Did Jesus rode atop an ass or a Colt into Jerusalem - Matthew 21 v5-7?

Answer 1

Good question. The King James translation and the Holman Christian Standard bible translation both say that He rode on both. As it says in verse 7, they laid their robes on them and He sat on them. Since it says He rode on both and I have a hard time picturing someone riding two animals at the same time and I assume that he rode on one at a time. In the Old Testament book of Zechariah, chapter 9 verse 9 it says, "... see, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." this was prophesy of Jesus riding into Jerusalem. It mentions two animals. The way it is written in Zechariah it could mean that He rode on the colt and it was just expounding on the fact that the colt was from a donkey or ass. Today all our Easter programs and paintings show Him atop a donkey. Since most paintings of Jesus show Him with blond hair and blue eyes we know that the paintings are up to the painters views. In the grand scheme of things, it is not important whether he rode one at a time or both at the same time, but rather that what was told in the old testament was true. It was prophesy fulfilled.

-Edit: Secular Perspective Below-

It is most likely that the author of Matthew was making a postdiction from the Old Testament quote from Zechariah 9:9. Matthew was not a very careful reader of the Old Testament. Zechariah 9:9 is a literary device known as 'Parallelism' where the author emphasizes something by repeating it. Matthew likely did not fully understand that Zechariah was describing the ass as a colt, rather than describing two separate animals, and so wrote in Matt 21:5 [KVJ] "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 ", so Matthew has Jesus riding both animals, but Mark and Luke have only the Colt. -- I think the technical term for this is "Oops".

Postdiction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postdiction

Parallelism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallelism_%28rhetoric%29

Answer 2

In Matthew 21:5-7, Jesus is said to have rode into Jerusalem on a colt, which is the young of an ass. This event is often referred to as the triumphal entry and is symbolic of Jesus' humility and fulfillment of prophecies about the Messiah.