Coming of the King: Week 44

Matthew 21:1-22: The Coming of the King

• 21:1 "Bethphage" - house of figs
• 21:3 "and he will send them" - some see this arrangement as a miracle, a divine knowledge that this man would be willing to let his expensive beast of burden go for such a request. I see no reason why Jesus would not have made the arrangement the last time He was in Jerusalem - knowing full well what would happen next Passover.
• 21:4 Zechariah spoke to many enemies of Judah, both current and future, including the Maccabee victory over Antiochus Epiphanes. "For I will bend Judah as My bow and fit it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece. I will make you like the sword of a mighty man." Zechariah 9:13
• 21:7 "Jesus sat on them" - foreshadowed by Solomon, 1 Kings 1:33. It reminded me of the Song of Deborah Judges 5:10 The donkey was not a shabby mount, but the mount of peace as opposed to horses used for war. It was the way the ancient kings entered Jerusalem. Judges 12:14
• 21:12 "bought and sold" - both buyers and sellers were guilty of descrating the place of worship.
• 21:13 "house of prayer" for all peoples - Isaiah 56:7, "den of thieves" - Jeremiah 7:11. Moses provided for buying sacrifices when you came from a distance. The market was in the court of Gentiles, the closest they could approach the holy place. The commerce defiled their experience of God, contrary to the intent expressed in Isaiah 56.
• 21:14 "he healed them" - Jesus demonstrates holy use of the temple.
• 21:19 "Produce fruit worthy of repentance" - Matthew 3:8. The fig tree is a symbol of Israel, and their lack of fruit.
• 21:20 Mark says the disciples saw the fig tree withered the next morning.