Matthew 21:9 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Hosanna. — We gather, by comparing the four Gospels, the full nature of the mingled cries that burst from the multitude. (1.) As here, “Hosanna.” The word was a Hebrew imperative, “Save us, we beseech thee,” and had come into liturgical use from Psalms 118. That Psalm belonged specially to the Feast of Tabernacles (see Perowne on Psalms 118), and as such, was naturally associated with the palm-branches; the verses from it now chanted by the people are said to have been those with which the inhabitants of Jerusalem were wont to welcome the pilgrims who came up to keep the feast. The addition of “Hosanna to the Son of David” made it a direct recognition of the claims of Jesus to be the Christ; that of “Hosanna in the highest” (comp. Luke 2:14) claimed heaven as in accord with earth in this recognition. (2.) “Blessed be” (“the King” in St. Luke) “He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” These words, too, received a special personal application. The welcome was now given, not to the crowd of pilgrims, but to the King. (3.) As in St. Luke, one of the cries was an echo of the angels’ hymn at the Nativity, “Peace on earth, and glory in the highest” (Luke 2:14). (4.) As in St. Mark, “Blessed be the kingdom of our father David.” We have to think of these shouts as filling the air as He rides slowly on in silence. He will not check them at the bidding of the Pharisees (Luke 19:39), but His own spirit is filled with quite other thoughts than theirs. And those who watched Him saw the tears streaming down His cheeks as He looked on the walls and towers of the city, and heard, what the crowds manifestly did not hear, His lamentation over its coming fall (Luke 19:41).