How Donkeys Reveal Jesus
My grandfather was a farmer, and his solution to keeping the children from getting bored on long car journeys was to keep telling them that there was donkey round the next corner. And while I might not have inherited my grandfather's farming ways, I seem to have inherited his love of donkeys. Once, in a year-end student quiz at the theological college, one of the questions was ‘How many times did Dr Black use the word donkey in one lesson?’ It turns out the answer was 96 — an answer which became even more painful when the quiz-master revealed that they'd only actually started counting halfway through the lecture!
Well, it turns out that donkeys have not had a prominent place in my writing — until today! For it's Holy Week, which starts with a donkey. (And I wasn't able to preach for Palm Sunday yesterday due to an injury, so the Palm Sunday donkeys are being unleashed here instead!)
At the very beginning of Holy Week, the Lord needed a donkey. He told two of the disciples to go into a village and bring a donkey and her colt, telling anyone who asked what they were doing ‘The Lord has need of them’ (Matthew 21:3).
Why did the Lord need a donkey? Matthew helpfully points us back to the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 that the promised King bringing salvation would come to Jerusalem ‘sitting on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey’ (Matthew 21:5; Zechariah 9:9). So, Jesus came into the city riding on a donkey to demonstrate that He is the one who fulfils this prophecy — He is God's promised Deliverer, the King coming to bring salvation.
And, I suppose, we could leave it there and say no more about donkeys. But the Bible has a lot more to say about donkeys. And it's not irrelevant that the animal Zechariah prophesied about was a donkey. So, if we want to understand the significance of donkeys and what they tell us about Jesus, we have to go a lot further back than Zechariah.
Donkeys and the Messiah
For, you see, Zechariah 9:9 isn't the first promise of a donkey in the Bible. The first promise of a donkey is back in Genesis 49. There we read Jacob's last words to his sons as he blessed them for final time before he died. As he blesses Judah, Jacob declares that ‘the sceptre shall not depart from [him] ... until Shiloh comes’ (Gen. 49:10). By this blessing, he prophesies the royal role of the Tribe of Judah which will last until the coming of the Messiah — God's saving King from Judah's line. And that's often where we stop when we talk about this famous Messianic prophecy. Yet, the next verse tells us more about this royal Messiah. ‘Binding his donkey to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes’ (Gen. 49:11). The Messiah with a donkey and a donkey's colt! That's exactly what we see in Zechariah and then on Palm Sunday! So Zechariah 9:9 isn't the first promise of the Messiah coming with a donkey and donkey's colt. It's a promise that goes all the way back to Genesis. From Genesis to Zechariah — from the beginning of the Old Testament to its end — we have this promise, that donkeys and the Messiah go together.
But it's not just that the Messiah will come with donkeys. For the Scriptures which tell us that donkeys and the Messiah go together teach us a few things about what type of Messiah this will be. In Genesis 49:10-11, the Messiah who comes with donkeys is the Messiah who wields a sceptre, ‘and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.’ This promised Messiah from Judah's royal line is coming as King to reign. He is coming with power and authority.
And His kindgom is coming. What type of kingdom will this be? Well, look at the donkeys. This Messiah-King ties his donkeys and their colts to the choicest of vines. Now, I don't know how much you know about farming and donkeys and vines, but, essentially, tying a donkey to a vine isn't generally a good idea — not unless you want to donkey to eat all the grapes and destroy the vine! But this King doesn't have to worry about tying his donkeys to the vine, because in His Kingdom there is such rich abundance of provision that it's perfectly safe for Him to tie donkeys to the vine. It doesn't matter how many grapes they eat! For this King can even wash his clothes in the wine that flows from these vines. There is such abundance of new wine (and joy! — because in the Bible, again and again, wine points us to joy!) in the Messiah's Kingdom that the donkeys can eat their full and wine can be used like water. For this Messiah-King comes brining provision, plenty, feasting and joy.
Zechariah's prophecy also points us to the rich provision for us in the Messiah's Kingdom. Only Zechariah doesn't describe it in terms of wine. He describes it in terms of who this King is for us. ‘He is just, and having salvation!’ This King who comes gently and lowly, riding on a donkey, is the one who brings us full salvation, perfect righteousness and true peace. Zechariah tells us that He is just — He is righteous. The King who brings salvation is the Righteous one who comes for us to clothe us with Himself for righteousness. He Himself is our abundant provision. He is God's salvation for us. As Jeremiah 23:5-6 tells us, this promised saving-King from Judah's royal line (David's branch) will be called ‘The LORD our righteousness.’ The coming Messiah isn't just a Just King, He's a saving King who comes to give Himself to us as our perfect, spotless righteousness. The just one who comes riding on a donkey is the LORD our righteous.
Donkeys and Kings
The Messiah is the saving King, so it shouldn't surprise us that donkeys and Kings go together in the Old Testament too. In fact, it's on a search for some lost donkeys that we meet Israel's first king. In 1 Samuel 9-10, Saul goes out to find his father's lost donkeys and ends up being anointed by Samuel as king. Then, after the Lord rejects Saul as King and sends Samuel to anoint a new King, David, the first thing we see this newly anointed King-to-be doing, is travelling to the royal court with a donkey. ‘And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul’ (1 Samuel 16:20). With David and Saul, there's an association between the account of the revelation of the Lord's anointed king and donkeys. Saul's father sends him to find donkeys. David's father sends him with a donkey. And in the context of those donkey stories, each of these men are revealed as king and anointed by God's prophet. (In that way, donkeys are a bit like angels — when they show up in the story, something big is often going on!)
When David and Saul are anointed, we find a donkey. But when Solomon is crowned as David's successor, we only find half a donkey. In 1 Kings 1, David has Solomon set on his mule and taken down to Gihon by Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet, to be anointed as King over Israel. Now, a mule is half-horse, half-donkey. So, on half a donkey, Solomon goes down from Jerusalem into the Kidron valley (between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives) to the spring Gihon.
About 950 years later, another son of David would make the opposite journey on a full donkey, and a colt, the foal of a donkey. From the Mount of Olives, the Lord Jesus — Great David's Greater Son — would go down into the Kidron valley and then up into Jerusalem, recapitulating the coronation march of Solomon.
But why did Solomon ride a mule — a half donkey — and not a proper, full donkey? Because Solomon wasn't the ultimate son and successor promised to David. Solomon wasn't the ultimate son of David — Jesus is. And so Solomon rode half a donkey, showing that there was a greater fulfilment yet to come. Then Jesus came, riding a donkey and a colt, as the full fulfilment of the prophetic promises.
Solomon wasn't a king of perfect peace. There were still rebellions and enemies to be dealt with. So he rides half a horse (the animal of war) and half a donkey (the animal of peace). But Jesus comes as the true King of Peace and King of Righteousness, riding on a donkey, the animal of peace.
Donkeys and the Saviour
The Messiah is the Saviour King. And donkeys specifically point us to the Saviour Himself. Donkeys recognise the Saviour and donkeys proclaim the Saviour. But how?
Well, I've got this far without even mentioning one history's most famous donkeys. But it's finally time for her to make an appearance. For once there was a donkey who spoke. We read about this donkey back in Numbers 22. Balak, the King of the Moabites, had been trying to get Balaam to curse the children of Israel. When Balaam finally saddled his donkey and went to Balak, the Angel of the LORD came to stand in the way. Now, although I don't have the space to demonstrate it here, the Angel of the LORD is Jesus (the LORD sent from the LORD to speak the Word of the LORD). So, Balaam is riding his donkey, and the donkey sees the Angel of the LORD standing in the road in front of them with his sword drawn. And so the donkey turns off the road into the field. And Balaam gets annoyed. The same thing happens again, this time with a wall on either side of the road, so Balaam's foot gets crushed by the donkey against the wall in her attempt to get out of the way of the Angel of the LORD. Then, a third time it happens, and this time there's nowhere to get out of the way, so the donkey just lies down before they get as far as the Angel of the LORD. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey and there's a conversation between her and Balaam about what's happened.
The thing is, the donkey sees the Angel of the LORD, but Balaam doesn't. Balaam doesn't see the Lord Jesus (until later when the Lord opens his eyes), but the donkey does. The donkey recognises the Saviour (who is also the Judge). And so the donkey ends up saving Balaam's life because the donkey sees Jesus.
Balaam's donkey recognises Jesus. But some of the other donkeys we've mentioned also point us to Jesus and His saving work. The donkey in Genesis 49 is tied to the vine. So the saving Messiah comes not only with a donkey, but with grapes and wine. And then this saving Messiah covers his robes in the blood of grapes. The one who ties up His donkey to the vine is the one who comes in garments stained with wine — wine that's described as blood. We've already thought about this in terms of the abundance of provision in the Messiah's Kingdom. Yet, it's interesting that this wine is also described here as blood (and that we get an almost identical picture in Revelation 19, where Christ returns ‘clothed with a robe dipped in blood’).
The Saviour the donkeys proclaim has stained His garments with blood — not the blood of others, but His own blood. He was robed in His own blood as He hung on the Cross for our salvation. And now He holds out to us His blood in the promise of the forgiveness of sins. As we gather at the Lord's Table, He makes this proclamation: ‘This is the new covenant in my blood.’
We see this good news again with David's donkey (in 1 Samuel 16:20). David's donkey is another gospel donkey. What did Jesse put on the donkey along with David? Bread, a skin of wine and a young goat. What was the young goat for? For a sacrifice. The promised king, the Lord's anointed, goes up to the royal city on a donkey with bread, wine, and a sacrifice! And so David and his donkey point us to the ultimate promised King, Great David's Greater Son, who would be the perfect sacrifice — and who now gives us a memorial of His sacrifice in bread and wine. We come and feast upon the fruits of Calvary in bread and wine, as Jesus gives Himself to us to eat and drink at His Table. And David's donkey points us there. For donkeys proclaim the Saviour who gave Himself for us as the perfect sacrifice, and who lifts our eyes back to that sacrifice of the cross week after week in bread and wine.
And with that, I've used the word 95 times, so can only use it once more! So I'll use it to say this: the ways Jesus rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday isn't just glorious because it fulfils prophecy or signals peace. The way He rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday is extra glorious because over and over again donkeys proclaim the Saviour Messiah-King and point us to His saving sacrifice. I think my grandfather might have been onto something — what more exciting and glorious animal could you hope to find round the next corner than one which points us to the Saviour. So next time you meet one of these beasts of burden in the Scriptures, pay attention, for, just like on Palm Sunday, it might be bringing Jesus.