A Donkey and Her Colt

By Sue Whitson



This morning, I was reading in Matthew 21 about how Jesus told His disciples to go untie a donkey and her colt and bring them to Him before He entered Jerusalem. Then He rode them to Jerusalem.

This scenario brought up a lot of questions. Wouldn’t it be hard on the baby donkey for a full-grown man to sit on it? (The above picture is how I envisioned this.) How old is a donkey considered a colt for? Why was the mother brought along? To bring comfort to the colt? How did Jesus ride both the mother and her colt? Did he sit on the mother and put his feet on the colt? Maybe straddled both animals? The answers belie just how ignorant I am about donkeys!

Jesus was not riding a baby donkey. A colt is a male donkey between the ages of 2 and 4. Generally, by the age of 4 or 5, a donkey is strong enough to bear weight on its back. The colt that Jesus rode was probably around 4 and ready to be broken. The reason the mother was brought along was because it was a hilly road from Bethphage to Jerusalem. The colt wasn’t strong enough for the whole journey, so Jesus rode the mother until He reached the entrance to Jerusalem and then rode the colt into the city.

Why did Jesus ride a donkey and not a horse? I already knew the answer to this one, but you may not. In ancient times a donkey was a symbol of peace and servitude. A horse was a symbol of war. If a king approached your city on a donkey, he was coming in peace. Many expected the Messiah to come as a warrior king who would free the Jewish people from their Roman oppressors, but that wasn’t Jesus' mission on this trip. He was coming to complete the sacrifice that would seal a peace deal between God and man. His mission was to lay down His life for all of us to gain victory over sin for us.

It is also significant that Jesus began this journey from Bethphage. Bethphage means “unripe fig.” In choosing this town, Jesus hints at the fact that this journey isn't the last time He will enter Jerusalem as King. He will come back when the “fig” is ripe. Revelations 19 describes Jesus coming back on a horse to make a final end of the enemies of God’s people.

 

Oh, how good and wise our God is!


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