the bearing andthe peculiar words of the disciples they understood their purpose, the owners of the assand colt would grant its use for the solemn Entry into the City of the 'Teacher ofNazareth,'
14
Whom the multitude was so eagerly expecting; and, lastly, how, as from thegates of Jerusalem tidings spread of what had passed in Bethphage, the multitudewould stream forth to meet Jesus.
14. It is surely one of those instances in which the supposed authority of MSS. should
not 
 be implicitly followed, when in St. Mark xi. 3, the R.V. adopts what we must regard as avery jejune gloss: 'and straightway He [viz. Christ] will send him back hither' - as if thedisciples had obtained the colt by pledging the Master to its immediate restoration. Thegloss is the more inapt as it does not occur in the parallel passages in St. Matthew andSt. Luke.
Meantime Christ and those who followed Him from Bethany had slowly entered on
15
thewell-known caravan-road from Jericho to Jerusalem. It is the most southern of three,which converge close to the City, perhaps at the very place where the colt had stoodtied. 'The road soon loses sight of Bethany. It is now a rough, but still broad and well-defined mountain-track, winding over rock and loose stones; a steep declivity on the left;the sloping shoulder of Olivet above on the right; fig-trees below and above, here andthere growing out of the rocky soil.'
16
Somewhere here the disciples who brought 'thecolt' must have met Him. They were accompanied by many, and immediately followedby more. For, as already stated, Bethphage - we presume the village - formed almost
of 00

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