Luke 19:39

And some of the Pharisees from the multitude said unto him, Teacher, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said, I tell you that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.

The multitude was shouting BLESSED IS THE KING; the sneering Pharisee was complaining, "Teacher, rebuke thy disciples." Ash was surely correct in the opinion that "this title (KING) ties this episode to the parable of the rejected king (Luke 19:11-27)."[50]

The stones will cry out ...; Habakkuk 2:11 has this: "For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam of the timber shall answer it." Jesus may have referred to this. What he evidently meant was that such an event as God's sending his only Son into this world would be duly attested, regardless of the objections of the priestly hypocrites. His reply to the Pharisee had the effect of saying, "Look, Pharisee, there is no way for you to hide what is taking place right now!" If that vast multitude could have been stilled by some means, the very stones would have shouted the glory of God for what took place when God's Son entered Jerusalem. As Lamar said:

Years afterward, when the praises of Jerusalem were hushed in fire, and blood, and desolation, how eloquently did the silent stones in the streets proclaim his divinity![51]

JESUS WEEPS OVER THE CITY

Significantly, at a time when the most unprecedented outpouring of praise and acclamation was being voiced by the vast multitude, Jesus, far from being enraptured and thrilled by such a demonstration, gave expression of his bitterest sorrow in an outburst of weeping.

[50] Anthony Lee Ash, op. cit., p. 100.

[51] J. S. Lamar, op. cit., p. 238.