The King on a Donkey
Zechariah 9:9, the lowly King's entry, as the early church read it
When a king rode into a city on a war-horse, it meant conquest. When he rode a donkey, it meant peace. Zechariah foretold which one Israel's King would choose: "behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." On the Sunday before His death, Jesus deliberately staged that exact scene, sending for the colt and riding into Jerusalem while the crowds spread their garments and cried Hosanna (Matthew 21:4-9; John 12:14-15). The early church read it as a prophecy fulfilled to the letter, and as a revelation of the kind of King He is. Justin Martyr in his own words below, with a plain restatement.
The Father's words are verbatim and attributed (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, public domain; selected from the running prose, footnote apparatus omitted). The box marked "In plain terms" is our own restatement, never the Father's words.
Zechariah 9:9 · KJVRejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
"It was prophesied by Zechariah, one of the twelve prophets, that such would take place, in the following words: 'Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; shout, and declare, daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King shall come to thee, righteous, bringing salvation, meek, and lowly, riding on an ass, and the foal of an ass.'… as this was done by Him in the manner in which it was prophesied… and as the fulfilment was recognised, it became a clear proof that He was the Christ."
Justin MartyrJustin's point is the precision: the prophet said the King would come "meek, and lowly, riding on an ass," and Jesus did exactly that, on purpose, in front of the whole city. The match between the ancient words and the public act, Justin says, "became a clear proof that He was the Christ." And notice the portrait itself: not a conqueror on a war-horse, but a King "just, and having salvation," coming in lowliness and peace. The triumphal entry was a coronation in the language of humility.
Zechariah 9:9 · with Matthew 21:2,7"…ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me… And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon."
"That the Spirit of prophecy… mentioned both an ass and its foal, which would be used by Him… this fact was a prediction that you of the synagogue, along with the Gentiles, would believe in Him. For as the unharnessed colt was a symbol of the Gentiles, even so the harnessed ass was a symbol of your nation. For you possess the law which was imposed upon you."
Justin MartyrJustin notices a detail Matthew preserves: there were two animals, the broken-in donkey and an unridden colt. He reads them as a picture of the two peoples the King would gather, the "harnessed ass" as Israel, long under the yoke of the law, and the "unharnessed colt," never before ridden, as the Gentiles, wild and far off, now brought under the gentle rule of Christ. The same lowly King who fulfilled the prophecy to Israel was, in that very act, reaching for the nations.
Where this stands among the traditions
That Zechariah 9:9 is fulfilled in the triumphal entry is shared ground, fixed by the Gospels themselves: Matthew and John both quote it as Jesus rides into Jerusalem, so Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant read it as Palm Sunday foretold. The divergence is over the kind of King it reveals. Zechariah deliberately pairs lowliness with universal dominion, the very next verse has Him "speak peace unto the heathen" and rule "from sea even to sea" (Zechariah 9:10). A long strand of messianic expectation, then and now, looked for a political and military deliverer who would throw off Rome; Jesus instead came exactly as Zechariah said, "meek, and lowly," on a donkey of peace, and saved His people not by the sword but by the cross, reserving the conquering ride for His return (compare the white war-horse of Revelation 19:11). The modern critical reading treats the oracle as a post-exilic hope for a humble Davidic king and debates the date of Zechariah's later chapters, but does not dispute its peaceable portrait. The drift to resist is the perennial craving for a Messiah of worldly power, the same error that turns the church toward the sword and the throne, when the King Zechariah promised, and Jesus embodied, comes lowly, bringing salvation, and wins by humility. (See whom they pierced, he emptied himself, and the Olivet discourse.)
Patristic text from Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho (ch. 53; compare First Apology, ch. 35), in the Ante-Nicene Fathers (public domain), selected from the running prose with footnote apparatus omitted; nothing added or paraphrased within the quotation marks. Scripture in the King James Version; the plain-language lines are our own restatement. This passage in the Study Bible; Zechariah 9 at BibleHub.