Matthew 21:2

Mat 21:2. Τὴν ἀπέναντι ὑμῶν, which is over against you.—εὐθέως, immediately) The word is repeated in the next verse. All things are easy to the Lord.—δεδεμένην, tied) already as it were prepared.—πῶλον, a colt) The colt had never carried any one before. Jesus had never been carried before by any animal, except perhaps at a very tender age. He took the mother from the village for a short way.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_21:2 f. Εἰς τὴν κώμην, κ.τ.λ.] Bethphage.

εὐθέως] essentially appropriate to the specific character of the instructions: immediately, after you have entered.

The mention of two animals made by Matthew, though seemingly at variance with Mar_11:2, Luk_19:30, Joh_12:14, represents the matter more correctly than the other evangelists, and is neither to be explained symbolically (of Judaism and heathenism, Justin Martyr), nor to be regarded as a reduplication on the part of Matthew (Ewald, Holtzmann), nor to be traced to a misapprehension of the words of the prophet (de Wette, Neander, Strauss, Hilgenfeld), who intends וְעַל עַיִר as an epexegetical parallel to עַל־חֲמֹר; for just in the same way are we to understand καὶ ἐπὶ πῶλον, Mat_21:5, so that, according to Matthew as well, Jesus rides upon, the foal, though accompanied by the mother, a detail which the other evangelists fail to notice. Moreover, it is simply arbitrary to assign a mythical character to the prediction of Jesus on the strength of Gen_49:11 (Strauss; on the other hand, Bleek).

ὅτι] recitative.

ἀποστέλλει] so far from refusing, He sends them away. The present represents as already taking place what will immediately and certainly be realized. Comp. Mar_4:29. In εὐθέως δέ, but at once, observe Jesus marvellous knowledge, not merely of the fact that the animals would undoubtedly be found awaiting them exactly as He said they would be, but of the further fact that the people of the place are so loyal to Him as perfectly to understand the meaning of the ὁ κύριος, κ.τ.λ., and to find in those words sufficient reason for at once complying with His request. Comp. Mat_26:18. The idea of a magical virtue attaching to the use of the name Jesus (Strauss) is foreign to the text; while, on the other hand, we fail to satisfy the requirements of the three accounts of this incident by resolving it into a mere case of borrowing (Paulus) or requisition (Keim).

The simple account of John does not affect the credibility of the synoptic narrative (also in answer to Bleek). See note on Joh_12:14 f.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 21:2 . εἰς τὴν κώμην : that is, naturally, the one named, though if we take εἰς before Βηθφαγὴ as = into, it might be Bethany, on the other side of the valley. Some think the two villages were practically one (Porter, Handbook for Syria and Palestine , p. 180). ὄνον δ . καὶ πῶλον , a she-ass with her foal, the latter alone mentioned in parall.; both named here for a reason which will appear. λύσαντες ἀγάγετε , loose and bring; without asking leave, as if they were their own.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 2. Ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt] Asses and mules were in common use in Palestine: horses were seldom to be met with. Our blessed Lord takes every opportunity to convince his disciples that nothing was hidden from him: he informs them of the most minute occurrence; and manifested his power over the heart in disposing the owner to permit the ass to be taken away.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) Go into the village over against you.—This may have been either Bethany or, on the assumption that it was nearer Jerusalem, Bethphage itself.

An ass tied, and a colt with her.—St. Mark and St. Luke name the “colt” only. St. John speaks of a “young” or “small” ass, using the diminutive of the usual name (ἀνάριον). The colt was one on which “man had never sat” (Mar_11:2; Luk_19:30). The command clearly implies a deliberate fulfilment of the prophecy cited in Mat_21:4-5. They were to claim the right to use the beasts as for the service of a King, not to hire or ask permission.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. an ass tied, and a colt with her] “A colt tied whereon never man sat” (Mark and Luke). St Matthew notes the close correspondence with the words of the prophecy; see Mat_21:5.

Oriental travellers describe the high estimation in which the ass is held in the East. The variety of Hebrew names for these animals indicates the many uses to which they are put. “His lot varies as does the lot of those he serves. The rich man’s ass is a lordly beast. In size he is far ahead of anything of his kind we see here at home. His coat is as smooth and glossy as a horse’s.… His livery is shiny black, satiny white or sleek mouse colour. I never saw one of the dingy red of his Poitou brethren.” Zincke’s Egypt.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Saying unto them, go into the village over against you,.... Munster's Hebrew Gospel reads, "before you"; not Jerusalem, as some have thought, for that would never be called a village; though the Ethiopic version reads it, "the city"; but rather Bethany, which was near to Bethphage, and is mentioned with it; though the Jews say (u), the name of the village was Nob, and was near to Jerusalem, and own, that Christ had an ass from hence, on which he rode to Jerusalem, and applied to himself the prophecy in Zac 9:9. And it is very likely this was the village; for Nob was very near to Jerusalem; it was over against it, within sight of it, and from thence might be taken a view of the whole city, according to the Jews; who say (w), that Sennacherib stood in Nob, a city of the priests, over against the walls of Jerusalem, and saw the whole city, and it was little in his eyes; and he said; is not this the city of Jerusalem, &c.

and straightway, or, as in Mark, "as soon as ye be entered into it"; and in Luke, "at your entering", at the town's end, at one of the first houses in it, at the door thereof,

ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her. The other evangelists only make mention of the colt, or young ass; but, no doubt, both were spoken of by Christ, and both were found by the disciples, the ass, and the colt by her, and both were brought away by them; and on both of them, very probably, Christ rode; first on one, and then on the other, as the prophecy hereby fulfilled seems to require, and as the sequel of the account shows. The ancient allegorical sense of the ass and colt is not to be despised: that the ass may signify the Jews, who had been used to bear the burdensome rites and ceremonies of the law; and the colt, the wild and untamed Gentiles, and the coming of Christ, first to the one, and then to the other:

loose them, and bring them unto me, both ass and colt. So the Arabic version reads it, "loose both, and bring them, both to me".

(u) Toldos Jesu, p. 9. (w) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 95. 1. Targum, Jarchi, & Kimchi in Isa. x. 32.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.

Ver. 2. An ass tied, and a colt with her] There are those who by the ass understand the Jews laden with the law, {a} and by her foal, the Gentiles that wandered whither they would. That canonist made the most of it, that said that children are therefore to be baptized, because the apostles brought to Christ not only the ass, but the colt too.

{a} Oneramus asinum et non curat quia asinus est. Bern.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Go into the village over against you - That is, to Bethphage See the notes at Mat 21:1.

Ye shall find an ass tied ... - In Judea there were few horses, and those were chiefly used in war. People seldom employed them in common life and in ordinary journeys. The ass, the mule, and the camel are still most used in Eastern countries. To ride on a horse was sometimes an emblem of war; on a mule and an ass, the emblem of peace. Kings and princes commonly rode on them in times of peace, and it is mentioned as a mark of rank and dignity to ride in that manner, Jdg 10:4; Jdg 12:14; 1Sa 25:20. So Solomon, when he was inaugurated as king, rode on a “mule,” 1Ki 1:33. Riding in this manner, then, denoted neither poverty nor degradation, but was the appropriate way in which a king should ride, and in which, therefore, the King of Zion should enter into his capital, the city of Jerusalem.

Mark and Luke say that he told them they should find “a colt tied.” This they were directed to bring. They mention only the colt, because it was this on which he rode.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Go ye into the village; in Latin, Castellum, but in Greek, eis ten komen, which is, before you, contra vos, as Virgil says, Italiam contra. (Æneid i.) Some authors think it was Bethphage. (Haydock) --- An ass tied,[1] and a colt with her. This colt, which never yet had been rid upon, represented the people of the Gentiles, to whom God had not given a written law, as he had done to the Jews. Here was manifestly fulfilled the prophecy of Zachary. Chap. ix. It was now the first day of the week, in which Christ suffered; he was pleased to enter into Jerusalem in a kind of triumph, the people making acclamations to him, as to their king and Messias. (Witham) --- Both Jews and Gentiles, figured by the ass and the colt, are to be loosed and conducted by the hands of the apostles of Christ to their Redeemer. The Gentiles, represented by the colt, though heretofore unclean, no sooner receive Jesus resting upon them, than they are freed from every stain and rendered perfectly clean. The zeal of the Gentiles, is spoken of by St. Paul, Romans xi. 25. Blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles should come in. And so all Israel should be saved. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. lxvi.) --- As it is written, "there shall come out of Sion, he that shall deliver, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is to them my covenant;" when I shall take away their sins. This prophecy of Isaias (lix. 20.) St. Paul applies to the conversion of the Jews; (ibid. [Romans xi. 25]) and thus both Jew and Gentile are to take up our Saviour’s yoke, which is certainly sweet, and his burden light.

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

A prophecy of the coming of the Messias was here so manifestly accomplished in the person of Jesus, that I cannot but set down the words of the prophet Zachary, chap. ix. Ecce Rex tuus veniet tibi justus & Salvator, ipse pauper, & ascendens super Asinam, & super pullum filium Asinæ. They are no less clear in the Hebrew, and other languages. See the Protestant translation in the prophet Zacharias.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

2. The village over against you — The Greek preposition rendered over against, simply signifies before or in front of you. Our Lord had spent the previous night at Bethany. If Bethphage was the village before them, as their faces were towards Jerusalem, that village must have been west of Bethany. Such was probably the fact. Matthew mentions Bethphage only, and says they came to it; that is, it was now before them.

An ass tied, and a colt with her — The horse was an animal of pride and war; the ass, of humility and peace. Yet there was nothing mean in the humble state which our Lord now assumed. Even Solomon, the Jewish prince of peace, rode on a mule in state. 1Ki_1:38.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The village over against you. Bethphage, to which he points as he speaks. He gives their commission to the two disciples, mentioning even some minute details. Straightway. "As soon as ye be entered into it" (Mark). Ye shall find an ass (a she ass) tied, and a colt with her. St. Matthew alone mentions the ass, the mother of the foal. This doubtless he does with exact reference to the prophecy, which, writing for Jews, he afterwards cites (ver. 4). St. Jerome gives a mystical reason: the ass represents the Jewish people, which had long borne the yoke of the Law; the colt adumbrates the Gentiles, as yet unbroken," whereon never man sat." Christ called them both, Jew and Gentile, by his apostles. Loose them, and bring them unto me. He speaks with authority, as One able to make a requisition and command obedience.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. Into the village over against you. Bethphage is in view, over against them, perhaps separated from them by a valley. Ye shall find an ass tied. In the East the ass is in high esteem. Every Jew expected, from the words of one of the prophets (Zech. 9:9), that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem riding on an ass.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

2. ὄνον δεδεμένην καὶ πῶλον μετʼ αὐτῆς. ‘A colt tied whereon never man sat’ (Mark and Luke). St Matthew notes the close correspondence with the words of the prophecy; see Mat 21:5.

Oriental travellers describe the high estimation in which the ass is held in the East. The variety of Hebrew names for these animals indicates the many uses to which they are put. The prophecy from Zechariah quoted Mat 21:4 contains three distinct Hebrew words for an ‘ass.’ ‘Sitting upon an ass (chamôr, from a root meaning red) and a colt (ayir, ‘a young male ass’) the foal (lit. ‘the son’) of an ass (athôn = ‘a she-ass,’ from a root meaning ‘slow’).’ ‘His lot varies as does the lot of those he serves. The rich man’s ass is a lordly beast. In size he is far ahead of anything of his kind we see here at home. His coat is as smooth and glossy as a horse’s … His livery is shiny black, satiny white or sleek mouse colour. I never saw one of the dingy red of his Poitou brethren.’ Zincke’s Egypt.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(M) 2. Saying to them, Go into the village which is over against you, and straightway you shall find an ass tied up, and a colt with her; loose, and lead to Me.] Mk. has: “And saith, Go (ὑπάγετε) into the village which is over against you, and straightway entering into it, you shall find a colt tied up upon which no one of men ever sat; loose it, and bring.”—λέγων] for καὶ λέγει, as often.—πορεύεσθε] for ὑπάγετε. Cf. a similar change in 28:7 = Mar 16:7. πορεύεσθαι occurs once in Mar 9:30 as a variant for παραπορεύεσθαι; in Mt. it occurs twenty-eight times. Mt. omits εἰσπορευόμενοι εἰς αὐτήν as redundant.—ὄνον—καὶ πῶλον μετʼ αὐτῆς] Mt. adds ὄνον in view of the passage which he is about to quote (v. 4). ἀγάγετε is a more usual word in this connection than Mk.’s φέρετε.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A colt with her. The Lord does not separate the colt from its dam.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.