Lamb Selection Day

lamb …otherwise known as Palm Sunday

Early Sunday morning Jesus left Bethany with his disciples and began walking with the crowds toward Jerusalem. Why was Jesus (and everyone else) going to Jerusalem on Sunday the 10^th when Passover wasn’t until the 14^th? Because on the 10^th day God commanded each family to choose their Passover lamb. (Exodus 12) Because people traveled long distances to the Temple in Jerusalem, lambs were sold at the sheep market, just outside the city walls.

This lamb was very special. It was to be purchased four days before the Passover feast called a Seder. The family was to take the lamb into their home and treat it like a pet, bonding with this lamb. Choosing the Passover lamb was a time of great family celebration, maybe like today when we go as a family to pick out a Christmas tree. At twilight of Passover, the lamb was slain and the family ate that lamb. The lamb was to be just the right size to feed the family and if there were leftovers, they were to share with the poor so everyone would have lamb for Passover. According to First Century historian Josephus, 80,000 lambs were killed at Passover the year Jesus was crucified making the estimated population at nearly 3 million in the city of 80,000.

On this Sunday, Jesus was in the crowd going up to Jerusalem to select their lamb. Everyone walked, except the very wealthy. By this time, Jesus had walked nearly 110 miles from Galilee. He had traveled from the Rift Valley below Sea Level up and down the wilderness to the Mount of Olives, the highest point near Jerusalem, an 18,000 foot elevation gain. As they approached Jerusalem, the enormous crowd made walking very slow, like rush hour freeway traffic. When Jesus arrived at Bethphage to the east of Jerusalem, He stopped, and “sent two of His disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.'” (Luke 19:29-34)

The disciples must have wondered what He was doing. They had walked all this way, and now, only a half mile from Jerusalem, Jesus wanted to ride a donkey. Why at Bethphage? Why not from Bethany where they had spent the night, at least that was two miles away.

It helps to understand the culture, particularly that of “eruv.” In Exodus 35:2, while Israel was in the wilderness, God commanded that on the Sabbath (Saturday) they were to come to the Tabernacle and worship and not to do any work. After Israel entered into the Promised Land they continued to honor God’s command but it was difficult to know how far one could walk to the place of worship and not call it work. The Pharisees (religious teachers of the Law) solved that problem by placing one or more synagogues in every village and determined that if someone walked 2,000 paces (about ½ mile) that would not be considered work. That was determined to be the distance from the farthest point of the wilderness camp to the Tabernacle. In Jesus’ day, the eruv was a set location in each city.

The eruv (Sabbath marker) to the east of Jerusalem was Bethphage, considered the Eastern border of Jerusalem.

If Jesus had come into the city walking, no one would have noticed.
If He had come riding all the way from Bethany, like the wealthy, no one would have noticed.
But when Jesus stopped, then deliberately mounted a donkey just before He entered the city limits of Jerusalem, He was making a huge statement and fulfilling Messianic prophecy.

By entering Jerusalem from the East (the wilderness side) He fulfilled Isaiah 40:3, “A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.” And by riding a donkey he fulfilled Zachariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey–even on a donkey’s colt.” Zachariah 9:10, “I will remove the battle chariots from Israel and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and I will destroy all the weapons used in battle. Your king will bring peace to the nations. His realm will stretch from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.”

The disciples obeyed and found the animal just as Jesus said. The importance of the donkey was not missed. Kings came into cities riding on horses for battle but rode on a donkey when coming in peace. Coats were placed on the animal and Jesus was lifted up and placed on the donkey’s back. That in itself was a miracle. An unbroken animal would not allow someone to quietly sit upon them but would throw them off! When Jesus proceeded toward Jerusalem, the people laid their coats in front of the donkey like rolling out the red carpet.

As Jesus descended down the Mount of Olives and then up to Jerusalem, the crowd begin waving palm branches and shouted “Hosanna, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (John 12:13)

Who was this crowd? John said (John 12:17, 18) it was “the crowd that had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead.” This crowd went to meet Jesus because He was the miracle man from Galilee, the one they hoped would be their king. He had raised a man to life after being dead for four days.

The words, “Hosanna, blessed in the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” were first given in Psalms 118:26 and used when King David returned to Jerusalem victorious in battle. Hosanna means “save us, rescue us.” This Psalm became part of the Hallel (Ps. 113 – 118) which pilgrims would recite as a liturgy when they walked from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.

The fact that the people were waving palm branches at Jesus during the festival of Passover was very strange. Palm waving was part of the fall Feast of Tabernacles that began when Solomon dedicated the first Temple. During his prayer, Solomon asked that the Lord’s eyes always be turned toward His Temple, and that God would hear the prayers of all the nations offered up at this place. 1 Kings 8:35, “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.” The practice of waving the palm branches was instituted while the priest in the Temple offered prayers asking for God to save them from drought and send the rain. If you close your eyes, waving palms sound like a storm approaching.

So what was the significance of waving palm branches while Jesus rode a donkey?

A quick history lesson is helpful to learn how palm waving changed meaning. Solomon’s Temple was destroyed in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians (Nebuchadnezzar). 70 years later, in 516 B.C. the exiles returned to Jerusalem (Zerubbaal, Joshua, and Haggai & Zechariah) and rebuilt the temple, referred to as The Second Temple. At that time they were under Persian Rule, until 333 B.C. when Alexander the Great conquered the world for Greece and took control of Israel. Alexander died without an heir so his kingdom was split between three of his generals. First Israel was ruled by the Ptolemies then the Seleucids. The attitude of the Seleucid monarchs changed radically in the days of Antiochus IV Epiphanies. On his way back from fighting with the Ptolemy’s in Egypt 169 B.C., Antiochus was defeated and took it out on Israel by breaking into the Temple, and carried off its precious vessels; two years later he erected the “abomination of desolation” on the altar, killing a pig on the altar and turned the building into a temple of Zeus. Worship of the Lord was stopped for over three years, until Judah Maccabaeus and his men were able to take back control of Temple Mount. They celebrated the retaking of the Temple by instituting the festival of Hanukkah. The altar, Judah felt, could never be cleaned. He disassembled the stones and placed them in Solomon’s Colonnade and built a new altar. After the Temple was cleansed and back in service they realized they had missed the feast of Tabernacles. They decided to go ahead and celebrate, even though it was late. So at this time, the waving of the palm branches took on a new political meaning. Not only were they saying “save us, rescue us from drought” but “save us, rescue us from the Seleucids.” From that point on, the palm branches took on a political tone.

Back to our question, what does waving palm branches while shouting Hosanna mean? The people were declaring Jesus the Davidic king that Israel had been waiting for. They were saying, “Save us Jesus! Rescue us from the Romans!” Don’t miss the significance of this; Jesus was deliberately and publicly proclaiming He was the Messiah, but not a political king. By riding on a donkey Jesus came in peace. The people and the disciples were treating Him as if He were riding on a war horse ready to take on Rome.

The symbolism was not missed by the Pharisees’ who command Jesus to rebuke His disciples. Jesus told them, “If the people keep quiet, then the stone would cry out.” (Luke 29:20) In Luke’s gospel, the disciples and the crowd were praising God because of the miracles Jesus had performed. This resulted in others joining in until the whole city was in an uproar. As the people recited Psalm 118:26, they proclaimed the hope that God’s blessing would fall on their King Jesus who comes in the name of the Lord. This was exactly what the Pharisee’s didn’t want! This looked like the beginning of a rebellion. If Jesus and these crowds attracted the attention of the Romans, it would mean trouble, especially for the religious leaders.

With all this adulation, you’d think Jesus would be thrilled. Today it is referred to as the Triumphal Entry. The people seemed to finally recognize Jesus as God’s Messiah. Yet, as He ascended up to the city, he began to weep. (Luke 19:41) I wondered why?

Maybe it was because He knew the religious leaders of Jerusalem would not embrace Him as their Messiah but would reject and kill Him.
Maybe He was weeping for His disciples and the people, who were proclaiming Him king when He longed that they choose Him as their Passover Lamb.
Maybe it was because He knew when He was killed, most would fall away.

As Jesus wept He said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (Luke 19:42-44)

God’s judgment did come to the city in 70 A.D. The Roman general Titus laid siege to Jerusalem for three years and during that time life in the city was horrific. Many died from starvation, while others were murdered by bandits trying to steal anything to survive. Josephus described the day that Titus broke through the walls of the city with the phrase “not one stone left on another.” That was a way of describing total devastation. Titus leveled the city but left the important towers and part of the west wall standing as a symbol.

As Jesus approached the city He had to make a choice which of the several gates He would enter.

If Jesus turned left, He could enter the Eastern Gate, the gate of prophecy where the Messiah would enter. At this time, the High Priest would come through the Eastern Gate to begin the Passover Celebration. That would certainly make a statement that He was the Messiah.
He could enter the Double gates where most worshipers entered,
Or He could go to the right and enter the North gate or the Sheep gate. This was the gate where the lambs that were to be slain were brought in.

Somehow I think Jesus turned right and entered the Sheep Gate along with the lambs that were to be slain for Passover. Jesus had come to earth to become the Lamb of God, the only one who could take away the sins of the world and reconcile us to God. (John 1:29)

May the addition of the cultural background bring a new appreciation of this most important day.

On “Palm Sunday” the people shouted “Hosanna” hoping Jesus would be their savior from Roman rule and become their king.

But culturally it was “Lamb Selection Day” the day Jesus willingly became the Lamb of God, that final sin offering for you and for me!

—

Download PDF