Zechariah 9:9 – King on a Donkey

BIBLE TEXT

Zechariah 9:9

SUMMARY

The king riding into Jerusalem “on a colt, the foal of a donkey” has been applied by Christians to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:5, John 12:15).

ANALYSIS

We often assume that kings rode horses; poor people rode donkeys, if they could afford them. However, the Bible mentions ruling elites (Judges 5:10, 10:4, 12:14) and even King David and his royal household (2 Samuel 16:1-2) riding donkeys. The key symbolism of a king riding a donkey rather than a horse is not lowliness, per se, but lack of fighting. Horses are for times of war (Deuteronomy 17:16; Psalm 33:16-17; Isaiah 31:1). Donkeys are for times of peace. The king, here in Zechariah, is “triumphant and victorious,” and has no more need to wage war. So he rides on an animal ill-suited for war. This coming king will reign in peace.  

As the passage continues, the theme of removal of instruments of war intensifies. The chariot is cut off, the horse is removed. The battle bow is broken (Zechariah 9:10). Finally, the nations are at peace.    

The irony of Palm Sunday is that Jesus not only rode a donkey, but is described as “humble, and mounted on a donkey” (Matthew 21:5), even as the people hailed him as the son of the mighty King David, no doubt in the hope that he would exercise his power to drive out the Romans. Applying the Zechariah verse to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was clearly meant to exemplify the true nature of Jesus’ ministry – non-violence and rejection of military conquest.