Matthew 21:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Matthew 21:2
Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
properly · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
them
αὐτοῖς·autois
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine
Go
πορεύεσθεporeuesthe
G4198
to traverse · verb — present middle or passive deponent imperative, 2nd person plural
into
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
the village
κώμηνkōmēn
G2968
a hamlet (as if laid down) · noun — accusative singular feminine
over against
ἀπέναντιapénanti
G561
from in front
you
ὑμῶνhymōn
G5216
of (from or concerning) you
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
straightway
εὐθέωςeutheōs
G2112
directly · adverb
ye shall find
εὑρήσετεheurēsete
G2147
to find (literally or figuratively) · verb — future active indicative, 2nd person plural
an ass
ὄνονonon
G3688
a donkey · noun — accusative singular feminine
tied
δεδεμένηνdedemenēn
G1210
to bind (in various applications · verb — perfect passive participle, accusative singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
a colt
πῶλονpōlon
G4454
a "foal" or "filly" · noun — accusative singular masculine
with
μετ᾽met᾽
G3326
properly · preposition
her
αὐτῆς·autēs
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular feminine
loose
λύσαντεςlusantes
G3089
to "loosen" (literally or figuratively) · verb — aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine
and bring
ἀγάγετέagagete
G71
properly · verb — second aorist active imperative, 2nd person plural
unto me
μοίmoí
G3427
to me
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Luke 19:30-32 Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose h…
Mark 11:2-3 And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon…
John 2:5-8 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
Mark 14:13-16 And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of wat…
Matthew 26:18 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house w…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
John Gill on Matthew 21:2
Saying unto them, go into the village over against you,.... Munster's Hebrew Gospel reads, "before you"; not Jerusalem, as some have thought, for that would never be called a village; though the Ethiopic version reads it, "the city"; but rather Bethany, which was near to Bethphage, and is mentioned with it; though the Jews say (u), the name of the village was Nob, and was near to Jerusalem, and own, that Christ had an ass from hence, on which he rode to Jerusalem, and applied to himself the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. And it is very likely this was the village; for Nob was very near to Jerusalem; it was over against it, within sight of it, and from thence might be taken a view of the whole ci…
Matthew 21:1-9
Matthew 21:1-9
Mark 11:1-10
Luke 19:29-38
1. And when they approached Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, to the mountain of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, [698] 2. Saying to them, Go into the village which is opposite to you, and immediately you will find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them to me. 3. And if any man shall say anything to you, say, The Lord hath need of them; and immediately he will send them. [699] 4. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5. Say to the daughter of Zion, Lo, thy King cometh to thee, meek, and sitting on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of one that is und…
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem initiates Matthew’s account of how the Messiah’s suffering and resurrection establish salvation.
21:1 Bethphage (a Hebrew name meaning house of figs) was probably located on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives between Bethany and Jerusalem proper.
Or by the ass and the colt is shown the twofold calling from among the Gentiles. For the Samaritans did serve after a certain fashion of obedience, and they are signified by the ass; but the other Gentiles wild and unbroken are signified by the colt. Therefore two are sent to loose them that are bound by the chains of error; Samaria believed through Philip, and Cornelius as the first-fruits of the Gentiles was brought by Peter to Christ.
Whence also, when He ascended into heaven, He gave command to His disciples that they should loose sinners, for which also He gave them the Holy Spirit. But being loosed, and making progress, and being nourished by the Divinity of the Word, they are held worthy to be sent back to the place whence they were taken, but no more to their former labours, but to preach to them the Son of God, and this is what He signifies when He says, And straightway He will send them.
Men are likened to animals, from some resemblance they bear in their not recognising the Son of God. And this animal is unclean, and beyond all other brutes incapable of reasoning, a stupid, helpless, ignoble drudge. Such were men before the coming of Christ, unclean with divers passions; unreasoning, that is lacking the reason of the Word, stupid, in their disregard of God; weak in soul, ignoble, because forgetting their heavenly birth they became slaves of their passions, and of the dæmons; drudges, because they toiled under the load of error laid upon them by the dæmons, or the Pharisees. The ass was tied, that is, bound in the chain of diabolic error, so that it had not liberty to go whither it would; for before we do any sin we have free will to follow, or not, the will of the Devil, but if once by sinning we have bound ourselves to do his works, we are no longer able to escape by our own strength, but, like a vessel that has lost its rudder is tossed at the mercy of the storm, so man, when by sin he has forfeited the aid of Divine grace, no longer acts as he wills, but as the Devil wills. And if God, by the mighty arm of His mercy, do not loose him, he will abide till death in the chain of his sins. Therefore He saith to His disciples, Loose them, that is, by your teaching and miracles, for all the Jews and Gentiles were loosed by the Apostles; and bring them to me, that is, convert them to My glory.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Catena Aurea by Aquinas
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
