~ A place to find answers to gnawing spiritual questions ~
Question: In Matthew 21:7, they brought a colt and an ass and placed him on them. How is it that Jesus rode both at once? A member of our Sunday school class has been pondering this for years.Answer: In all respect, I find it curious that a person can be a member of a Sunday school class for years and still ask a question such as this. The answer can be found in any good study Bible.
The King James Version reads: "And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon" (Matthew 21: 6 -7).
The Quest Study Bible gives this explanation: "He didn't literally sit on both. Jesus sat on the colt, while its mother apparently walked alongside, (see Luke 19:35), perhaps to help calm the unbroken colt. The disciples may have prepared both animals because they did not know which Jesus would use."
The NIV Study Bible has this to say: "He sat on the cloaks. We know from Mark 11: 2 and Luke 19:30 that he rode the colt. Typically, a mother donkey followed her offspring closely. Matthew mentions two animals, while the other Gospels have only one."
The Beacon Bible Commentary says: "Critics have sometimes made fun of Matthew's supposed picture of Jesus riding two animals at once. But this implies a degree of stupidity for the writer of this Gospel which is denied by the nobility of its contents. The Greek text of verse 7 is somewhat uncertain. In Zechariah 9:9 the "ass" and the "colt" are the same animal (Hebrew poetic parallelism). The other Gospels mention only one animal, called a "colt" (Mark 11:2, Luke 19:30) or a "young ass" (John 12:14).
This should sufficiently answer your question.
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