Doubling Down: Zechariah’s Oracle, Judah’s Blessing, and the Triumphal Entry in Matthew

Abstract

Abstract For centuries exegetes have struggled to explain why Matthew presents two animals in the triumphal entry—a female ὄνος and her πῶλος—while all the other Gospels only have one (a πῶλος). The question is further complicated by the fact that the Scripture Matthew cites as fulfilled in this action—Zech. 9:9—also presents only one animal in all extant versions. So what is the historical or exegetical reason for Matthew’s addition? While many have argued that Matthew’s presentation stems from a misreading of the poetic parallelism in Zech. 9:9, this essay contends that Matthew’s doubling of Mark’s single πῶλος is the result of messianic exegesis. The argument is that Matthew or Matthew’s tradition has read Zech. 9:9 alongside another famous messianic oracle, Jacob’s blessing of Judah in Gen. 49:10–11, and that the doubling of the donkeys stems from a likely mistaken—though completely understandable—reading of the Hebrew text. The essay further shows that Matthew’s use of Gen. 49 and Zech. 9 in the triumphal entry scene makes good sense in light of the interests of the Gospel as a whole as well as exegetical tradition that stems from these passages.