1And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 2saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. 3And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. 4All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5Tell 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.
The two disciples that Jesus sent found everything as He told them it would be. We don’t know how God had prepared the owners of the donkey and colt so that they were willing to let the disciples take them, but it happened just as Jesus said it would. This encounter and the coming event were orchestrated by God to fulfill His word spoken by the prophet Zechariah. The first part of verse 5 may be quoted from Isaiah 62:11: Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. Isaiah said that the salvation of Israel would be a Person. The rest of the quote in verse 5 is from Zechariah 9:9: ...behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. The following verse in Zechariah 9 says, And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. The verse that Matthew quoted was fulfilled at Jesus’ first coming. The verse which follows in Zechariah 9 will be fulfilled at His second coming. At His second coming, He will be riding a white horse (Revelation 19:11). Jesus entered Jerusalem that day riding the foal of a donkey. He entered the city as the rightful successor to the throne of David but knowing that He had already been rejected and would be killed by the Jewish leaders.
6And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
Only Matthew speaks of the mother of the colt. Jesus rode the colt. But perhaps Jesus had the disciples bring the mother also so that the colt would follow them without a struggle. Mark 11:2 and Luke 19:30 tell us that this colt had never been ridden before. Yet Jesus was immediately able to ride the colt; He had the dominion which God gave to mankind in Genesis 1:26-28, the dominion which Adam lost.
8And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
The willingness of the people in the crowd to spread their own clothes in the road for the donkey and the colt which Jesus rode to walk on expressed their readiness to receive Him as their king. Luke and John record that they hailed Him as “the King” that comes in the name of the Lord (Luke 19:38; John 12:13). In their cry, the crowd quoted Psalm 118:25-26. In the earlier verses of that psalm, the writer twice spoke of the LORD as his salvation:
“The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.... I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.” (Psalm 118:14,21)
In the verses which the crowd quoted, the writer of the psalm cries out to God for that salvation: “Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD....” The words, “Save now” are the Hebrew expression “Hosanna” recorded in Matthew. The psalm itself does not mention the Son of David, but the crowd understood that it would be the promised Messiah, the Son of David, who would come in the name of Yahweh and would bring deliverance to Israel.
10And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
John 12:17-18 tells us that one reason for the crowd’s coming to meet Jesus was that they had heard that He had raised Lazarus from the dead. Yet, in spite of that knowledge and in spite of the crowd’s welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem with the words of Psalm 118, their answer to the question, “Who is this?” shows their lack of real understanding. The deliverer they anticipated was probably only a political one.
Later in this chapter (verse 42), in speaking to the Jewish leaders, Jesus Himself will quote from Psalm 118.
12And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
John 2:13-17 records that Jesus also drove the merchandisers out of the temple near the beginning of His public ministry. Matthew is recording a second cleansing of the temple that took place near the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Matthew does not specify a day or an hour at which this event took place, but Mark tells us that just after Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey, He went into the temple and looked around. It was evening, and He left and stayed outside the city that night (Mark 11:11). The event that Matthew records took place on the following day.
The Feast of Passover was near. Jerusalem was surely full of Jewish people from many areas who had come to celebrate the Feast. Probably in regard for the commandment not to make, bow down to, or serve any graven image, monies which had the image of Caesar would not have been accepted in the temple. But it is likely that the exchanging of currencies and the merchandising of animals for sacrifice was being done for a significant profit at each step. The Jewish leaders may also have been charging a sizable rental fee for each of the stands where the money changing and selling was taking place. The intent of the Passover remembrance and the purpose of the temple itself were being severely compromised for dishonest gain.
When Jesus cast out the sellers and their customers and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the chairs of those who sold the doves, He quoted Isaiah 56:7: “…for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” Isaiah was speaking of a future day when God would restore Israel. If Israel had received Jesus as Messiah, that restoration would have come then. Jesus also quoted Jeremiah 7:11: “Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?” God warned Israel through Jeremiah that He would destroy the temple in which they trusted and cast Judah out of His sight (Jeremiah 7:12-15). That warning became reality when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple of Solomon in 587 B.C. For Jesus to quote this verse from Jeremiah at this time surely anticipated the destruction of that temple, which would take place just 40 years from then.
Malachi prophesied of the coming of the Lord to the temple: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come,” saith the LORD of hosts (Malachi 3:1). In this verse, the messenger who prepared the way before the LORD is John the Baptist. The “messenger of the covenant,” “the Lord, whom ye seek,” is Jesus Christ. Malachi said that Christ the Lord would suddenly come to His temple. Malachi then said, “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:2-3). Jesus’ cleansing the temple at His first coming was a foretaste of the judgment that He will execute when He returns in the future.
14And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. 15And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased, 16and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? 17And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.
Three things took place when Jesus came to the temple: (1) judgment, (2) healing, and (3) praise. The same three things will take place when He comes to the temple again at His return. The children repeated the cry which they had probably earlier heard from the crowd: “Hosanna to the son of David!” That cry declared Jesus to be the awaited Messiah who would bring deliverance to Israel.
The chief priests and the scribes saw Jesus’ healings of the lame and the blind. Yet, instead of joining in the praise offered by the children, they became indignant and angry against Him. Their pride and determination to guard their own status made them opponents to the Lord Himself who had come to His temple.
Jesus answered their indignation by asking them, “have ye never read?” He quoted from Psalm 8, which they would have prided themselves in having studied in detail. Psalm 8 speaks of God’s intent for humanity in creation. The second verse of this psalm says, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” This verse says that it was God’s intent in creation that little man (“babes and sucklings”) should speak His Word and thus by that strength halt God’s enemy, Satan himself. Adam and his descendants failed to fulfill God’s will for them, but God’s plan for humanity will still be fulfilled in the Man Jesus Christ (see Hebrews 2:6-9), His eternal Son whom He sent.
Matthew records Jesus’ quote of Psalm 8:2 from the Greek Septuagint translation, which says, “praise” instead of “strength.” The praise that the children were offering to Him in the temple was a fulfillment of God’s intent for mankind. They were speaking the truth of God’s Word, which God would make effective as strength to halt Satan’s aggression in the world. The chief priests and scribes, who had become Satan’s tools, could do nothing to silence the praise of the children.
18Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. 19And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
It seems that Matthew gave a summary of this event, while Mark gave more details. According to Mark’s account, Jesus saw and cursed the fig tree in the morning before He cleansed the temple. After He cleansed the temple, He again went out of the city (to Bethany [verse 17 above]) for the night. The next morning, He returned to the city, and the tree was dried up from the roots (Mark 11:11-21).
The fig tree is one of the symbols used in the Scriptures to represent Israel. In the parable of the fig tree in Luke 13:6-9, the owner of the tree says, “Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?” Three years is roughly the length of time between Jesus’ first and second cleansings of the temple.
What did Jesus mean when He said, “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever” ? It is interesting that in Matthew 24, Jesus will say, “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh....” (Matthew 24:32). Jesus anticipated a time of new life for the fig tree. Mark 11:13 says that it was not yet the time for figs. In the future God will intervene and bring salvation to Israel (Romans 11:25-27). But when Jesus cursed the fig tree, He made clear that the day of opportunity for old, unregenerate Israel to bear fruit was over.
20And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! 21Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. 22And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
In Matthew 17, after Jesus’ transfiguration, the disciples asked Him why they had been unable to cast out a certain demon. At that time He answered them, “Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (17:20). On that occasion and here in chapter 21, Jesus spoke of “this mountain.” The two locations were completely different, so it does not seem that Jesus’ words were limited to any specific mountain. The only mountain that is prophesied to be cast into the sea is the future empire of Babylon (Jer 51:25; Rev 8:8). It seems likely that Jesus was referring not to a physical mountain but to the spiritual mountains of opposition that, like Babylon, seek to rival God by building a tower that reaches to heaven (Genesis 11:4).
Paul wrote:
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ....” (II Corinthians 10:3-5)
Jesus told His disciples that by faith they (and we) may move mountains of opposition which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.
In Matthew 20, when James, John, and their mother came and asked Jesus for thrones at His right and left hand in His kingdom, He did not say, “If you believe, you will receive it.” He said, “Ye know not what ye ask” (20:22). When Jesus told the disciples, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive,” His words assume the context in which they were spoken. The context is one of the judgment of Israel for the failure of the nation to bear fruit. The context is one of moving spiritual mountains of opposition to the true knowledge of God. It is this spiritual opposition concerning which Jesus said that we will receive whatever we ask in believing prayer.
It is also significant that, though the fig tree that Jesus cursed dried up immediately, the nation of Israel was not judged until 40 years later. As we speak out in believing prayer that God move the mountains of Babylonian philosophy that oppose His Word in the world today, we need to recognize that His answers will come in His time.
23And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? 24And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?
The question asked by the chief priests, elders, and scribes (Mark 11:27) was a legitimate one, but it was not asked in sincerity or in honesty. If Jesus had said that God had given Him the authority to cleanse the temple, they would probably again have asked Him to show them a sign, though they had just seen the miracles of His healing the lame and blind in the temple (vv 14-15). If they had been asking in honesty, Jesus’ response concerning the baptism of John would have been a sufficient answer because it was a parallel question. John had declared publicly concerning Jesus, “This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me” (John 1:15). If John’s baptism was of heaven, then the One of whom John spoke had authority from heaven.
And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? 26But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. 27And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
The Jewish leaders had not asked their question in honesty, and they were not willing to give Jesus an honest answer to His question. They were only concerned about how to persist in their opposition without losing status among the Jewish people. But in the following verses, Jesus will again confront them concerning their unbelief of John the Baptist.
28But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. 29He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. 30And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. 31Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.
In this parable Jesus said that responding in faith to John’s message was like going to work in God’s vineyard. The prophet Isaiah wrote, For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.... (Isaiah 5:7). It would be right for every Israelite to repent in preparation for the coming of the kingdom of heaven, as John preached, and it would be right for every Israelite to obey God by laboring in the care of His vineyard. Yet, Jesus told the Jewish religious leaders that they were like a son who said, “Yes,” but did “No.” The tax collectors and harlots who believed John were like a son who said, “No,” but did “Yes.” They had previously made life decisions that disobeyed God, but they made new decisions when John called the nation to repentance. They began a new life of obedience and service in God’s vineyard. The chief priests, elders, and scribes claimed status as the religious leaders of Israel, but they turned a deaf ear to John. The tax collectors’ and harlots’ right response to John did not move the Jewish religious leaders to believe. Jesus said that the believing tax collectors and harlots would have priority over the Jewish leaders in entering the kingdom of God. By saying, “[they] go into the kingdom of God before you,” Jesus left the door open for the chief priests, elders, and scribes to yet change their minds and believe.
33Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
This parable also was about a vineyard. Jesus’ description of the way that the householder prepared his vineyard is like the description in Isaiah 5:1-2:
“Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein....”
As we noted concerning the previous parable, the vineyard that Isaiah referred to was the nation of Israel (Isaiah 5:7).
34And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. 35And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. 37But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
Isaiah 5:7 makes clear that the owner of the vineyard in this parable is Yahweh, “the LORD of hosts.” The servants that He sent to Israel are probably the prophets of the Old Testament. Jesus refers to Himself as the son of the owner of the vineyard and thus clearly identifies Himself as the Son of Yahweh. Mark adds the note that the owner of the vineyard had one son, his wellbeloved (Mark 12:6). Luke records that the owner of the vineyard said, “What shall I do? I will send my beloved son...” (Luke 20:13).
38But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
In this verse Jesus allows us to hear the words of the tenants of the vineyard. But more profoundly, He reveals to us Satan’s motive in seeking to destroy Christ. Satan knows that Jesus Christ is the heir of God. Hebrews 1:2 says that God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things.... In Psalm 2:8, the Father says to the Son, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Jesus is the heir. The kingdom of heaven will be His kingdom. Satan knows that. Satan wanted to destroy Jesus and seize the government of this world for himself.
39And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. 40When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
The tenant farmers in Jesus’ parable were the Jews and their leaders. Jesus was telling them what they were about to do to Him and why. In answer to His question, they pronounced their own judgment: the vineyard owner will miserably destroy them and let out His vineyard to other stewards who will give Him the fruit of the vineyard in its seasons.
42Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 43Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
In verse 42, Jesus quoted Psalm 118:22-23. The cries of “Hosanna” spoken by the crowd as He entered Jerusalem quickly follow in the same psalm (118:25-26). Jesus is the awaited Savior, and He is the stone that the builders rejected. He is the Son of God who will inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus told the Jewish leaders, “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” This time He referred to the stewardship of the vineyard as a stewardship of the kingdom of God. Israel’s role as the vineyard was in fulfillment of the promises that God gave to Abraham. Israel had thus become the steward of the kingdom of God. That stewardship would be taken from Israel for a time and given to another nation. Peter, after also referring to Jesus as the stone which the builders disallowed, wrote, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light... (I Peter 2:7,9). God made a new nation, a spiritual nation composed of both Jews and Gentiles, who would honor Him with the fruit of His kingdom. That spiritual nation is the church. Like the fig tree that Jesus cursed, old, unregenerate Israel’s opportunity to bear fruit ended. Paul wrote, blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. In the future, Israel also will be brought to repentance and given new life (Romans 11:25-31).
44And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
In the Old Testament, when Judah failed to trust in the LORD in the face of threat from Assyria, God told the prophet Isaiah that He the LORD would be “for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel.” He said that “many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken” (Isaiah 8:14-15). In the context of His words in verse 42, Jesus has called Himself that stone. Thus, He is referring to Himself as Yahweh. Everyone who rejects Him as the Savior will be broken. At His return He will be as a stone that falls on every rival kingdom to destroy it (Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45).
45And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. 46But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
The Jewish religious leaders understood that Jesus had spoken these parables about them. Yet their reaction was not to repent. Instead, they wanted to stop Him. Today also, everyone who hears His Words is faced with a decision about how to respond. Jesus remains the cornerstone of the true house of God.
Note: All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.