<p>21:5&nbsp;<em>Tell the daughter of Zion</em>- A term used in the prophets for the righteous remnant within Jerusalem. The idea was that they would perceive how the Lord was fulfilling the Messianic prophecy of Zech. 9:9. However, the Hebrew text of Zech. 9:9 says that the King comes &ldquo;having salvation&rdquo;- but that is omitted in this quotation. The ultimate &lsquo;triumphal entry&rsquo; was yet to come. The Lord entered Jerusalem to obtain salvation through death on the cross, not to bring the immediate salvation from Rome which the people were so fixated upon.</p><p><em>Look, your King comes to you, meek and riding upon an ass and upon a colt the foal of an ass</em>- Kings were supposed to enter their new capital on a charger, a war horse, beaming in proud triumph. The idea of a humble king was an oxymoron to the first century mindset. But the Lord was a King like no other- a humble king, who entered Zion not on a charger but on a donkey with a colt wandering insecurely behind them. Zech. 9:9 goes on to say that by doing this, He will bring deliverance from the war horse / charger: &quot;Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he,&nbsp;<em>humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey</em>. He will&nbsp;<em>cut off the chariot&nbsp;</em>from Ephraim&nbsp;<em>and the war horse</em>&nbsp;from Jerusalem; and the&nbsp;<em>battle bow shall be cut off</em>, and he shall&nbsp;<em>command peace</em>&nbsp;to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River Euphrates to the ends of the earth&quot;. In this we see the principle of non-violent victory over violence; the King who comes riding on a donkey will thereby &quot;cut off... the war horse&quot; which was threatening Jerusalem. That war horse was initially a reference to Rome, from whom the Jews thought Messiah would violently deliver them. The Lord went to great efforts to fulfil this prophecy of Zech. 9:9- in order to demonstrate that it was by humility and non-violence that deliverance from violence would finally come. The other accounts say the Lord&nbsp;rode upon the foal of the donkey (e.g. Jn. 12:15). If He sat upon this animal rather than the mother donkey, the Lord was showing how He chose to ride in the 'chariot' rather than on the donkey pulling it. But the donkey and foal were the humblest and weakest imitation possible of a charger and chariot. But this was exactly His point. The glorious victory procession came from Bethphage &quot;and Bethany&quot; (Mk. 11:1), which can mean 'house of the poor'. It was here that the Lord sat upon the humble donkey- again reinforcing the idea that He came as a humble King.<br />21:6 The record emphasizes the disciples&rsquo; obedience and solidarity with the Lord, placing their personal clothes as His saddle (:7). It must&rsquo;ve all seemed rather bizarre, for they too nursed hopes of an immediate salvation and Kingdom, but they were commendably willing to go along with His insistence of teaching the lesson of &lsquo;the humble King&rsquo;. Jn. 12:16 adds the information that the disciples didn&rsquo;t understand at the time, nor did they see the connection with Zech. 9:9: &ldquo;These things his disciples did not understand at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him, and that they had done these things to him&rdquo;. And yet they went along with it all. It is an essay in loyalty and obedience, although not in perception and faith.</p>