9. Cognovit ergo turba multa ex Iudaeis quia illic est: et venerunt, non propter Iesum tantum, sed ut Lazarum viderent, quem suscitavit a mortuis.9. A great multitude therefore of the Jews knew that he was there: and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
10. Cogitaverunt autem principes sacerdotum ut et Lazarum interficerent.10. But the chief priests thought to kill Lazarus also:
11. Quia multi propter illum abibant ex Iudaeis, et credebant in Iesum.11. Because many of the Jews by reason of him went away, and believed in Jesus.

9-11. A great multitude, on learning that Christ was in Bethania, flocked out to see the wonder-worker, and Lazarus whom He had raised from the dead; and so many were being converted by that miracle, that the chief priests thought of putting Lazarus to death, that they might thus get rid of a living and manifest proof of the almighty power of Jesus.

12. In crastinum autem turba multa, quae venerat ad diem festum, cum audissent quia venit Iesus Ierosolymam.12. And on the next day a great multitude, that was come to the festival day, when they had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

12. On the day after the supper, which we take to have been Sunday or Monday, that is, the first or second day of the Jewish week, a great multitude came to meet our Lord and escort Him into Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands always flocked to Jerusalem for the Pasch, and though the feast was still some days off, a great number had [pg 213] already arrived. Doubtless many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were also among the crowd on this occasion.

13. Acceperunt ramos palmarum, et processerunt obviam ei, et clamabant: Hosanna, benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, rex Israel.13. Took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried: Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel.

13. Carrying palm branches, with shouts of joy and triumph, they hailed Jesus as the Messias, and King of Israel; in the words of the great Paschal chant (Ps. cxvii. 26), Hosanna (הושׂענא, which is contracted for הושׂיעה נא) means: pray, save, or: save, I beseech. It may be taken here as a prayer to Jesus to save them, or rather as a prayer to God to save and bless their Messias. Or it may be that it was used as an expression of joy without attention to its literal meaning, as the expressions “vivat,” “vive le roi,” and the like, are sometimes used at the present day.

14. Et invenit Iesus asellum, et sedit super eum, sicut scriptum est:14. And Jesus found a young ass, and sat upon it, as it is written:

14. From the Synoptic Evangelists we learn that Jesus sent His disciples telling them where they should find the colt, and St. Matthew tells us that they brought the colt and its mother, and spread their garments upon both (ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν, Matt. xxi. 7). They spread their garments upon both, because they did not know upon which He would choose to sit. And St. Matthew adds that Jesus sat upon them (ἑπάνω αὐτῶν); that is, as we take it, upon the garments that had been spread upon the colt. In this way the accounts of the four Evangelists are reconciled.

Another difficulty occurs here, if we compare the parallel passage of St. Luke (xix. 29). For, whereas St. John's account naturally leads us to suppose that the ass's colt was procured on the way between Bethania, where Christ had supped on the preceding night (xii. [1], [2]) and Jerusalem, St. Luke, on the other hand, says: “And it came to pass when He was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethania, unto the mount called Olivet, He sent two of His disciples, saying, Go into the town which is over against you, at your [pg 214] entering into which you shall find the colt of an ass tied,” &c. We have searched in vain for a satisfactory solution of this difficulty. If the words of St. Luke are to be taken strictly as meaning that Christ was not merely near to, but approaching Bethania, then we would hold that on this morning, before the procession started, He had retired from Bethania eastward, and therefore farther away from Jerusalem, and was now again approaching the village on His way to the Holy City. There is nothing improbable in this supposition, for Christ did many things which the Evangelists have not recorded (John [xxi. 25]), and it enables us to reconcile two accounts, which are not easily reconciled otherwise.

15. Noli timere filia Sion: ecce rex tuus venit sedens super pullum asinae.15. Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy king cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.