In
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
tradition, the Messiah's Donkey (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: חמורו של משיח) refers to the
donkey
The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
upon which the
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashia ...
will arrive to redeem the world at the
end of days End of days may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''End of Days'' (film), a 1999 supernatural film
Music
* '' The End of Days'', a 2010 album by Abney Park
* ''End of Days'' (soundtrack), a soundtrack album from the 1999 film ...
. In
Modern Hebrew
Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the H ...
the phrase "the Messiah's donkey" is used to refer to someone who does the 'dirty work' on behalf of someone else.
The origin of the belief can be found in : "... your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." The 'king' referred to in this verse is interpreted by
Chazal
Chazal or Ḥazal ( he, חז״ל), an acronym for the Hebrew "Ḥakhameinu Zikhronam Liv'rakha" (, "Our Sages, may their memory be blessed"), refers to all Jewish sages of the Mishna, Tosefta and Talmud eras, spanning from the times of the fi ...
as referring to the Messiah.
In the discussion regarding this verse in the
Babylonian Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
(
Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Aramaic: סַנְהֶדְרִין; Greek: , ''synedrion'', 'sitting together,' hence 'assembly' or 'council') was an assembly of either 23 or 71 elders (known as "rabbis" after the destruction of the Second Temple), a ...
98a), a story is told of the Persian king Shevor, who says to Samuel, one of the
Amoraim
''Amoraim'' (Aramaic: plural or , singular ''Amora'' or ''Amoray''; "those who say" or "those who speak over the people", or "spokesmen") refers to Jewish scholars of the period from about 200 to 500 CE, who "said" or "told over" the teachin ...
, "You say that the Messiah will come on a donkey; I will send him the riding horse that I have." In response to the ridicule of the king, Samuel answers, "Do you have a horse with one thousand colors like the donkey of the Messiah? Certainly his donkey will be miraculous."
In the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...
() it is told that as
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
approached the
Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jeru ...
, he sent two of his disciples to a nearby village to fetch him a donkey, or exactly an Onager or wild donkey. Upon their return,
Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem, where he was met by cheering crowds. According to the
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
religious tradition, this was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9.
According to some Muslim historians and scholars the prophecy of the Messiah's Donkey was fulfilled when
Umar ibn al-Khattab
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate ...
travelling alone with one donkey and one servant. When he arrived in Jerusalem, he was greeted by
Sophronius, who undoubtedly must have been amazed that the caliph of the Muslims, one of the most powerful people in world arriving on a donkey which fulfilled the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9: "... your king is coming to the arrival."
Modern references
In
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, the phrase "the Messiah's Donkey" can also refer to the controversial political-religious doctrine ascribed to the teachings of
Avraham Yitzhak Kook which claims that
secular Jews Secular Jew may refer to:
* A general epithet for Jews who participate in modern secular society and are not stringently religious
* Nonreligious Jews, including nonaffiliated, agnostics, etc.
**Jewish atheism
** Cultural Judaism
* ''Hiloni'', " ...
, which represent the material world, are an instrument in the hands of
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
whose purpose it was to establish the
State of Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and begin the process of redemption, but upon its establishment they would be required to step aside and allow the
Religious
Religion is usually defined as a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
-
Haredi
Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to '' halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppo ...
public to govern the state. According to this analogy, the secular Jewish public are the "donkey", while the Religious-Haredi public who would take their place represent a collective quasi-Messianic body. A book called ''The Messiah's Donkey'', which focuses on this issue, was published in 1998 by Seffi Rachlevsky and caused widespread controversy among the Jewish-Israeli public; according to
Hassidic teaching the donkey is a symbol of the fact that the Messiah and Messianic age will not oppose the material world, but rather harness it for sacred purposes. Thus, the act of riding upon the donkey is a symbol of the sovereignty of the Messiah over the material world (represented by the donkey).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messiah's Donkey
Animals in the Bible
Book of Zechariah
Politics of Israel
Jewish eschatology
Legendary mammals
Donkeys