And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
All Commentaries on Matthew 21:9 Go To Matthew 21
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
De Cons. Ev., ii, 66: In this quotation from the Prophet, there is some variety in the different Gospels. Matthew quotes it as if the Prophet had expressly mentioned the she-ass; but it is not so quoted by John , nor in the Church-copies of the translation in common use. This seems to me to be accounted for by the account, that Matthew wrote his Gospel in the Hebrew language. And it is clear that the translation called the LXX, has somethings different from what are found in the Hebrew, by those who know that tongue, and who have rendered the same books out of the Hebrew. If the reason of this discrepancy be asked, I consider nothing more likely than that the LXXinterpreted with the selfsame spirit with which the original was written, which is confirmed by that wonderful agreement among them of which we are told. It follows, “But the disciples went and didas Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass, and the colt.” The other Evangelists say nothing of the ass. And if Matthew had not mentioned the colt, as they do not mention the ass, the reader ought not to have been surprised. How much less then should it move him, when one has so mentioned the ass which the others have omitted, as not to forget the colt which they have mentioned. For there is no discrepancy where both circumstances may have occurred, though one only related one, and another; how much less then where one mentions both, though another mentions only one? It follows, “And they put on them their clothes, and set him thereon.”
