Matthew 21:8

8. A very great multitude No intimation is given that this scene was prepared. Everything seems supernaturally spontaneous; every man performs his part, and is in his place as exactly as the ass and colt. It seems like a drama managed by a sacred and divine power, in which everything moves of itself. Spread their garments in the way These garments were the abba, or hyke, being the loose blanket or cloak worn over the tunic or shirt. See note on Matthew 5:40. To celebrate the arrival of some great hero by spreading carpets, or still more their garments, was a Greek and Roman custom, and is so natural as to be in use in modern times even in Christian countries. Garlands were strewed in Washington’s path by his admiring countrymen. Robinson mentions a striking instance which took place in Bethlehem under his own eye, when the people threw their garments under the feet of the English consul, whose aid they were imploring. In 2 Kings 9:13, it was used as a royal honour to a new-made sovereign. Others cut down branches from the trees Stanley calls attention to the change of the tense in the verb rendered cut, by which it is to be rendered were cutting. That is, while one part were strewing their garments in token of humble affection, the others were cutting the branches of the palm, the emblem of victory, to strew his path. Others still, according to Mark 11:8, cut and strewed mattings or twisted weavings of the palm twigs.

The palm is the most queenly of trees. The ancient coins which bore the inscription Judea Capta, represented Judea as a maiden sitting under a palm. See note on Matthew 2:18. Judea was anciently pre-eminently the land of palms. Jericho and Palmyra were both cities of the palm.

The palm rises with a tall, straight shaft, and spreads its leaves like rays from a centre; so that the tree itself has been held an emblem of life. The leaves of the mature tree are six or eight feet long, and when spread out are very broad. In Revelation 7:9, palms of victory are borne in the hands of the saints.

The way “Three pathways lead, and probably always led from Bethany to Jerusalem; one a steep footpath over the summit of Mount Olivet; another by a long circuit over its northern shoulder, down the valley which parts it from Scopus; the third the natural continuation of the road by which mountain travellers always approach the city of Jericho, over the southern shoulder, between the summit which contains the tombs of the prophets, and that called the ‘Mount of Offence.’ There can be no doubt that this last is the road of the entry of Christ, not only because, as just stated, it is and must always have been the usual approach for horsemen and for large caravans, such as then were concerned, but also because this is the only one of the three approaches which meets the requirements of the narrative which follows.” Stanley.