Doing some work on Matthew’s account of the first Palm Sunday, I’m struck again by how helpful R T France’s commentary on Matthew
Some highlights:
“Note that Jesus does not enter Jerusalem until verse 10. The traditional title for this periscope, ‘the triumphal entry,’ is thus misleading: the entry follows the royal acclamation, in which the people of Jerusalem are not yet involved. What happens in vv. 8-9 is outside the city walls, and the people who hail Jesus as the Son of David are specifically described as Jesus’ travelling companions… It is only in verse 10 that we are introduced to the people of the city, and their reaction is specifically contrasted in verses 10-11 with that of the enthusiastic , mainly Galilean crowd.” (773)
“It is surprising how many readers, unaware of the ‘tribal’ distinction between Galilee and Judea, have failed to notice this element of the story, and so continue to talk and preach about the fickleness of a crowd which could shout ‘Hosanna’ one day and ‘Crucify him’ a few days later. That is an unfortunate misreading both of the texts and of the historical situation: the Jerusalem crowd of 27:15-25 were not the same people as the pilgrims who had escorted Jesus into the city.” (773)
“Zechariah’s prophecy of a humble and peaceful king coming to Jerusalem ‘vindicated and saved’ is based on the story of David’s return to the city after the defeat of Absalom’s rebellion, when he came in triumph as king, and yet humbly and in peace. (2 Samuel 19-20). When the Son of David chose to ride down to the city from the Mount of Olives on a donkey, the acted allusion was unmistakable.” (774)
“Zechariah’s prophecy pictures David tracing his outward route over the Mount of Olives (2 Samuel 15:30) and riding on the donkey which had been provided for him in 2 Samuel 16:1-2. A donkey is a suitable mount for a king, but only for a king in time of peace.” (774, footnote 15)
The time of the Messianic secret is over.
“But in deliberately presenting himself before Jerusalem as its messianic king, Jesus has chosen an OT model which subverts any popular militaristic idea of kingship. The meek, peaceful, donkey-rider of Zechariah 9:9 is not a potential leader of an anti-Roman insurrection.”
“There is a subtle tension within Zechariah’s description of this messianic king: he is victorious and yet meek, and his triumph is received rather than won (‘vindicated and saved’). He rides a donkey rather than a warhorse, and his kingdom will be one of peace rather than of coercion. When Jesus chose this oracle to enact as he approached the city, he was thus claiming to be the Messiah, but not the sort of Messiah much popular patriotism might have hoped for… Both Matthew and John probably omit ‘vindicated and saved’ from the quotation in order to focus attention most clearly on the adjective ‘meek’” (777-778)
“As a result of the exuberant behaviour of the pilgrim crowd outside the walls, Jesus’ arrival in the city causes a commotion. In 2:3 we read that ‘all Jerusalem’ was alarmed along with Herod at the news of the birth of a new ‘king of the Jews’; now that king is presenting himself to the city, and again ‘the whole city’ is disturbed.” (781)
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