Zech 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem ! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

We've commented before on how the Old Testament prophecies confused the teachers. On one side was the picture of a conquering king and on the other a picture of an abused servant. Today's prophecy clearly has the king portrayed but not as kings are normally revealed. Kings normally come on a war horse; this one comes on a donkey.

 

The description of this king is interesting. He comes righteous. He is clearly, therefore God's representative, coming with God's approval, coming in God's way, the right way according to God. And he's coming with salvation or deliverance. Now indeed this is the language of a powerful king, one who can overcome enemies and release his people, yet the manner of his coming raises a question, why on a donkey? Why is his coming seeming to be with gentleness and humility?

 

We've already been seeing the answer to this in the past few weeks as we've considered this king coming in the form of a human baby that will be miraculously born. We will yet see him born in a stable. This is not the way kings normally arrive! But this king is coming to bring a different sort of deliverance, one from sin and from judgement. This one will indeed come gently and with humility.