The Ride Into Jerusalem (21:8-17).
Passover time was always a time of high excitement and fervour. At that time pilgrims would be flooding into Jerusalem from Galilee and Peraea, as well as from Judaea itself, and others would be flooding in from many parts of the world. And their minds would be fixed on that great deliverance that Passover celebrated, when God had delivered them out of the hands of a terrible enemy (Exodus 12). Now they saw themselves as under the heel of an equally terrible enemy, and they longed for a similar deliverance. Indeed it was because feasts like this tended to arouse insurrectionist tendencies that the Roman governor would ensure that he was present in Jerusalem, along with suitable reinforcements to the garrison, when these feasts took place.
And the crowds already gathered in and around Jerusalem, full of religious fervour and in festal mood, and with time on their hands, would welcome pilgrims as they arrived by calling out to them the various Scriptures associated with the feasts. Thus it was not unusual for pilgrims to be greeted with enthusiasm and with shouts of acclamation in this way. The cries would be taken from such Psalms as Psalms 118, with words such as, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord' (Psalms 118:26), and ‘Save now (hosianna - hosanna is possibly an Aramaic rendering) we beseech you, O Lord' (Psalms 118:25).
It would not be surprising therefore if the arrival of the great Galilean prophet, riding in on an ass, increased the fervour and stirred up indirect Messianic expectations, especially as His healings and exorcisms connected Him with, and would continue to connect Him with, the great Solomon, the son of David. This would especially be so if word about the raising of Lazarus had got around. And the fact that He was on an asses colt and not on the full grown ass would stress the religious aspect of His ride. On the other hand whilst riding on an ass would be significant to Jews, it would mean little to the Romans, who would expect a Messianic pretender to be on a horse. They regularly saw men riding asses, and He would not look like a pretender. And they were used to Passover fervour.
Analysis.
a And the greater part of the crowd spread their robes in the way, and others cut branches from the trees, and spread them in the way' (Matthew 21:8).
b And the crowds who went before him, and those who followed, cried, saying, “Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest” (Matthew 21:9).
c And when he arrived in Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee” (Matthew 21:10-11).
d And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and cast out all those who sold and bought in the temple, and he overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves (Matthew 21:12).
e And he says to them, “It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers” (Matthew 21:13).
d And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them (Matthew 21:14).
c But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son of David”, they were moved with indignation' (Matthew 21:15).
b And they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus says to them, “Yes. Did you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise?' ” (Matthew 21:16).
a And he left them, and went forth out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there (Matthew 21:17).
This chiasmus is a chiasmus of contrasts. In ‘a' He enters in festal triumph, and in the parallel He leaves quietly, having accomplished His purpose. In ‘b' the crowds call Him the Son of David, and in the parallel members of the Sanhedrin ask Him whether He is aware of what they are saying. In ‘c' the city is stirred by the events, and the crowds declare Him to be the prophet from Galilee, and in the parallel Sanhedrin members are moved with indignation at all that they saw of His prophetic activity. In ‘d' He empties the Temple of the mercenary minded, and in the parallel He welcomes and heals the lame and the blind. (Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give you). Finally in ‘e' He proclaims why judgment must come on the Temple. It is because although it was intended to be a House of Prayer, the leaders have made it a den of bandits.