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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.- Zech. ix. 9.

SACRED NARRATIVE.

AND when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 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 aught 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. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. -Matt. xxi. 8.

Much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna! blessed is the King of Israel, that cometh in the name of the Lord! The people therefore that was with him, when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bear record. For this cause the people

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also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. John xii. 12, 13. 17, 18.

And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!- Matt. xxi. 9.

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 compass thee round about, 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.-Luke xix. 41. 44.

And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, 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. And the blind and the lame came to him 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? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise.-Matt. xxi. 10-16.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SACRED NARRATIVE.

Exult, daughter of Zion; shout for joy, daughter of Jerusalem;
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.

Righteous and triumphant is He;

Lowly and riding upon an ass.

Even upon a colt, the foal of a she-ass.-Zech. ix. 9.

The Messiah is displayed as a sovereign triumphing and widely reigning: but his triumphs are not those of force and violence; he comes not upon the terrible war-horse; his path is not marked with tears and blood. His are the victories of truth, and holiness, and beneficence; the conquests of reason and conscience; the reign of holiness and piety, of good-will and pardoning grace to men, and the highest glory to God; abolishing war, cruelty, and tyranny, and establishing peace upon the best foundation, in the delightful period when his religion shall have that universality of extent, and shall receive that cordiality of obedience, which are here foretold. This great happiness, to be enjoyed under the Messiah's reign, is pictured by the imagery of the richest plenty in the produce of Judæa, affording abundantly the enjoyments of affluence to all classes. Such imagery is frequently employed in the style of prophecy, as the emblem of the individual and social happiness which true religion will effect, where its precepts are faithfully observed. It is especially predicted that these triumphs of the Messiah shall be first and principally in the nations of Europe; that the pride of Grecian philosophy, and the power of the Roman military domination, the guilty fascinations of the temples, and the consequent licentiousness of the people, the impostures of their priests, and the madness of their rulers, should fall in the strife with the crucified Galilæan and his despised disciples, meek and lowly of heart, with the weapons of a warfare not carnal, by weak things subduing the mighty, and by things deemed foolish, confounding the worldly wise. DR. J. P. SMITH.

The association of ideas in the prophet appears to have been to this purport. In contrast with the warlike Alexander, who had been so considerable a benefactor to the Jews, [and of whom Michaelis interprets the preceding connexion,] a much greater King is brought to view, whom Zion has to expect in later times. Gentle, and riding upon an ass. The meaning of which might have occurred to any one, previously to the accomplishment of the prediction, would be a mild and pacific King, who is on that account represented as riding, not upon a war-horse, but upon an ass. This interpretation is confirmed by the following verse, in which God declares that he will abolish the war-cavalry in Jerusalem. It would not have been readily inferred beforehand, from these words, that the promised King would literally make his entrance into Jerusalem upon an ass: yet this really took place in Jesus. PROFESSOR J. D. MICHAELIS.

Among the things written in the prophets, and relating to "him who shall come," were the words of Zechariah which were thus fulfilled. The accomplishment of the prophecy gave to the people a last opportunity of recognizing Jesus as the Messiah ;—a last opportunity, for this took place on the first day of the week of the crucifixion. The Jew who was reasonable and dispassionate, should have been led by what he saw and heard to consult his Scriptures, and compare them with the facts which were taking place before his eyes, and so learn that this was indeed " he who should redeem Israel." But the veil of prejudice was so closely drawn, that see

ing, they saw not; and hearing, they did not understand: and God, who does all things well, saw no reason why the "veil should be taken away." BISHOP J. B. SUMNER.

Sion's King comes to Sion, and the " daughter of Sion" was told of his coming long before: yet he is not attended by the gentlemen of the country, nor met by the magistrates of the city in their formalities. His attendants were, however, "a very great multitude:" they were the common people that graced the solemnity of Christ's triumph, and none but they. Observe, Christ is honoured by the multitude, more than by the magnificence of his followers: for he values men by their souls, not by their preferments, names, or titles of honour. REV. MATTHEW HENRY.

Jesus went, not like a temporal prince to the palace, but like the Lord of the temple to his own house, to exercise his authority there. And when he came to the outward court, the court of the Gentiles, he found a great number of traders; some paying off bills of return from distant countries, for money to buy sacrifices, and changing money into half shekels, which every one of twenty years old and upwards was to give, as an offering to the Lord.. Exod. xxx. 13, 14. And he found others buying and selling doves and cattle for sacrifices, under a pretence of its subservience to sanctuary-work, and of convenience to those that came from far, and could not easily bring such things along with them. But when he saw that this traffic, which ought, and formerly used, to be carried on in the markets of Jerusalem, was introduced, by the avarice of the priests, into the place which was consecrated to the immediate service of God, and that it was managed with extortion, he threw down the stalls of the money-changers, and of the sellers of doves, and the like, and turned them all out, saying, "This place was designed, not for a market, but for the religious use of Gentile proselytes, who might not be admitted into the inner court of the temple, to worship, and offer up their prayers to the God of Israel, according as it is written, - Isai. lvi. 7, My house shall be called an house of prayer to all people, or nations: but ye have horribly perverted its use, and profaned it, by your covetous merchandize; ye have thereby robbed God of his honour, and made an unlawful gain of the people, which is no better than theft; and so, according to an antient complaint of the prophet, —Jer. vii. 11,—ye have turned it into a den or receptacle of thieves." And such was the Divine Majesty and authority of his behaviour on this occasion, that, notwithstanding all the interest of the priests among the people, and all the gain which many had by this merchandize, their spirits were so over-awed, that none dared to oppose him!

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What a wonderful conjunction of divine, human, and office-characters, do we meet with in Christ! Behold the Gop, in his perfect knowledge beforehand of every minute circumstance of things, and of the freest actions of men in his command over their minds, and acting, like the Lord of his temple, to reform abuses there, and that without resistance from those, whose authority, inclinations, and interests, lay strongly against it; and in

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