The trip from Jericho to Jerusalem is seventeen miles,[1] and we’ve now come to final week of Jesus’ public ministry and life upon this earth. Six days before the Feast Day of the Passover (John 12:1), we find Jesus and his disciples at the top of Mount Olivet near a place called Bethphage and the eastern gate of Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1; Mark 11:1). Luke includes Bethany when describing the place on the mount where Jesus temporarily halted his journey (Luke 19:29).
The mention of Passover in John 12:1 refers to the Feast Day, or the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover was eaten. That was the 15th day of the first month (Nisan) in the Jewish calendar. The Passover Day, when the Passover lamb was slain was in the evening portion (late afternoon) of the 14th day of the month of Nisan. It was also upon the 14th day of the month that Jesus was crucified. So, John 12:1 refers to a time that was approximately five days before Jesus’ crucifixion or the ninth day of the first month.[2] At that time Jesus appeared on top of Mount Olivet, looking down upon the eastern gate of Jerusalem.
After Jesus and his disciples arrived on top of the Mount of Olives, he sent two of them to go into a nearby village (Luke 19:28-29). The name of that village was Bethany (Luke 19:29-30). Bethphage is probably not a village. Rather is a place located on the Mount, similar to the Garden of Gethsemane.
Bethphage is the only place mentioned in Matthew 21:1, but there it is mentioned as the point at which Jesus had already reached. According to some Bible scholars, Bethphage is an Aramaic word meaning ‘house of figs,’ but according to Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Bethphage is Aramaic for ‘house of unripe figs.’ If the latter is true, Bethphage is not only a place on Mt. Olivet, but is probably the site of Christ’s cursing the barren fig tree, as he approached Jerusalem for the second time a few days before his crucifixion (Matthew 21:19; Mark 11:13-14).
The two were sent to Bethany (Luke 19:30-31) in order to get a donkey’s colt to use for Jesus entry into Jerusalem. When the disciples arrived in the village they found a donkey and her colt, tied just as Jesus said they would (Luke 19:32-34). Folks wondered if Jesus would show his face at the Passover Feast that year, because the Jewish authorities made sure it was widely known that they wanted to arrest him (John 11:55-57). Centuries earlier, it had been prophesied that the Messiah would come to his people riding upon a colt and it is implied in Genesis 49:10-11 that he would die there.
Some attribute Jesus’ knowledge of the donkey and her colt to his knowledge as God, but I don’t think this is true. There seems to have been a prearrangement made in Bethany weeks beforehand that the disciples knew nothing about. The cloak and dagger language seems to have been necessary, not only because Jesus knew about the implications of death in the prophecy (Genesis 49:10-11), but also because of the fact the Jewish authorities wanted to kill him and had let it be known that others should tell them where Jesus was, implying a price had been placed upon his head (cf. John 11:57).
Therefore, before Jesus left Bethany after he had brought Lazarus back to life, he probably made arrangements to have the donkey and her colt tied at a certain spot in Bethany at that particular time. There he would find them and use them for his service after using a password, “The Lord has need of them” (Matthew 21:2-3; Mark 11:3-6; Luke 19:31). The man watching the donkey was, no doubt, a servant of their owner, or a hired man used specifically for that purpose. This was done to keep the identity of the owner of the animals anonymous.
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[1] See William Barclay on Luke 19:28-29.
[2] A normal adult traveler could walk 15 to 20 miles per day [James S, Jeffers; The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era; page 37]. If Jesus and his disciples set out from Zacchaeus’ home at dawn, he would have arrived in Jerusalem in the late afternoon, sometime prior to dusk, at which time the Temple gates were closed (cf. Mark 11:11).
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