Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-03-09
ENTERING JERUSALEM.
LESSON XII, INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY
SCHOOL SERIES MARCH, II.

Notes.-Bethphage or house of figs, near TO
Bethany. Over against, opposite. Straight
way, at once without seeking. Loose them,
or unite them. Aught, anything. That it
might, in order that, etc. Daughter of Zion,
Jerusalem. The foal, the young one Clothes,
or outer garments Strewed, spread or
scattered. Hosanna, Heb, save now for
merly a word of prayer, but now of praise.
| Son of David, one of the titles of Jesus as
Messiah. Moved, aroused or excited The
multitude, i. G., the people that came with
MIN, or formed the great procession. House
of prayer, i. e, in which prayer shall be offer
ed Wonderful things, l. e., the great works,
miracles or signs. Crying, singing or call
ing out. Sore dspleased, very angry
V. 1-3. The incidents of this lesson stand
alone in its impressiveness; or rather in the
character of its impressiveness. Its singu-
lar blending of Gods foreordained purposes.
with mans perfect freedom of action-by
which those purposes were to he carried out.
Jesus, as the true Messiah, had come to the
people to whom he was promised. All the
great works ascribed to the Messiah by their
prophets had been wrought by him Even
the soldiers were constrained to say, "Never
man spake as this man!n And now as he
drew nigh to Jerusalem and knew that he
was nearing the cross at every step thither,
he also knew that his triumphal entry into
the city must then be made: even as it was
foretold. "All things were ready The ap-
pointed time had come. The people were
throngng in great multitu les about him.
Not knowing why they did ii, the owners of
/ ha hn1 iel Iaf, l.
there she stood, awaiting the messengers
of the master, coming to claim her for his
service. And so he paused at Bethphage. to
make the needed preparations. And so he
sent forward two of his disciples to the vii
lage over against them 1t does not seem
that he told them for what purpose the ass
and her colt were to be brought He did so
in the case OF the fish to be caught for the
tribute money. Matt xvii, %. He did so in
the case of the two disciples sent to prepare
for the Passover Mark xiv, 49, But he did
not do so in this case. He seems to
have sent for the ass without telling them
why the animal was needed There was
to be no preparation for their playing a part.
No limiting to them what the prophet had
said. No telling them what they would be
expected to do. The time had come. The
occasion would be silently brought
before them, and the rest would be as
the spirit moved them to act And in this
direction these things are very clear, i.e.:
l. The Lords knowledge of coming events.
q Some intimations of his power
V. A. This, manifestly, refers to the
Saviour's knowledge of what was to be done,
and his purpose in doing it, and not at all to
the disciples. They did what he told them
to do without, at that time, having anything
/ tl,t l., II. mn
pose of it all lay in his own mind alone. He
knew what was written. He knew why it
was written. He knew that the me was
come, and that this proof of his Messiaship
was to be furnished against themselves by
the people to whom he came. And there
fore, all this was DONE
V. 5, 6. This prophesy is in Zach tx, 0.
Nothing could be palmer. The time of the
coming kingdom had come. Their king HIM
self had come, and the shouts of the multi
tude, as they proclaimed his coming, rent the
air. Would they receive their king. 1t was
the crisis of Jerusalems destiny. Who can
say that this was not real thing! That this
triumphal entry into Jerusalem did not mean
the setting up of the kingdom then and there,
if the nation had received its king.
V. 10. And here commences the disciples
part, with that of the multitude. Thus far
Jesus had acted alone, and now the time for
their action had come We can see the act
ing of the process. Every line of the record
adds some new feature to the picture See!
The disciples have returned with the ass and
her colt! What shall they do with them. a
sudden impulse seems to seize them. They
take their loose, flowing, outside garments
and lay them on the unframed colt. Rever-
emily they approach their Lord and under
his gently constraining power ''set him
thereon There he sits, just as the prophet
foretold-but with no word spoken by him
lions king with his face toward Zions CAPT.
tai. Sudden and unlocked for as the fire of
the Lord that fell on Elijah's sacrifice,
strong impulse seized the great multitude, as
they took up the line of march toward
Jerusalem. 1t was composed of two sections
those that went before and those that fol-
lowed after with Jesus in the midst. The
march begins. From those nearest the per-
son of the Lord, a shout, as of triumph goes
up. Listen Why it is the strain of their
old prophets-a portion of the Great Hallel
or song of praise-an acknowledged tribute
/ to the Messiah. See Ps. cXviii, p, 26 The
song passes from man to man: from those in
| the rear the gladstone strain rolls on: "Ho-
sauna to the Son of Davidl Blessed be he
that cometh in the name of the Lord. IIO-
sauna in the highest'' Those that went be-
fore caught up the strain, and the air was
filled with its melody as the procession
swept on toward Jerusalem.
V. 10, IL. Nothing could be more natural
than this. OF course, 'the daughter of
Zion" would ask: "Who is thisg" And there
could be no other answer than that which the
multitude gave.
V. Il, ID. This is the second of the two
cleansings of the temple by our Lord. The
portion of the temple referred to here was
the court of the Gentiles, into which alone
such things as are here named could be
taken. And because many Jews came from
foreign lands, they would need to change their
money into the shekel of the sanctuary. Ex-
odus xiii, 13. But not even merchandise
which is honest trade-can be tolerated in
the house of God. But here it had degen-
Grated into lawless gain. And in each case
it was the silent exercise of his authority as
the son of man that made them go unresst-
ingly out when the hope of their unlawful