Read Matthew 21 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Chiastic Structure Teaching Tool for Mat 21:1-46:
Why did the religious professionals, who were supposed to be versed in these matters, not recognize or receive Yeshua as the promised Messiah, the Son of David, as the common people did?
Matthew makes it clear that Yeshua entered Jerusalem through the East Gate, when he says that they came into Jerusalem on the road from Bethphage, and the Mount of Olives. The East Gate is the gate to which that road leads. The prophets record that the glory of YHVH enters Jerusalem through the East Gate.
Because the people knew what the prophets prophesied about the coming of Messiah, they were proclaiming the One coming in through the East Gate to be the Son of David, the promised Messiah. They were proclaiming that David’s kingdom was coming with Him, and that He would save them from the Romans (Hosanna means, save us!)
I think some of it had to do with the fear of man. Anyone proclaiming a King of the line of David in Jerusalem, David’s capital city, would put themselves in the crosshairs of Rome.
And some of it had to do with pride. They were the religious professionals, after all, and some lowly nobody from the backwater of Nazareth was showing them up. It was too much, for anyone whose eyes were set on the world and its ways and not on God.
And even though Torah proclaims it, they did not know that Messiah would come first, as the suffering servant, then second, as the reigning King. When His earthly kingdom did not materialize, they considered Him a fraud. The reason for His first advent, to die as the sacrifice for sin, was hidden from them.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Cor 2:7-8
If there are questions, these are good resources:
The Significance of Entering through the East Gate – Christine Miller
Finding Messiah in Torah – Christine Miller
Leave a Reply