One Butt and Two Asses for Jesus
The gospel writers played fast and loose with the writings of the Old Testament Prophets in order to cobble together a narrative for Jesus the Messiah.
It has long been noted that the authors of the gospels were dependent upon scattered verses in the Old Testament as inspiration for their story. For instance virtually the entire passion narrative of Mark's gospel is cobbled together from OT verses, and virtually nothing appears within it which doesn't have an OT source antecedent. Christians have historically insisted that the close relation between the narrative and the OT texts was due to a direct fulfillment of prophetic expectation which proves that Jesus was the predicted Messiah. The problem comes when one examines the OT verses used and notices that they were wrenched out of their context by the gospel writers.
Sometimes, the use of the OT texts by the gospel writers results in absurdity. One example which clearly shows that the incident related in a gospel was based upon an OT text rather than an actual event is the story of Jesus making his not so triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Let us look at the OT test and see what the gospel writers did with it.
Our text for the day comes from Zechariah 9:9
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.
See, your king comes to you righteous,
and having salvation,
humble and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of a ass."
In its context, the whole of Zechariah's message deriving ostensibly from his exile in Persia is that the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem by Zerubbabel, God will return his presence, He will protect his people, and He will destroy the enemies who surround them. Zechariah was heavily used by the gospel writers as source inspiration. Coincidentally, the second temple High Priest mentioned in Zechariah is named Joshua (Jesus) Zech 3:1. The figure in the verse above comes in the context of God portrayed as the divine warrior. Whether or not this verse has Messianic import is not the point of this study, but it will be noted that it is an apocalyptic statement which results in the establishment of the second temple and the Judean rule over all the earth. It is most definitely not a prophecy of a simple ride into Jerusalem with the inaguration of a spiritual kingdom.
This verse is written in poetry. The Hebraic form which is common throughout the prophets and the Psalms is known as the doublet. The doublet can be recognized when a statement in the primary portion of the verse is followed by a second line which modifies it. For instance, if we created a modern verse in the Hebraic doublet form, we might say:
"To the East I will travel,
and to the sunrise I run."
As a doublet, the meaning is:
"I am going East,
That is to say, toward the sunrise.
The Zechariah text is stating in two doublets,
"The king is righteous,
That is to say, he has salvation.
He is humbly riding on an ass,
That is to say, on a colt, the foal of an ass."
Now let us see what the author of Matthew's gospel does with this. He writes:
"Jesus sent two disciples, sayint unto them, Go into the village that is over against you, and straightway you shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if anyone say anything unto you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them; and immediately he will send them. now this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet saying,
Tell you daughter of Zion, Behold your king comes unto you, meek and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
And the disciples went, and did as Jesus told them, and brought the ass and the colt, and put on them their garments, and he sat thereon." Matt: 21:2-7
Matthew, not understanding Hebraic poetry and the use of the modifying doublet turned Zechariah's ass into two animals, an ass and a foal. Then he had the disciples rig up an ersatz saddle and had Jesus ride on both at once.
One can almost imagine the conversation between Jesus and the disciples which Matthew didn't record:
Jesus: Hey, great work guys. Those asses are just what I need to ride into town.
Peter: But master, why do you need two?
Jesus: I'm not sure, but the prophet said I have to ride both of them.
Peter: Maybe it's so you have a spare in case one breaks down.
Jesus: No more backtalk Peter. Just rig up some way for me to ride them.
Peter: But master, we have two asses and you only have one butt. How are we going to pull this off?
Jesus: Maybe we can tie them together real tight and I can get half my butt onto both asses.
Peter: Have you given any thought as to how silly this will look when artists in future centuries try to paint this scene?
Satire aside, it is obvious that Matthew constructed this absurdity first from Mark, who got it right originally and understood that only one animal was intended in Zechariah. But Matthew wanted to be sure the fulfillment matched that which he thought the text intended, so he added an extra ass. Why? Because he didn't understand the form of the text which was his narrative launching pad.
It has long been noted that the authors of the gospels were dependent upon scattered verses in the Old Testament as inspiration for their story. For instance virtually the entire passion narrative of Mark's gospel is cobbled together from OT verses, and virtually nothing appears within it which doesn't have an OT source antecedent. Christians have historically insisted that the close relation between the narrative and the OT texts was due to a direct fulfillment of prophetic expectation which proves that Jesus was the predicted Messiah. The problem comes when one examines the OT verses used and notices that they were wrenched out of their context by the gospel writers.
Sometimes, the use of the OT texts by the gospel writers results in absurdity. One example which clearly shows that the incident related in a gospel was based upon an OT text rather than an actual event is the story of Jesus making his not so triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Let us look at the OT test and see what the gospel writers did with it.
Our text for the day comes from Zechariah 9:9
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.
See, your king comes to you righteous,
and having salvation,
humble and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of a ass."
In its context, the whole of Zechariah's message deriving ostensibly from his exile in Persia is that the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem by Zerubbabel, God will return his presence, He will protect his people, and He will destroy the enemies who surround them. Zechariah was heavily used by the gospel writers as source inspiration. Coincidentally, the second temple High Priest mentioned in Zechariah is named Joshua (Jesus) Zech 3:1. The figure in the verse above comes in the context of God portrayed as the divine warrior. Whether or not this verse has Messianic import is not the point of this study, but it will be noted that it is an apocalyptic statement which results in the establishment of the second temple and the Judean rule over all the earth. It is most definitely not a prophecy of a simple ride into Jerusalem with the inaguration of a spiritual kingdom.
This verse is written in poetry. The Hebraic form which is common throughout the prophets and the Psalms is known as the doublet. The doublet can be recognized when a statement in the primary portion of the verse is followed by a second line which modifies it. For instance, if we created a modern verse in the Hebraic doublet form, we might say:
"To the East I will travel,
and to the sunrise I run."
As a doublet, the meaning is:
"I am going East,
That is to say, toward the sunrise.
The Zechariah text is stating in two doublets,
"The king is righteous,
That is to say, he has salvation.
He is humbly riding on an ass,
That is to say, on a colt, the foal of an ass."
Now let us see what the author of Matthew's gospel does with this. He writes:
"Jesus sent two disciples, sayint unto them, Go into the village that is over against you, and straightway you shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if anyone say anything unto you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them; and immediately he will send them. now this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet saying,
Tell you daughter of Zion, Behold your king comes unto you, meek and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
And the disciples went, and did as Jesus told them, and brought the ass and the colt, and put on them their garments, and he sat thereon." Matt: 21:2-7
Matthew, not understanding Hebraic poetry and the use of the modifying doublet turned Zechariah's ass into two animals, an ass and a foal. Then he had the disciples rig up an ersatz saddle and had Jesus ride on both at once.
One can almost imagine the conversation between Jesus and the disciples which Matthew didn't record:
Jesus: Hey, great work guys. Those asses are just what I need to ride into town.
Peter: But master, why do you need two?
Jesus: I'm not sure, but the prophet said I have to ride both of them.
Peter: Maybe it's so you have a spare in case one breaks down.
Jesus: No more backtalk Peter. Just rig up some way for me to ride them.
Peter: But master, we have two asses and you only have one butt. How are we going to pull this off?
Jesus: Maybe we can tie them together real tight and I can get half my butt onto both asses.
Peter: Have you given any thought as to how silly this will look when artists in future centuries try to paint this scene?
Satire aside, it is obvious that Matthew constructed this absurdity first from Mark, who got it right originally and understood that only one animal was intended in Zechariah. But Matthew wanted to be sure the fulfillment matched that which he thought the text intended, so he added an extra ass. Why? Because he didn't understand the form of the text which was his narrative launching pad.