A.T. Robertson Commentary Matthew 21:5

"Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, Meek, and riding upon an ass, And upon a colt the foal of an ass." — Matthew 21:5 (ASV)

The daughter of Zion (τη θυγατρ Σιων). Jerusalem as in Isa 22:4 (daughter of my people). So Babylon (Isaiah 47:1), daughter of Tyre for Tyre (Psalms 45:12).

Riding (επιβεβηκως). Perfect active participle of επιβαινω, "having gone upon."

And upon a colt the foal of an ass (κα επ πωλον υιον υποζυγιου). These words give trouble if κα is here taken to mean "and." Fritzsche argues that Jesus rode alternately upon each animal, a possible, but needless interpretation. In the Hebrew it means by common Hebrew parallelism "upon an ass, even upon a colt." That is obviously the meaning here in Matthew. The use of υποζυγιου (a beast of burden, under a yoke) for ass is common in the LXX and in the papyri (Deissmann, Bible Studies p. 161).