LXX Zechariah 9:9

Septuagint

7 And I will take their blood out of their mouth, and their abominations from between their teeth; and these also shall be left to our God, and they shall be as a captain of a thousand in Juda, and Accaron as a Jebusite. 8 And I will set up a defence for my house, that they may not pass through, nor turn back, neither shall there any more come upon them one to drive them away: for now have I seen with mine eyes. 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; proclaim it aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, the King is coming to thee, just, and a Saviour; he is meek and riding on an ass, and a young foal. 10 And he shall destroy the chariots out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow of war shall be utterly destroyed; and there shall be abundance and peace out of the nations; and he shall rule over the waters as far as the sea, and the rivers to the ends of the earth.

Matthew 21:5

New Testament

1 Now when they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you. Right away you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: 5 “Tell the people of Zion, ‘Look, your king is coming to you, unassuming and seated on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” 6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

 Notes and References

"... Unlike with most other FCs, Matthew 21:5 (= Zechariah 9:9) does not appear to be Matthew’s “discovery”: John also cites this text (John 12:15), and Mark may well allude to it (Mark 11:2, 7). But Matthew gives the citation his own distinctive interpretation ... The so-called “triumphal entry,” Matthew 21:1-17 narrates how Jesus, celebrated by “the crowds” as “Son of David” but regarded suspiciously by (all!) the “city’s” inhabitants, finally enters Jerusalem and the Temple, drives out the buyers, sellers, and moneychangers, heals the blind and lame, receives further acclaim (from the children) and further suspicion (from the leaders), and retreats to Bethany. Near the beginning of the pericope, a conflated FC announces fulfillment: “[Isaiah 62:11 Masoretic/LXX] Tell the daughter of Zion, [Zechariah 9:9 LXX] Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on [Zechariah 9:9 MT] a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Fulfilling the prophecy, Jesus then rides both a donkey and colt. A reading of this FC should begin with the obvious question: why does Matthew apparently portray Jesus as “a trick rider balancing himself on two animals at the same time”? It is this multiplicity of animals that underwrites a common reading of Matthew’s hermeneutic. For many scholars, so strange is the image that it can mean only one thing: Matthew is not using Scripture to interpret a story but rather to manufacture one. The “circus spectacle” is a result of the fact that Matthew, with his prediction–verification hermeneutic, would create “an exact correspondence with the actual wording” of Zechariah 9:9, but, failing to appreciate the Hebrew parallelism, thinks such a correspondence requires two animals. Scripture has two animals; Jesus fulfills predictions; ergo, Jesus rode two animals ..."

Phillips, Zack Christopher Filling Up the Word: The Fulfillment Citations in Matthew’s Gospel (pp. 282-284) Duke University, 2017

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