Jesus and his ride

[humblemuslim]

I recently bumped into something that I have overlooked for quite some time.

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.
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.

1And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, 2And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.
3And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.
4And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.
5And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?
6And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.
7And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.

29And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, 30Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.
31And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.
32And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.
33And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?
34And they said, The Lord hath need of him.
35And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.

14Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
15"Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey's colt."

All accounts are referring to the same event which is foretold in the OT:

9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

The questions follow:

Did Jesus ride one animal or two? (There is no question that Luke, Mark, and John agree Jesus rode a single animal. Matthew on the other hand appears to believe Jesus requested and rode two animals. )

Did the author of Matthew believe Jesus requested and rode two animals? Or is there some explanation of the wording here?

 

[Bible2]

Jesus could have requested and ridden both the donkey and her colt just as the Gospel of Matthew records (Matthew 21). But Jesus could have ridden the donkey for only a short distance before getting off and riding her colt instead, all the way into Jerusalem, so that the Gospels of Mark, Luke and John didn't bother mentioning Jesus' short ride on the donkey, but simply focused upon the colt (Mark 11, Luke 19:29-38, John 12:14-15).

 

[drich0150]

In Matt verse 5 refers to the prophesy.

This part of Verse 7 refers to the actions taken full filling prophesy.
7And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, (Saddling both animals)

This part describes Jesus being placed on one of them. I say one because the other accounts place him on one animal and not two.

and they set him thereon.

It is possible to have the donkey and colt both "saddled" and Jesus only rides one.

--Or what the other guy said-- This isn't really a heavily studied part of Christianity.

 

[ebia]

IMO, whether there were two animals or not he only rode one of them, but for Matthew making explicit the link to Zechaiah (9:9) is more important than equestrian precision.

It's worth noting that verse is ambiguous - it says "... sat on them" and doesn't make clear whether them refers to the animals or the cloaks.

 

[humblemuslim]

Thanks everyone

 

[Bible2]

Where the KJV says "and they set him thereon" (Matthew 21:7), the original Greek literally says "and they set him on them", and the original Greek word for "them" is plural and masculine (like the colt), whereas the original Greek word for the clothes is neuter. So "they set him on them" could mean that the disciples set Jesus on both the donkey and the masculine colt, and not just on the neuter clothes. This wouldn't require that Jesus sat on both animals at the same time, but simply that he sat on both animals, one after the other.