Jesus chose a donkey’s colt for His entry into Jerusalem to fulfill Zechariah’s prophecy about Zion’s King. His choice publicly identified Him. The King who accepted the crowd’s praise also wept over Jerusalem and confronted corruption in the temple as He went willingly toward His death. His lowliness did not diminish His authority or cancel the worldwide rule God had promised.
Zechariah’s King and His Royal Mount
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.'"
Zechariah ministered after Jewish exiles returned from Babylon. They were rebuilding the temple and restoring their community under foreign imperial rule, while the promised Davidic kingdom remained unrestored. God’s announcement that their own King was coming gave them reason to hope beyond the weakness they could see. “Daughter of Zion” is a poetic address to Jerusalem and the people identified with her.
The chapter begins with judgment against surrounding cities and the LORD’s protection of His house (Zechariah 9:1-8). Zion is then told to rejoice at the arrival of her righteous King. He does not become King because enough people approve of Him. He comes to her according to God’s promise, with salvation and peace that His people could not establish for themselves.
We need to read “having salvation” carefully. The Hebrew form can describe the King receiving deliverance from God and therefore being victorious. Ancient translations understood Him as bringing salvation. The UBS translation discussion of Zechariah 9:9 explains the distinction. As we follow the fulfillment in Jesus, Scripture identifies Him as the Savior who delivers His people. He is righteous both in His character and in the justice of His rule.
In verse 10, God promises to remove chariots from Ephraim, warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow. The King speaks peace to the nations, and His dominion reaches from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth. That is the royal promise within which we need to understand the colt. I cannot separate the animal from the kingdom and reduce the sign to a general lesson about being pleasant or modest.
Zechariah also connects the release of Zion’s prisoners with the blood of God’s covenant (Zechariah 9:11-13). Their deliverance rests on His binding commitment. The Gospel later reveals the new covenant in Jesus’ blood, so His saving death belongs within His mission as King. We need not make every part of Zechariah 9 occur on the day He entered Jerusalem. His lowly first coming, covenant deliverance, and future rule over the nations unfold in a sequence that later revelation helps us understand.
The deliverance Jesus brings goes beyond release from Rome: He saves His people from sin and death and overcomes Satan’s opposition. That does not erase Israel’s national promises. He did not come the first time to lead an uprising against the occupying power, but He will restore Israel and establish the righteous peace Zechariah describes. The study on The Messiah in the Bible examines His identity and work more fully.
Zechariah’s word for lowly can describe humility, affliction, or a low estate. Paul explains how the Son’s humility led through suffering to His exaltation.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Paul describes the humility of the eternal Son without suggesting any loss of deity (Philippians 2:5-7). Jesus took a servant’s form, became truly man, and obeyed to the point of death before God highly exalted Him. He did not cease to be God when He humbled Himself. Serving and suffering did not deprive Him of the authority to confront sin.
Zechariah’s poetry names a donkey, then specifies a colt born to a donkey. The two lines describe one mount more precisely; they do not require us to imagine the King riding two animals at once. Nor was a donkey inherently unroyal. The weapons removed in verse 10 give us firmer grounds for understanding the contrast than a sweeping claim that every ancient conqueror rode a horse and every peaceful king rode a donkey. Israel’s own royal succession included a procession on another kind of mount.
So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David's mule, and took him to Gihon. Then Zadok the priest took a horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. And they blew the horn, and all the people said, "Long live King Solomon!" And all the people went up after him; and the people played the flutes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth seemed to split with their sound.
David ordered his servants to put Solomon on the king’s own mule and take him to Gihon, where Zadok and Nathan were to anoint him (1 Kings 1:32-35). The procession publicly identified the chosen son, and the people responded with loud rejoicing. A mule is not a donkey’s colt, so this is a royal parallel rather than an exact prediction of Jesus’ mount. It does show that riding something other than a warhorse need not deny kingship. Jesus came as the greater Son of David, lowly without surrendering His claim to rule.
Jesus Deliberately Fulfilled the Sign
Bethphage and Bethany lay east of Jerusalem near the Mount of Olives. Approaching from that direction, Jesus sent two disciples to bring the animals He described. He told them what to say if challenged, and they found things as He had said. A prior arrangement is possible, and supernatural knowledge fits His identity, but the writers do not tell us which explains His knowledge of the colt. They show Him directing the entry with authority.
Deliberately carrying out prophecy does not make the fulfillment dishonest. A false claimant manipulates evidence to pretend he is someone else. Jesus was the promised King enacting the sign Scripture gave. His knowledge of the colt contributes to the account, but I would not rest the whole case for His deity on that one prediction. Philippians speaks of His equality with God, and John’s Gospel identifies Him as the eternal Word who was God. His knowledge of hearts and authority to forgive sins belong to that same witness, alongside His life-giving works and bodily resurrection.
Matthew’s account also recalls Isaiah’s summons to Zion to welcome coming salvation.
Go through, Go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; Build up, Build up the highway! Take out the stones, Lift up a banner for the peoples! Indeed the LORD has proclaimed To the end of the world: "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.'" And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; And you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
Isaiah calls Zion to prepare for coming salvation. He describes the people as holy and redeemed, with the city sought out rather than forsaken. Matthew draws on that appeal as he presents Jesus’ arrival together with Zechariah’s description of the King.
All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.'" So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.
Matthew explicitly identifies the entry as a fulfillment of prophecy. His quotation joins “Tell the daughter of Zion” language resembling Isaiah 62:11 with Zechariah’s description of the lowly King. The disciples obeyed Jesus, brought the mother donkey and her colt, and laid their garments on them. As He rode, people spread clothing and branches on the road and praised the Son of David (Matthew 21:8-9). His arrival stirred Jerusalem to ask, “Who is this?” (Matthew 21:10-11)
Matthew’s “on them” can refer to the garments laid out for Jesus. A translation discussion of Matthew 21:7 recognizes that grammatical possibility. I understand the phrase that way alongside the other Gospels’ clear statement that He rode the colt. Mentioning the colt does not deny its mother’s presence. Perhaps she helped with the young animal, but the writers do not give that reason. It should remain a possibility.
Matthew takes the account from the royal entry into the temple, where Jesus drove out those corrupting its worship, healed the blind and lame, and received the children’s praise. The chief priests and scribes were indignant, but He defended that praise from Scripture (Matthew 21:12-17). Mark supplies a more detailed sequence for the entry and the temple cleansing.
Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.
The disciples found the colt tied outside by a door. When bystanders challenged them, they gave the answer Jesus had supplied: “The Lord has need of it.” They were allowed to take the colt, and Jesus rode it amid cries welcoming David’s kingdom. No one had sat on it before, yet it carried Him in the procession (Mark 11:1-8). Its being set apart for this royal use does not establish a rule that every unridden animal symbolizes meekness.
Jesus entered the temple and looked around, then returned to Bethany because it was late. Mark places the cleansing on the following day, alongside the events involving the fig tree (Mark 11:12-19). Matthew groups these related events after the entry without giving all those intervals. Mark’s sequence keeps us from compressing everything into one afternoon.
Mark brings the fig tree and the temple together in his account of fruitlessness and judgment. Jesus drove out the merchants, overturned their tables, and stopped people carrying wares through the temple. By declaring God’s house a house of prayer for all nations, He exposed the corruption of its worship. The leaders sought His destruction while the people marveled at His teaching (Mark 11:15-19). His peaceful approach had not made Him indifferent to wrongdoing.
Luke takes us back to the approach from the Mount of Olives, before the temple confrontation, and describes Jesus weeping as He sees Jerusalem.
Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
The multitude of disciples praised God for the mighty works they had seen. They welcomed the King coming in the LORD’s name and proclaimed peace in heaven. Some Pharisees asked Jesus to rebuke them, but He answered that the stones would cry out if they kept silent (Luke 19:37-40). I cannot dismiss that royal praise as an excess He merely tolerated. His answer affirms that the King should be welcomed.
Yet when Jesus saw Jerusalem, He wept. The city had failed to recognize the things that made for peace and the time of its visitation. He foretold enemies surrounding and leveling it, bringing devastation on its people, including the children. His warning found historical expression when Roman forces destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in AD 70. That judgment does not exhaust every prophecy concerning the city’s future.
I need to keep His tears beside the welcome. An enthusiastic crowd did not establish that the nation had repented or that everyone praising Him had saving faith. Jesus knew the judgment ahead and grieved over the city. Luke then follows Him into the temple, where He taught daily while the leaders looked for a way to destroy Him (Luke 19:45-48).
John’s account of this same entry explains why the raising of Lazarus had drawn people to meet Jesus.
Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey's colt." His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
John identifies the branches as palms. Those who had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb testified about it. Others heard of the sign and came to meet Him, acclaiming Him as the King of Israel. The Pharisees’ complaint that the world had gone after Him expressed frustration at His following (John 12:12-13, 17-19). It did not mean that every person had believed in Jesus.
The disciples took part without fully understanding the prophecy. After Jesus was glorified, they remembered what Scripture had said about Him and what they had done. Their limited understanding did not prevent Him from fulfilling the sign. Like Matthew, John directs us to Scripture so that we can recognize the meaning of the colt within the procession.
Hosanna, Rejection, and the Temple
Save now, I pray, O LORD; O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.
“Hosanna” carries the plea “Save now” from Psalm 118. At the entry, that appeal also became an acclamation welcoming the King. The same psalm blesses the One coming in the LORD’s name and describes the rejected stone becoming the chief cornerstone (Psalm 118:22-23). Its welcome stands alongside rejection: Jesus would soon apply the builders’ refusal to the leaders opposing Him. The study on The Word Hosanna considers the expression further.
It is common to say that the same people who shouted Hosanna later demanded crucifixion. I do not think the Gospels give us enough evidence to identify the crowds that way. Pilgrims had joined Jerusalem’s residents for the feast, and different groups gathered on different occasions. Luke calls the people praising Jesus at the entry a multitude of disciples. At the hearing before Pilate, he describes rulers and another gathered crowd (Luke 23:13).
But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested. And he released to them the one they requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison; but he delivered Jesus to their will.
Some people may have attended both events, but the Gospels do not establish that overlap or identify the groups as the same people. We can recognize the danger of fickle enthusiasm without claiming an unrecorded change of allegiance. Luke does tell us that Pilate found no basis for a death sentence (Luke 23:13-22). He nevertheless yielded to the demand for crucifixion and released Barabbas, who had been imprisoned for rebellion and murder.
The temple’s leaders had already sought Jesus’ death. John shows how His kingship became part of the accusation before Pilate and a target of the soldiers’ mockery.
Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar."
Pilate had Jesus scourged. The soldiers mocked Him with a crown of thorns and a purple robe, striking the King they pretended to honor (John 19:1-3). Pilate again declared that he found no fault in Him (John 19:4-6), yet political pressure prevailed. The leaders accused anyone claiming kingship of opposing Caesar, then declared that they had no king but Caesar (John 19:12-16). Their rejection and the soldiers’ mockery could not make Jesus’ royal identity false.
Jesus told Pilate that his authority had been given from above, while also naming the guilt of the one who delivered Him over. God’s authority over these events did not make the perpetrators blameless. Pilate’s power gave him no right to condemn an innocent man, and the leaders were responsible for their wicked demand. The study on Psalm 22 and the Messiah examines the suffering of the rejected Savior.
Jesus is the eternal Son, fully God and fully man, born of a virgin and without sin. He willingly gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Wicked men inflicted His bodily torture and death, shedding His innocent blood. His sacrifice was for the whole world, and His saving work through His blood and death was complete before His burial and bodily resurrection. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit acted in unity to accomplish redemption. The King gave Himself voluntarily; His death was no accidental defeat that caused His mission to fail.
God genuinely offers salvation, though people can resist His grace. Everyone who repents and believes in Christ is forgiven and made a new creation. The Holy Spirit indwells and seals the believer, whose salvation is eternally secure. Obedience gives evidence of that new life; it neither earns salvation nor keeps us saved. A shallow profession of faith does not prove that someone has been born again, and assurance never permits lawlessness.
I must do more than admire a picture of the lowly King. He has the right to correct my conduct and judge what I excuse in worship. I need to receive that correction through His commands, rather than turn the unridden colt into an allegory about remaining untouched by the world. The Gospels give the animal no such meaning. God teaches us how to live through His Word and the Spirit’s work. Our response to His Son is repentance, faith, and willing obedience.
The Lowly King Will Return in Glory
Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
Revelation presents the same Jesus returning as the Faithful and True Rider on a white horse, judging and making war in righteousness. The lowly King was righteous when He came to suffer, and He remains faithful and true when He comes to defeat rebellion.
Jesus will return bodily to defeat the beast and the false prophet (Revelation 19:19-21), restore Israel, and reign for a literal thousand years. The worldwide rule Zechariah promised will be established on earth. That righteous peace requires Him to defeat those who persist in making war against Him. It cannot come through tolerating their rebellion indefinitely.
My Final Thoughts
I understand the colt as a deliberate royal sign Jesus chose to identify Himself as Zion’s righteous King, just as Zechariah foretold. His lowliness never diminished His authority. He accepted rightful praise, judged corrupted worship, and willingly gave Himself for sinners before rising bodily. He will return to restore Israel and rule the nations in righteousness. We need to receive Him as He has revealed Himself, rather than welcome a harmless version who never corrects us or claims our allegiance. The procession calls us beyond a moment of excitement to faith in the King and obedience to His word.