Then Jesus sent forth two of His disciples, with directions where to find a colt, the foal of an ass, upon which He purposed to ride into Jerusalem. The disciples did as they were directed, and "cast their garments upon the colt, and they sat Jesus thereon": and He rode towards Jerusalem, accompanied by many of the people who had been with Him in Simon's house, and "that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave." These were soon met by those who, with palm branches in their hands, had come from Jerusalem. "And as they went, a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way." Casting garments, branches of trees and flowers on the ground, for Kings and Conquerors to tread upon, was a mark of honour and welcome in the Eastern nations; and it was a fitting homage to Him, Who is King of Kings, and the Conqueror of Sin and Death.

"And when He was come nigh the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples, and the multitudes that went before, and that followed, began to rejoice, and praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works that they had seen; and cried, saying Hosanna to the Son of David—Hosanna in the highest. Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest."

"All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken" 400 years before "by the prophet" Zechariah, saying, "Tell 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."

At the Feast of Tabernacles, it had long been the custom for the Jewish people to sing Hosannas, and also to carry in their hands branches of palm or other trees, in honour of the Messiah whom they were expecting; and by receiving Jesus as they now did, the multitudes did, in fact, acknowledge Him to be that expected Messiah—at once God and man—the King spoken of by the prophets; promised by the Almighty.

No other king ever entered Jerusalem in this manner, which had been foretold by the prophets; and therefore what had now happened, ought to have convinced all the Jews that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah: but nothing will convince those who are obstinately determined not to believe, and even now, "some of the Pharisees from among the multitude," who chose to think it was blasphemy to give Jesus, a man, the honour due to the Messiah, "said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples." But instead of doing so, Jesus "answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should, hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." By this answer, Jesus plainly told the Pharisees, that so far from meriting a rebuke for speaking blasphemy, all that the people had said was so pleasing to God, that if they were prevented from saying it, the Almighty would, even by a miracle, raise up others to glorify His name, by proclaiming this wonderful truth. Nothing, however, could overcome the obstinate unbelief of the Pharisees. They "said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him."

They could not but own, that in spite of all they had done, the people did believe Jesus to be the Messiah; but this had no other effect than to make them the more anxious to put Him to death. Mean time Jesus rode on; "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." The meaning of what Jesus now said is, that it would have been a happy thing for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, if while He was with them they would have believed on Him, for then He would have given them peace and happiness. And He wept in pity, whilst He foretold the utter destruction that would come upon the city, as a punishment to the Jews for refusing to believe in Him, and receive Him as the Messiah.

Everything that Jesus foretold, came to pass exactly a few years afterwards, when the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem, and made a trench, and a wall with strong towers all round the city, so as to prevent the inhabitants getting any help. The consequence was, that the want of food caused the most dreadful suffering and misery. When at last the city was taken, the Romans did destroy it so completely, that it might truly be said, that one stone was not left upon another.

"And when Jesus was come into Jerusalem," accompanied by multitudes, waving palm branches, and singing Hosannas, "all the city was moved," or filled with astonishment, saying, "Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And 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 money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."

Very soon after our Lord's baptism, He thus cleared the temple for the first time (Ch. VII.); then He blamed the people for making His Father's house a house of merchandise; now he tells them that they have made it like a den of thieves. There have always been people wicked enough to break the eighth commandment. In the land of JudÆa, there were then many lawless men, who, instead of working to gain an honest living, went about the country robbing their fellow creatures, and so living on what they could get. These robbers joined together in bands, and took up their abodes in hollow places in the sides of the mountains, called dens or caves. These dens generally had a small entrance, but inside were of different sizes: they had no light but what came in through the entrance hole; but the inhabitants could burn lamps or torches to give them light, and of course they were quite sheltered from wind and rain. The robbers used to leave their hiding-places at night, and prowl about to take whatever they could find. Even if they met with cattle or sheep unguarded, they drove them away into their dens, where they kept all manner of things which they had stolen; and therefore when the court of the temple was filled with oxen and sheep, and other animals, it might well be compared to a den of thieves. Nothing like this can happen in our days; but let us remember that Jesus referred to the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people": Jesus blamed the people for profaning the temple, and not making the proper use of it: we are guilty of this sin, if we do not make a proper use of our churches, and behave reverently when we are in them. Let us all be careful to make our churches houses of prayer, by joining devoutly in the prayers, and listening attentively to all that we hear there: unless we do this, we shall sin against God by not hallowing His Name; and He will be as much displeased with us, as He was with the Jews for their desecration of the temple.

The blind and the lame came to Jesus in the temple; "and he healed them. And 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, and said unto Him, Hearest thou what these say?" meaning that He should stop these children from so speaking: instead of that, Jesus again plainly declared Himself to be the Messiah spoken of by the prophets, by applying to what had now taken place, the inspired words of David; for we read, that "Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?"

"And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast." The Greek language was very much spoken at this time, and the Jews called all foreigners who spoke it, Greeks: many of these persons had been converted, or turned, from the worship of idols to that of the one True God: but as they were not really Jews, they could only be admitted to worship in the Court of the Gentiles. These men wished to see Jesus, and expressed their wish to Philip—"Philip cometh and telleth Andrew; and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus."

Our Lord in His answer, declared that the time was now come, when His power and glory should be shown, not to the Jews alone, but to all nations upon earth. But He also said, that before He could be glorified, He must die; just as a corn or grain of wheat must be put into the ground and die, or rot, before it could bring forth fruit and fulfil its purpose: and then He warned His disciples, that any man who really desired to serve and follow Him, must be ready to give up everything he most values, and even to part with his life, if necessary, for the service of God.

Jesus in his human nature must have shrunk from suffering as a man; though firmly resolved to suffer the utmost agony for our sakes. He would not, therefore, ask God to save Him from the approaching trial, because He had come into the world for the express purpose of going through it, in order to purchase the salvation of man.