clothes in the way) others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way. The news of our Lord's approach having reached the city, great numbers of the people who were come from the country to attend the feast, and who had a favourable opinion of his character, went forth with palm-branches in their hands, to welcome Messiah to the capital. John xii. 12. On the next day, viz. the day after Jesus was anointed in Bethany, much people that avere come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13. Took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet him. When the van of the procession that attended Jesus, came to the descent of the mount of Olives, where the royal city first shewed itself, they were met by the multitude from Jerusalem, coming up the hill with palm-branches, the symbols of peace in their hands. At meeting, the latter first saluted their brethren, and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. When the disciples looked on the royal city, and heard such a multitude of their countrymen proclaiming their Master Messiah, they felt high transports of joy, and answered by returning the salutation. Luke xix. 37. And when he was come nigh, viz. to Jerusalem, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples (Matt. the multitudes that went before and that followed) began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38. Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord, i. e. Messiah, peace in heaven. Let happiness reign in heaven, by the admission of multitudes of the human species, and glory in the highest. Let praise on this account be given to God by the highest orders of beings. They said also, Matt. xxi. 9. Hosanna to the Son of David: blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. These are nearly the words of Psal. cxviii. 23. Mark says, they cried like wise, Blessed be the kingdom of cur father David, that cometh, or which is to be erected now in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest, or rather, among the highest, the meaning of the disciples being this, Let the highest orders of angels join us, in praving for the prosperity of King Messiah. Thus Jesus rode amidst the acclamations and shoutings of the admiring crowd. But we must not imagine that these honours were paid to him by any solicitation of his. The disciples and the multitude did all of their own accord. Indeed, for the rea sons mentioned, Jesus was passive in the matter, and would nei ther refuse the title of Messiah, nor reprove the people who of fered Matt. o. Hosanna.] The word Hosanna in Hebrew signifies, Save que beseech. Applied to Jesus on this occasion, it was of the same import with our acclamation, God save the king, and in our language would have been expressed thus, God save King Messiah. fered it, though required to do both by the Pharisees, who had come with the multitude from the town, and were greatly displeased with the homage that was offered to him. Luke xix. 39. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude, said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. 40. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you, that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. This latter clause may signify either that God would by mitacle raise up others to glorify his name, rather than silence should be kept on this occasion, as Dr Clarke explains it; or that it was a thing altogether impossible to make the multitude hold their peace. But though Jesus did not refuse the honours that were now paid him, he was far from assuming the dignity of an earthly prince, or any state pageantry whatsoever. On the contrary, he humbled himself exceedingly; his riding on an ass being an instance of great meekness and humility, according to what was prophesied of him, Zech. ix. 9. John xii. 14. And Jesus when he had found a young ass, called by the other evangelists a colt, sat thereon; as it is written, 15. Fear not, daughter of Sion; behold thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. We shall easily see the propriety of applying Zechariah's prophecy to this transaction, if we remember that in the east, riding on horses was anciently reckoned the greatest ostentation of magnificence. It was therefore becoming the meekness of the lowly Jesus, that in his most public entry into the capital city, he chose to ride on an ass. At the same time, there was nothing mean or ridiculous in it, asses being the beasts which the Easterns commonly made use of in riding. It seems the disciples did not at that time form a just notion of what their Master designed by this entry, or by any of the circumstances of it. Probably they considered it as the first step of his exaltation to the throne. However, after his ascension, recollecting the prophecies concerning Messiah, they remembered how exactly they had been fulfilled in him, and found their faith greatly strengthened thereby. 16. These things understood not his disciples at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. But because the forwardness which the multitude now shewed to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah was altogether extraordinary, the evangelist assigns the cause thereof. The Ver. 14. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, &c.] igav de may better be translated, Now Jesus, paving found a young ass, sat. For the evangelist does not mean that Jesus was saluted by the multitude from Jerusalem before he mounted, but his meaning is, that Jesus was riding when they saluted him. Or because Jesus sent for the ass, iugov may be translated, having procured, a sense of the word ivgisxay, which Ulpian directs us to, in Orat. Demosth. contra Timoer, where he tells us it signifies " labo se suo aliquid consequi." See Beza on Matt. xvi. 25. The witnesses of the resurrection of Lazarus zealously bestirred >themselves on this occasion; they had published the miracle far and near; they were many in number, and persons of reputation. Hence their report gained universal belief, and drew out an innumerable multitude to meet Jesus; a circumstance which, as the historian observes, gave great credit to the miracle, as it proved what sense the people of the age and country where it was performed, had of it. John xii. 17. The people therefore that was with him, when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record: The inhabitants of Bethany and Jerusalem, who were so happy as to be present at Lazarus' resurrection, by attending on Jesus at this time, and joining with the multitude in their acclamations, bare record to the truth of that astonishing miracle. 18. For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. In the mean time, the Pharisees and the great men were exceedingly enraged, because every measure they had taken to hinder the people from following Jesus, had proved ineffectual. 19. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold the world is gone after him. As Jesus drew nigh, he looked on the city, and notwithstanding he had already met with much ill usage from its inhabitants, and was at this very juncture to be put to death by them, yet with a divine generosity and benevolence, which nothing can equal, he wept over it in the view of the surrounding multitude, lifting up his voice and lamenting aloud the calamities which he foresaw were coming upon it, because its inhabitants were ignorant of the time of their visitation. Luke xix. 41. And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42. Saying, If thou hadst known, even theu, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on very side. Here Jesus foretold particularly the principal circumstances of the siege of Jerusalem. And to his prophecy the event corresponded most exactly. For when Titus attacked the city, the Jews defended themselves so ebstinately, that he found there was no way to gain his purpose, but to compass the city round with a trench and mound. By this means he kept the besieged in on every side, cut off from them all hope of safety by flight, and consumed them by famine. The work which he undertook was indeed a matter of extreme difficulty, for the wall measured thirty-nine furlongs, or almost five miles, and the towers were thirteen in number, every one of them ten furlongs in compass. Nevertheless, the whole was finished in three days; for to use the expression of Josephus, the soldiers in performing this work were animated by a Divine im petus, petus, Bell. vi. 13. Luke xix. 44. And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another. This circumstance is taken notice of in the larger prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, Mark xiii. 1. § 123. Our Lord mentioned it likewise in one of his prophetic parables, Matt. xxii. 7. § 116. The description which Josephus has given of the taking of Jerusalem by Titus, may be considered as a comment upon these prophecies. Bell. vii. 18. Thus was Jerusalem taken in the second year of Vespasian's reign, on the 8th day of September; and having been already five times surprised, it was again finally destroyed. Such was the end of the besieging of Jerusalem, when there was none left to kill, nor any thing remaining for the soldiers to get. Cesar commanded them to destroy the city and temple, only leaving certain towers standing that were more beautiful than the rest, viz. Phaselus, Hippicos, and Mariamne, and the wall that was on the west side, meaning there to keep a garrison, and that they should be a monument of the prowess of the Romans, who had taken a city so well fortified, as by them it appeared to have been. All the rest of the city they so levelled," answering to our Lord's phrase, lay thee even with the ground," that they who had not seen it before, would not believe that ever it had been inhabited." And in the preceding chapter he says, "they destroyed the wall and burned the outward part of the city." See concerning the slaughter of the inhabitants on Luke xxi. 24. and concerning the burning of the temple, on Mark xiii. 2. § 123. Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. Our Lord here assigns the cause of the destruction of Jerusalem and her children. It was because, that when God visited them by his Son, the seed of Abraham and David, the Messiah, they did not know it, but rejected and crucified him. The destruction of the city, and of her inhabitants, clearly foreseen by our Lord in all the circumstances thereof, was a scene so affecting that it moved his tender soul, and made him weep. It seems the miseries of his bitterest enemies had more influence to afflict and melt his soul, than the admiration, the acclamations and hosannas of his friends to elate him with joy. His weeping was a wonderful instance of his humanity, and is so far from lessening the dignity of his character, that it exalts it infinitely. Were it worth while, the reader might be put in mind that the historians of Greece and Rome, to aggrandize their heroes, have been at pains to relate occurrences at which they shed tears; but this would be to fall egregiously below the greatness of the subject. Is it possible to have the least relish for goodness, and not to be ravished with the man who has such a quick feeling of the miseries of others, as to weep for their misfortunes in the height of his own prosperity; especially if the objects moving his compassion are enemies, enemies, and his courage is such as to enable him to look with out perturbation on the greatest disasters ready to fall on himself? See Matth. xx. 18, 19. Let wondering mortals then behold in this, an example of compassion and generosity, infinitely supe rior to any thing that the heathen world can furnish, an example highly worthy of their admiration and imitation. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, on account of the prodigious concourse of people that accompanied him, probably continuing their acclamations as he passed along; see Matt. xxi. 15. Mark xi. 11, And Jesus entered into Jerusalem. Matth. xxi. 10. And when he was come inta Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11. And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. The multitude, is the appellation which the sacred histo rians commonly give to Christ's friends. Wherefore, as they are here said to have called him the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee, we may suppose they did it with a view to mortify his enemies. As if they had said, You have always affirmed that no prophet, no Messiah, can arise out of Galilee; what is your opinion now? Jesus rode directly to the temple, but did not drive the buyers and sellers out this first day; for Mark expressly tells us, it was evening by the time he got thither, and had looked round on all things; from which we learn that the market in the temple, which he intended to prohibit, was over. It seems he staid in Jerusalem but a little while. Having made his public appearance in the metropolis, and received the title of Messiah openly from the multitude, and surveyed the temple, he left the city without doing any thing, to the great discouragement of the throng that had come in with him, expecting he was immediately to have laid hold on the reins of government. Mark xi. 11, And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple; and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the even-tide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. See on Luke xxii. 37. § 125. § CXII. The fig-tree is cursed, and the temple is purged. Matt. xxi. 12,-22. Mark ix. 12,-26. Luke xix. 45, 46. JESUS and his disciples having lodged all night in Bethany, departed next morning for Jerusalem. By the way they happened to spy a fig-tree that looked green, was full of leaves, and at a distance promised abundance of fruit. To this tree Jesus went, in expectation of finding figs thereon, for he was hungry, and the season of gathering them was not yet come. Mark xi. 12. And on the morrow when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry. 13. And seeing a fig-tree afar off, having leaves, he came, • Mark 13. And seeing a fig-tree afar off, having leaves.] From the cir cumstance |