Matthew 21
Matthew 21:1-16
Matthew 21:33-41
THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY
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Scripture References
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Significance
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“A colt tied, whereon yet never man sat” (Luke 19:30; see vv. 30–35;
see also Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:2–7; Mark 11:2–7; John 12:14–15).
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“He came riding on an ass, in token of peace, acclaimed by the Hosanna
shouts of multitudes; not on a caparisoned steed with the panoply of combat
and the accompaniment of bugle blasts and fanfare of trumpets. . . . The ass
has been designated in literature as ‘the ancient symbol of Jewish royalty,’
and one riding upon an ass as the type of peaceful progress” (James E.
Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. [1916], 516–17).
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“They spread their clothes in the way” (Luke 19:36; see also Matthew
21:8; Mark 1:8).
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“Only kings and conquerors received such an extraordinary token of
respect as this. (2 Kings 9:13.) In every part of this triumphal entry to
Jerusalem, Jesus seems not only to permit but to court the adulation and
homage normally reserved for kings and great rulers” (Bruce R. McConkie,
Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1966–73], 1:578).
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“Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him” (John
12:13; see also Matthew 21:8; Mark 11:8).
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“Amid shouts of praise and pleas for salvation and deliverance, we
see the disciples strewing our Lord’s course with palm branches in token of
victory and triumph. This whole dramatic scene prefigures that yet future
assembly when ‘a great multitude,’ which no man can number, ‘of all nations,
and kindreds, and people, and tongues,’ shall stand ‘before the throne, and
before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands,’ crying
with a loud voice, ‘Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb.’ (Rev. 7:9–10.)” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 1:578).
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“Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name
of the Lord” (Matthew 21:9; see also Mark 11:9–10; Luke 19:38; John 12:13).
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“No other man ever lived to whom such inspired acclamations of
adulation, reverence, and worship have been or could properly be made. Here
we see great multitudes bearing testimony of our Lord’s divine Sonship. In
plain language they are hailing Jesus as the Son of David, the Deliverer of
Israel, their Savior and Redeemer, the promised Messiah, the Son of God. And
they are doing it wittingly, deliberately using the sacred expression,
Hosanna, and quoting from the Messianic prophecy which ascribes salvation and
triumph to the promised Son of David. “Hosanna means literally, save now, or
save we pray, or save we beseech thee, and is taken from the Messianic
prophecy which foretold that such would be the entreaty of Israel to their
Messiah in the day of his coming [see Psalm 118:22–26]” (Doctrinal New
Testament Commentary, 1:578–79).
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“If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry
out” (Luke 19:40; see also John 12:19).
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“The purpose of Christ in thus yielding Himself for the day to the
desires of the people and accepting their homage with kingly grace may not be
fully comprehended by us of finite mind. That the occasion was no accidental
or fortuitous happening, of which He took advantage without preconceived
intention, is evident. He knew beforehand what would be, and what He would
do. It was no meaningless pageantry; but the actual advent of the King into
His royal city, and His entry into the temple, the house of the King of
kings” (Jesus the Christ, 517).
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Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles said the following about the Savior’s parable of the wicked
husbandmen:
“[God’s] dealings with men from the creation of Adam down to the
Second Coming of the Son of Man are summarized in the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen.
“God himself is the householder; his vineyard is the earth and
its inhabitants; and the husbandmen appointed to work in the vineyard are the
spiritual overseers of the people. Those who are stoned, beaten, persecuted,
and killed are the prophets and seers sent to minister among men; and the Son
and Heir, slain and cast out of the vineyard at the instigation of the wicked
husbandmen, is of course Jesus” (Doctrinal New Testament
Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 1:593–94).