Bible Synapse
Did Jesus ride into Jerusalem on one animal or two?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate
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Jesus sends for “an ass tied, and a colt with her”; the disciples bring both and set him on them.
Saying 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. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, 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. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
Jesus sends for “a colt tied, whereon never man sat”, and sits on it.
And 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. And 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. And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him. And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.
The disciples bring the colt, put their garments on it and set Jesus on it.
Saying, 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. And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him. And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them. And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt? And they said, The Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.
Jesus sits on “a young ass”, as the prophet foretold.
And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.
The king comes “riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass”.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: 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 objection
Mark, Luke and John speak of one animal, a colt, which Jesus rode. Matthew has two, a donkey and her colt, and says Jesus sat ‘on them’, as though he rode both. Critics suggest that Matthew misread the parallel lines of Zechariah 9:9 as speaking of two animals.
The answer
All four Gospels agree that Jesus rode the colt. Matthew adds that its mother was brought too: Jesus told the disciples they would find “an ass tied, and a colt with her” (Matthew 21:2). Mark and Luke stress that no one had ever sat on the colt, and a colt that had never carried a rider may well have been easier to lead with its mother walking beside it. Where there were two animals there was certainly one, so the other Gospels are not wrong to mention only the one he rode.
Matthew does not say that Jesus rode both at once. In Matthew 21:7 the disciples put their cloaks on the animals, and Jesus sat ‘on them’ (epanō autōn); the nearest plural in the Greek is the cloaks, and Gill notes that it may mean ‘on the clothes they put upon them’. Nor need Matthew have misread Zechariah. A Jewish writer steeped in the Scriptures would hardly miss the paired lines of Hebrew poetry; he quotes the prophecy because the event fulfilled it: the king came riding on a colt, and the colt’s mother came too.
Other answers Christians give
A different reading
A few ancient copies, including Codex Bezae, read ‘on it’ (the colt) in Matthew 21:7, as Adam Clarke noted; most manuscripts read ‘on them’.
Each in turn
Some older writers suggested that Jesus rode the two animals by turns. The text does not say so, and Gill mentions it only as one possibility.
From the classic commentators
both were undoubtedly brought; the colt being unloosed and taken away, the ass, its dam, followed afterJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on Matthew 21:7 (1746–1763)
the Codex Bezae, seven copies of the Itala, some copies of the Vulgate, and some others, read … upon him, i.e. the colt.Adam Clarke, Commentary, on Matthew 21:7 (1810–1826)
Sources
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Matthew 21 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub
- Adam Clarke, Commentary: Matthew 21 (1810–1826), at Bible Hub