1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples;
2 and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it.
3 And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.”
4 So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it.
5 But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?”
6 And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go.
7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.
Also found in Matthew 21:1-7 and Luke 19:29-35.
Matthew tells about two animals, a donkey and a colt, while the other writers mention only the colt. … Matthew adds this detail to tie the event more closely with Zechariah 9:9 which mentions two animals. Jesus apparently rode on the colt only. … The mother of the colt was probably led in front to make the cold more at ease in carrying its first rider. — Thomas, page 176.
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Bethphage and Bethany were villages just on the opposite side of the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem. Bethphage was larger and better known, but Bethany was where the colt was.
sent (v.1) = sent on a commission to do something
on which no one has sat (v.2) — relates to a custom from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 21:3; 1 Samuel 6:7), which specifies that animals to be used for certain religious rites must not have previously been ridden, burdened, or harnessed for labor. — KJBC, page 1252.
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His choice of an animal not ridden by anyone before Him, is another of those claims to uniqueness which contrast forcibly with His usual condescension to the circumstances of an ordinary human life. — Wuest, page 216.
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The disciples found the colt exactly as the Lord had said. For other examples of this supernatural knowledge of circumstances compare Mark 14:13, Matthew 17:27, John 1:48. The cold was outside the house and fastened to the door. The better class of houses were built about an open court, from which a passageway under the house led to the street outside. It was at this outside opening to the street that the colt was tied. — Wuest, page 217.
Some commentaries believe that the Lord supernaturally knew of the colt and supernaturally inclined the owners to surrender it. Others believe that Jesus had prearranged that the colt be available. Wuest has a third view, one which makes sense to me.
Those that stood by were idlers; Luke says they were the owners; they had tied up the animals while they took part in the street gossip. The fact that they were satisfied with the answer of the disciples, is explained by the consideration that the Lord was well-known in the neighborhood (John 11). They knew that this Prophet could be trusted, and its owners did not need the colt just at that time. They probably were proud of the fact that it would be used by Him. — Wuest, page 217.
Also, according to Luke 22:8, Peter was one of the disciples. He was often the spokesman for the disciples, and would most likely also have been well known in the area as an associate to the Lord.
Unless they were challenged they should simply bring the animals away; but if anyone remonstrated, they should answer, “The Lord hath need to them,” and thereupon the owner would not only acquiesce, but send them. In fact they are to make a requisition, such as the State often institutes for horses and cattle during a campaign, when private rights must give way to a national exigency. And this masterful demand, this abrupt and decisive rejoinder to a natural objection , not arguing nor requesting, but demanding, this title which they are bidden to give to Jesus, by which standing thus alone, He is rarely described in Scripture (chiefly in the later Epistles, when the remembrance of His earthly style gave place to the influence of habitual adoration), all this preliminary arrangement makes us conscious of a change of tone, of royalty issuing its mandates, and claiming its rights. But what a claim, what a requisition, when He takes the title of Jehovah, and yet announces His need of the colt of an ass. It is indeed the lowliest of all memorable processions which He plans, and yeet, in its very humility, it appeals to ancient prophecy, and says unto Zion that her King cometh unto her. The monarchs of the East and the captains of the West might ride upon horses as for war, but the King of Sion should come unto her meed, and sitting upon and ass, upon a colt, the foal of an ass. Yet there is fitness and dignity in the use of “a cold whereon never man sat,” and it reminds us of other facts, such as that He was the firstborn of a virgin mother, and rested in a tomb which corruption had never soiled. — Chadwick, page 200.
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