29-38. Bethphage—"house of figs," a village which with Bethany lay along the further side of Mount Olivet, east of Jerusalem.

     30. whereon, &c.—(See on Joh 19:41).

     31. the Lord hath need, &c.—He both knew all and had the key of the human heart. (See on Lu 19:5.) Perhaps the owner was a disciple.

     29-38. Bethphage—"house of figs," a village which with Bethany lay along the further side of Mount Olivet, east of Jerusalem.

     35. set Jesus on—He allowing this, as befitting the state He was for the first and only time assuming.

     29-38. Bethphage—"house of figs," a village which with Bethany lay along the further side of Mount Olivet, east of Jerusalem.

     37. whole multitude, &c.—The language here is very grand, intended to express a burst of admiration far wider and deeper than ever had been witnessed before.

     38. Blessed be the King, &c.—Mark (Mr 11:9, 10) more fully, "Hosanna," that is, "Save now," the words of Ps 118:25, which were understood to refer to Messiah; and so they add, "to the Son of David, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord (Ps 118:26), Hosanna in the highest." This was the very loftiest style in which He could be saluted as the promised Deliverer.

     40. the stones, &c.—Hitherto the Lord had discouraged all demonstrations in His favor; latterly He had begun an opposite course; on this one occasion He seems to yield His whole soul to the wide and deep acclaim with a mysterious satisfaction, regarding it as so necessary a part of the regal dignity in which as Messiah He for this last time entered the city, that if not offered by the vast multitude, it would have been wrung out of the stones rather than be withheld (Hab 2:11).

     12. On the next day—the Lord's day, or Sunday (see on Joh 12:1); the tenth day of the Jewish month Nisan, on which the paschal lamb was set apart to be "kept up until the fourteenth day of the same month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel were to kill it in the evening" (Ex 12:3, 6). Even so, from the day of this solemn entry into Jerusalem, "Christ our Passover" was virtually set apart to be "sacrificed for us" (1Co 5:7).