Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
Ver. 5. Tell ye the daughter of Sion] Here was that also of the Psalmist fulfilled, "God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth," Psalms 74:12. For Jerusalem is by the Fathers observed to stand in the very centre and navel of the habitable earth, as if it were fatally founded to be the city of the great King.
Thy King cometh unto thee] All in Christ is for our behoof and benefit, 1 Corinthians 1:30, and Micah 4:8,9 "Unto thee shall it come, O daughter of Zion, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Why then dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no King in thee? Is thy counsellor perished?" A mandamus a from this King will do it at any time,Psalms 40:4 .
Meek, and sitting upon an ass] Not upon a stately saddle horse, as Alexander, Julius Caesar, &c.; no such state here. Christ's kingdom was of another world; "He came riding meekly;" and his word (the law of his kingdom) is both to be taught and received with meekness, 2 Timothy 2:25; James 1:21. At Genoa in Italy they show the tail of the ass our Saviour rode on for a holy relic; and bow before it with great devotion. On Palm Sunday, their priests bring forth an ass in state, and bow before him and worship him, as if Christ himself were there present; which when the Turkish ambassadors once beheld at Craeonia in Poland, they blessed themselves, and cried out, O terram impietatem! Siccine asinum brutam bestiam adorari? Oh detestable impiety! should an ass be so adored? Neither will these dull dizards be reclaimed from such fond fopperies; being herein like those Italian asses, which feeding upon the weed henbane, a are so stupefied, that they lie for dead, neither can they be awakened till half-skinned.
a A term ‘originally applied generically to a number of ancient writs, letters missive, or mandates, issued by the sovereign, directing the performance of certain acts', but afterwards restricted to the judicial writ (called ‘the high prerogative writ of mandamus') issued in the King's name from the Court of King's Bench (now, from the Crown side of the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice) and directed to an inferior court, a corporation, an officer, etc., commanding some specified thing to be done. ‘Its general object is to enforce the performance of some public duty in respect of which there is no other specific legal remedy' (G. H. B. Kenrick in Encycl. Laws Eng. s.v.). ŒD
b The common name of the annual plant Hyoscyamus niger, a native of Europe and northern Asia, growing on waste ground, having dull yellow flowers streaked with purple, viscid stem and leaves, unpleasant smell, and narcotic and poisonous properties; also extended to the genus as a whole. ŒD