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Explore Luke 19’s “triumphal entry” as more than a parade. In this study, we trace Yeshua’s donkey ride into Jerusalem through Psalm 118 and Zechariah 9, uncovering how the Lamb of God arrives as Israel’s humble King before becoming the Lion of Judah. See why crowds cried “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” why leaders resisted, and how missing the day of visitation led to desolation—and offers warning and hope for Israel and nations.
Parallel passages: Matt. 21:1-9; Mark 11:1-10; John 12:1-19
7 Take-Aways From This Study
- Learn Scripture in context, not as proof texts. Don’t just memorize isolated verses; understand the psalms and prophets as whole messages so you recognize how God is working in your time.
- Trust God’s method, even when it looks “weak.”Yeshua came on a donkey, not a war horse. God’s ways may look ineffective to us, but they overthrow powers in ways we can’t yet see.
- Let God handle vengeance. Psalm 118 shows the speaker saying “I will cut them off,” yet it is the Lord who actually deals with enemies. Refuse personal revenge; entrust justice to God.
- Recognize the day of visitation. Jerusalem’s tragedy came from not recognizing the Messiah when He came. Stay spiritually alert so you don’t miss what God is doing in your own life and community.
- Examine spiritual leadership—including yourself. The “shepherds” of Israel lost God’s glory (Ichabod) by rejecting His authority. Whether you lead many or few, submit your authority under His.
- Align with the King who rides the donkey. Decide now whether you will receive the humble Lamb of God, before you face Him as the Lion of Judah. Today is the time to respond in faith and obedience.
- Live with an “over the horizon” faith. Like Abraham and the martyrs, trust God’s promises beyond what you can see. Let Olam—the God who sees over the horizon—shape how you endure suffering and make daily choices.
Blessing the blessed One bearing the Name
First let’s read Psalm 118, which is one of the texts that these stories reflect, but let’s read it in its entirety. As we read it, we need to put ourselves into the mindset of a first-century Jew living under Roman occupation. How would such a person understand this text?
One could conclude “He who comes in the name of the Lord” would come with vengeance, based on vengeful phrases such as, “All nations surround me; in the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off” (Psa. 118:10).
However, when you also read phrases such as “the Lord helped me” (Psa. 118:13) and “He has become my salvation” (Psa. 118:14) points to the Lord as the one who is doing the “cutting off” of enemies.
In first-century Judea and Galilee, the people proclaiming, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,” may have been looking for the promised One who would “in the name of the Lord,” i.e., vanquish the oppression of Rome by the power and authority of the Lord.
That issues was answered in Yeshua’s encounter with untrustworthy “shepherds” of Israel in the Temple (cf. Ezekiel 34), beginning in Luke 19:45 through Luke 20.
Those delegated to care for the House of the Lord, which is the Temple, were not willing to bless that One. They did not want to bend their head and knee and acknowledge Messiah’s authority.
Overlooking the donkey-riding King
The prophesy of Israel’s king arriving on a donkey comes amid apocalyptic prophesies through Zechariah 9.
The text begins with the phrase, “The burden of the word of the Lord…” That word that is translated in some English translations as oracle is the word מַשָּׂא masa’h (Strong’s lexicon No. H4853b), which literally means burden.
Hadrach, Hamat and Damascus in Zechariah 9 are in modern-day Syria. Greece in Zech 9:13 is translated from the Hebrew word יָוָן yavan (H3120). Yavan was a son of Yafet (Japeth) (Gen. 10:2) and the name is connected to outlying Greek islands of the world relevant to ancient Israel.
A number of the cities mentioned in this text are located in Philistia, such as Gaza, Ashkelon and Ashdod. Ashkelon and Ashdod are part of the modern state of Israel, while the area of Gaza is occupied by Arabs.
The point is that Aram and Philistia as well as Yavan, which is where the Philistines were through to have originated, were continually oppressing the people of ancient Israel. By the 1st century, Rome was the throne in the side of Israel.
Rome had taken the place of the Philistines as the thorn in Israel’s side by the first century. The Hasmoneans invited the Romans to come in and restore pace between the feuding factions after the Greeks had been thrown out and the Romans slapped them in the face by calling the land Palestine, which is the Latin term for Philistia.
Rather than being Israel’s savior, Rome had become a nightmare, particularly under Pilate’s violent oppression of any Messianic expectation and any hints of independence.
By contrast, the Lord gave Zechariah God’s “burden” that Israel would have a kind coming in on a donkey, which is a burden-bearer and Torah symbol of the first-born, and not on a horse, which is a warrior-bearer.
Question is, does Israel want a servant king or a warrior king? God told them which kind of King He was going to send, but the ruling class of Israel didn’t want to accept this Torah bearing king.
Israel’s rejection of their King would have consequences, which Yeshua spells out in Luke 19:41-44. He prophesies of the Temple’s utter destruction. This prophesy is also recorded in Matt. 23:29-24:2.
Delinquent shepherds lead Lamb to victorious slaughter
But not all Yerushalayim wanted Yeshua dead. We rewind to Luke 13:31-35, when a group of Pharisees warned Yeshua that Herod was conspiring to have Him killed. Yeshua’s response was a hint that Herod’s plan would come to fruition. Yeshua would die, but He could not die anywhere else except Yerushalayim. He also told them He would return when all the people of Israel — from the lowest to the highest — will call for Him, proclaiming “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
That blessed One came as the Lamb of God, and Israel’s “shepherds” ignored Him, searching for the prophesied Lion of Yehudah. When the Lamb of God returns as the Lion of Yehudah (Hos. 5:14; Rev. 5:5; 6:15-17), no one will be able to ignore Him.
Speaker: Jeff. Summary: Tammy.
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