Page 101 - New English Book L

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“Tell the daughter of Sion,
Behold, thy King is coming unto thee;
Meek, and mounted on a female ass,
And on a colt, the son of a female ass.”

Whether or not the person who wrote the above
verse did really believe that Jesus (pbuh) , when making his
triumphal entry into Jerusalem by mounting or sitting at
the same time both upon the mother ass and her young
colt, worked a miracle is not the question; nevertheless it
is true to say that the majority of the Christian Fathers so
believed; and it never occurred to them that such a show
would look rather a comedy than a royal and pompous
procession. Luke, however, is careful, and has not fallen
into Matthew’s mistake. Were these authors both inspired
by the same Spirit?

Zachariah (pbuh) foretells in Jerusalem, after the return
of the Jews from captivity, the coming of a king. Though
meek and humble, mounted upon a colt of an ass, still
he is coming with salvation and would rebuild the house
of God. He prophesies this at a time when the Jews are
endeavouring to rebuild the Temple and the ruined town;
their neighbouring peoples are against them; the work of
building is stopped until Darius, King of Persia, issues
a fireman for the construction. Although no Jewish king
had ever appeared since the sixth century before Christ,
nevertheless they had had autonomous governments under
foreign sovereigns.The salvation here promised, be it noted,
is material and immediate, and not a salvation to come five
hundred and twenty years afterwards, when Jesus (pbuh) of
Nazareth would ride upon two asses simultaneously and
enter into Jerusalem, already a large and wealthy city with
a magnificent temple, simply to be captured and crucified
by the Jews themselves and by their Roman masters, as the
present Gospels tell us! This would be no solace at all for
the poor Jews surrounded with enemies in a ruined city.