He is just, and having salvation— The righteous one, and the Saviour. After having foretold the victories of the Maccabees, the prophet in a sudden transport breaks forth into a joyful representation of the coming of the Messiah. Behold, thy King cometh, &c. namely, that Messiah so often described in the prophets as the king of Israel, and called elsewhere by the name of David their king. He is the righteous one and the Saviour; the Lord our Righteousness; who shall execute justice and judgment in the earth, and perfect the salvation of his faithful people: unlike the proud and ruinous conquerors of the earth, he shall not enter with a mighty cavalcade of horse, but shall come lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. To elucidate this remarkable circumstance, which was fulfilled by the blessed Jesus when he entered Jerusalem in the manner here foretold, the learned Bishop Sherlock recurs to that original command in the law, that the kings of Israel should not multiply horses to themselves; because, being under the immediate dominion and protection of the Lord, they were not to put their trust in external defence. See the note on Deuteronomy 17:16. The kings of Israel were exalted to the throne on condition that they should renounce the assistance of horses and horsemen, and depend on God for success in the day of battle. They who did so, were proportionally successful; they who did not, ruined themselves and their country. Now, in this view, look to the present prophesy: you see here, what the king foretold was, who was to save the people: consider then what sort of a king was to be expected. Is it possible to imagine that God would send a king to save them, who should be like the kings that had undone them? Is it not more reasonable to imagine, that he should resemble those who had indeed been deliverers of their country?—Kings who feared God, and therefore feared no enemy; who, though mounted on asses, and colts the foals of asses, were able to put to flight the thousands and ten thousands of chariots and horses that came against them? The king foretold by the prophet was, moreover, to be just, meek, and lowly: but how could he have deserved this character, had he appeared in the pomp and pride of war; surrounded with horses and chariots, in direct opposition to the law of God? Or how, as he was to bring salvation to the people, could he make use of those means which God never prospered, and which he had sufficiently declared he never would? You see then how essential it was to the character of a king of Israel, who was to be just, and lowly, and to bring salvation with him, that he should come riding on an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. But, if any doubt can yet remain, let the prophet himself explain it, who, immediately after his description of the promised king, adds, And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; plainly shewing that the character given of the Messiah, that he should ride on an ass, was in opposition to the pride of their warlike kings, who, by their great strength in chariots and horses, had ruined themselves and their people. To the same purpose speaks the prophet Hosea; ch. Zechariah 1:7 and Micah, ch. Zechariah 5:10-11 passages which mutually support and enlighten each other, and shew undeniably what the prophet had in view, when he foretold that the Messiah should ride on an ass.—And what is there in all this to make sport for unbelievers?—Does it appear from the Jewish law, and the Jewish history, to be a mere trifling circumstance in the character of a king of Israel, whether he had chariots and horses of war or no? Or, was it any reproach to Christ to ride into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass, when David, the greatest of his ancestors, and Solomon the wisest, as long as he was wise, rode in the same manner? Can the Jews object to this circumstance, and yet talk of the glories of David and the magnificence of Solomon, who, in the midst of all their glory and magnificence, did the very same thing?—Or, can they stumble at this character of the Messiah, without forgetting by what princes their ancestors were saved, and by what undone? See Bishop Sherlock on Prophesy, Dissert. 4: p. 379.
Riding upon an ass, &c.— The riding at all on a horse is esteemed a very honourable thing in the east. Accordingly, horses are used in no other motions there than that of walking in state, and running in full career. For this reason, Dr. Pocock tells us that the chous of the janizaries at Cairo always goes on an ass for greater speed, those creatures pacing along very fast: whereas it is contrary to the Turkish dignity to go on a horse faster than a foot-pace in the streets. Riding on horseback is in the Levant accounted an honourable thing; and they ride them accordingly in a very stately manner. And indeed, this has so struck some of our western travellers, Dr. Russell in particular, that they have frankly confessed, that a great man of the east, riding on horseback, and attended by his servants, has appeared much more stately and dignified to them, than one of ours does in his coach, loaded with footmen: in truth, the people of these countries must be allowed to be exquisite connoisseurs as to every attitude and every circumstance which serves to ennoble the appearance of a person, and render it stately and majestic. The prophet Zechariah seems accordingly to have supposed this sort of sensibility, when he describes the coming of the Messiah to Zion, as meek and lowly, because he was to make his entry on an ass: for, this attaching of stateliness and dignity to the riding on a horse obtained in Judaea before the time of Zechariah, though it had been always so in that country; the greatest personages, and on the most solemn occasions too, riding there in more ancient times on asses and mules. It seems to have begun in the reign of Solomon, in whose days we are told many horses were brought out of Egypt; and who evidently touches upon the pomp supposed to be in the riding upon horses, Ecclesiastes 10:7. We have already taken notice of this passage on 2 Kings 4:24. But Dr. Russell's account of persons of condition riding on horseback, with a number of servants walking before them, is a much more perfect illustration of a passage which speaks of those that ride, as riding on horses. I have seen servants riding in state, was the declaration of the wise man,—while persons of great birth, in countries where dignity is kept up with the nicest care, he had seen walking like servants before those that rode. See the Observations, p. 284.