Ever since I was a kid I’ve wondered about Jesus – Yeshua – coming into town on two donkeys . . .that’s right – two donkeys. Matthew 21:2-7 speaks of two animals involved in Yeshua’s arrival into Jerusalem. This is a direct reference to the passage in Zechariah 9:9 which also has language that depicts two animals. As a child I had images of Him trying to ‘straddle’ two aminals. Well, that’s not the picture that we should take from this passage. But what is the imagery that we should find in this Scriptural account ?
The prophets Jeremiah and Hosea both speak of the people of God as ‘donkeys’ . . . and it’s not a compliment. Exodus, seemingly out of context, speaks of ‘redeeming donkeys’ in the same passage with ‘redeeming the first born of all your sons . . .’ So what’s up with that ? The story of the ‘prodigal son’ and the ‘older brother’ should be a hint to where this story is headed. Judah is the ‘older brother’ and Ephraim ( the house of Joseph ) is the younger. One of the aspects of the first coming of Messiah was to move forward the work of the restoral of the whole house of Israel. ( another lesson 🙂 . . . )
On the day that we have come to know as ‘palm sunday’, Yeshua comes riding into town with two donkeys – an older male and a younger male . . . I picture Him riding the older and leading the younger. That would be logical since Scripture says ‘Judah always goes first and leads . . .’ ( Num. 2:9, Judges 20:18 ). Ezekiel 37 speaks in the last days of the coming back together of two ‘sticks’ – Judah and Ephraim, the northern and southern kingdoms.
So what do we have in this entrance into Jerusalem, understanding that Yeshua does nothing without meaning ? What we have is a picture of the beginning of the fulfillment of the House of Israel with Yeshua – the Passover lamb, the Shelem, the peace offering making reconciliation – leading the way and bringing His people back home.
But I’m a ‘christian’, I’m not Jewish, I’m not Israeli . . . what does this have to do with me . . .? God made a promise and He keeps His word. A fresh understanding of the answer to this question will be posted soon. Abba through His Spirit has shown Rhonda an aspect of this truth that we had not seen before, so pray as she works to prepare this presentation . . .your gonna like this . . . a story many of us have heard all our lives, without fully understanding the depth of the meaning. But we are in those days when things are going to be revealed.
Blessings to you and yours in Messiah Yeshua – J & R
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marie
April 19, 2012 at 5:37 pm
How cool. . . a blog. Very interesting. I like your style, so far. Looking forward to seeing what Rhonda has to say. But I have a question.
You said you pictured Yeshua riding on the donkey and leading the colt. But in verse 5, quoting Zechariah, it says He is riding on the donkey’s colt. What do you say about that ? ?
prodigal101
April 19, 2012 at 10:15 pm
First we understand that this is how I envision the event. But with that said, how does my ‘envisioning’ line up with the Word ?
In the passage in Zech 9 9 the hebrew literally says ( or as literal as we can get it ) ‘mounted or riding on a donkey and upon a donkey, a colt . . .’
well, we know He wouldn’t be riding both at the same time. The excerpt below from the Whitaker’s Revised BDB Lexicon shows how that in this context this prepostion can also be rendered ” in addition to” or “together with” which will fit nicely with my envisioning . . . Hope that helps . . .
particle preposition homonym 2
B7335 l[;, l[‘ I. subst. height (poet.) l[‘ al{ WbWvy” they return (but) not upwards (i.e. not God-wards); as adv. accus., the man l[‘ ~Q;hu (that) is raised up on high. With !mi, l[‘me, l[‘me ~ymv (h) (the) heavens above (opp. tx;T;mi. In prose l[;M;mi). II. As prep. upon, and hence on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against. 1. Upon of the substratum upon which an object in any way rests, or on which an action is performed;
Lisa
April 21, 2012 at 1:46 am
Wow , thats a great picture to dwell upon!