John Gill Commentary Matthew 21:8

"And the most part of the multitude spread their garments in the way; and others cut branches from the trees, and spread them in the way." — Matthew 21:8 (ASV)

And a very great multitude
Which consisted partly of the great multitude which followed Christ from Jericho, and partly of the large number of people that were come up for the feast of the passover from various parts, and met him from Jerusalem; see (John 12:12John 12:13) . These, many of them, for it cannot be thought to have been done by them all,

spread their garments in the way ;
either in the middle of the road, instead of carpets, to ride upon; the Persic version adds, "that he might pass over them": this they did, in honor of him as a king. So when Jehu declared to the princes of Israel, that he was anointed king of Israel, they hastened, and took every man his garment, and put it under him, (2 Kings 9:13) that is, to tread upon; though the Jewish writers ^F24 say, it was done that he might be higher than them all, suitable for the dignity of a king: and it is reported ^F25 of the emperor Cato Uticensis that his soldiers strewed their garments for him to walk upon.

or these garments were spread by the wayside. Dr. Lightfoot conjectures that little tents might be raised by them along the road, upon which they spread their garments to make a show. This was in imitation of the feast of tabernacles, to which there is a very great resemblance in many things which occur in this account. During that feast, they used to spread linen cloth, garments, and fruits, over their booths, for decoration and ornament, as appears from their traditions concerning these things:

``(Nydo hyle oryp) , "if a man spreads a linen cloth over it", (his booth,) because of the sun, or under it, because of the falling of leaves or spreads it over a canopy, it is not right; but he may spread it over the bedposts <sup>F26</sup> .'' That is, for ornament, as the commentators observe <sup>F1</sup> . Again, ``(dgb hyle vrp) , if a man spreads a garment over it, (his booth,) or if he spreads it under it, because of what falls it is not right; but if he spreads it so as that it is, (htwanl) , "for ornament", it is right; and so if he covers it according to the tradition of it, and encompasses it with various kinds of fruits, and precious things, and vessels which hang upon it, whether on its walls, or on its covering, so they be for ornament, it is right ^F2 .'' In like manner, the multitude might hang their garments, to make the show the greater, either on such booths, or on the houses and trees, that were upon the road, as they went along.

Others cut down branches from the trees ;
from the olive trees, as the Persic version expresses it, which grew in great plenty hereabouts; and also from the palm trees, the branches of which, with the boughs of other trees, were what the Jews used to carry in their hands at the feast of tabernacles; see (Leviticus 23:40) and the Evangelist John expressly says that the people who met Christ from Jerusalem at this time took branches of palm trees in their hands, (John 12:13) .

And though this was not the time of the feast of tabernacles, but of the passover, yet it was common for the Jews to signify their joy upon any occasion by such ways and methods as they used at that feast: so upon the cleansing of the tower of Jerusalem by Simon Maccabeus, the Jews entered into it with thanksgiving and branches of palm trees:

``And entered into it the three and twentieth day of the second month in the hundred seventy and first year, with thanksgiving, and branches of palm trees, and with harps, and cymbals, and with viols, and hymns, and songs: because there was destroyed a great enemy out of Israel.''

Likewise upon purifying the temple, which had been polluted by Antiochus, they kept eight days with gladness as in the feast of tabernacles, and bore branches and fair boughs, and palms also, as in the Apocrypha: 6 And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts. 7 Therefore they bare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms unto him that had given them good success in cleansing his place. (2 Maccabees 10)

But here it is said, and they strewed them in the way :
not in the middle of the road, which would have been a hindrance to riding; but by the wayside, upon the booths, or houses in the road, in honor of him; just as the Jews ^F3 say, 'the streets were strewed with myrtles, and the courts with purple, when Mordecai went out of the king's gate.'

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FOOTNOTES:

• F24: R. Levi ben Gersom, & R. Samuel Laniado in loc.
• F25: Plutarch in Aleibiade.
• F26: Misn. Succa, c. 1. sect. 3.
• F1: Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.
• F2: Maimon. Hilch. Succa, c. 5. sect. 17.
• F3: Targum in Esther viii. 15.