Having salvation. — Better, saved. (Comp. the whole tenor of Psalms 2 and Ephesians 1:19-23; also Acts 2:23-24; Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 5:9.)
Lowly. — Better, afflicted. (Comp. Isaiah 53:4.)
Of an ass. — Literally, of she asses. (For this use of plural comp. Genesis 37:31; Judges 14:5.) Riding on an ass did not in later, as in earlier times (Judges 5:9, &c.), denote high rank, neither can it be proved that it is here intended to symbolise either peace or humility. But it does indicate an absence of pomp and worldly display. This prophecy was literally fulfilled by our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Matthew 12:15-20). We have no hesitation in saying that He deliberately, in view of this prophecy, performed that act, not merely in order to fulfil the prophecy, but rather as a symbolical act, by which He intended to correct the false notions concerning the mission of the Messiah entertained by His friends, as well as by His enemies. But our Lord’s consciousness that He was fulfilling prophecy, or even His deliberate intention of doing so, does not detract from the value of the act as a fulfilment of the prophecy. For, though it is true that any Jew might have fulfilled that part of the prophecy which consists in riding into the city on an ass, who would have done so amid the acclamations of the multitude, and so have been acknowledged as the expected king, except One, who, by the whole of His previous life, had already won the hearts of the multitude — though that “many-headed monster thing” did change its cry on the following Friday? Any one could have ridden in on an ass, but could any one have founded an almost universal religion?
The wording of this verse is borrowed from Micah 5:9-13 rather than from Micah 4:3; Isaiah 2:4, and seems to indicate that when their King should come, the nation would be enjoying a certain political independence, but that their military power would have come to an end.