This devotional explores why Matthew mentions both a donkey and her colt at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It compares the four Gospel accounts, explains that the combined evidence points to Jesus riding the colt, and reflects on humility, spiritual sight and God’s ability to speak through unexpected details.
When I read Matthew 21:7, one small detail made me sit up on my bed in surprise. Matthew did not mention only one animal. He wrote about the donkey and the colt.
“They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.”
For years, I had pictured only a donkey in the scene. I immediately texted Jane—my wombmate—and began pondering why Matthew deliberately records a mature animal and a young colt together.
Did Jesus Ride Both the Donkey and the Colt?
My first reading made me wonder whether Jesus rode both animals. A careful comparison of Scripture, however, does not require that conclusion.
Matthew tells us that the disciples brought the mother donkey and her colt and placed clothes on them. When verse 7 says that Jesus was set “on them,” the plural can refer to the clothes or to the animals as a group without meaning that He balanced on two animals or changed mounts.
Names both the donkey and her colt, then connects the scene directly with prophecy.
Focuses on a colt that no one had ever ridden and says Jesus sat on it.
Also records the unridden colt and says the disciples set Jesus on it.
Describes Jesus finding a young donkey and sitting on it.
The discovery remains important: two animals were present in Matthew’s account. Yet the four Gospel accounts together point to Jesus riding the colt while the mother donkey was also brought with it. Matthew does not explain why she accompanied the colt, so any practical reason we imagine should remain a possibility rather than a biblical claim.
The Prophecy Uses Poetic Parallelism
Matthew explains that the entry fulfilled the words of Zechariah. The prophet describes the King with two closely related phrases—a common form of Hebrew poetic parallelism in which the second line restates and clarifies the first. “A donkey” and “a colt, the foal of a donkey” therefore describe the royal mount more fully rather than requiring two mounts.
“Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.”
The unmistakable message is not that Jesus needed two animals. It is that Israel’s promised King came publicly, deliberately and lowly. He did not enter Jerusalem displaying earthly force. His manner revealed a King whose authority and peace are unlike the power of this world.
Matthew’s second animal is not an invitation to force Jesus onto two mounts. It is an invitation to slow down and read closely. The mother and colt were both brought, the prophecy was fulfilled, and Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the humble promised King. Careful reading does not weaken spiritual wonder—it gives wonder a firmer foundation.
My First Symbolic Reflection: Ending and Beginning
When I first noticed the mature donkey beside the young colt, I pictured an ending and a beginning standing together. That thought led me to Jesus’ words in Revelation:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
I still value that as a personal devotional association: Christ is Lord over beginnings and endings. However, Matthew does not say that the mother represents an ending or that the colt represents a beginning. This is therefore a symbolic reflection prompted by the picture—not the stated interpretation of Matthew 21.
That distinction matters to me. The Holy Spirit can use a detail to draw my attention toward a biblical truth, while Scripture itself remains the authority that tests and steadies my interpretation.
Another Donkey, Three Warnings and Opened Eyes
My thoughts then moved to Balaam’s donkey in Numbers 22. On the road, the donkey could see the Angel of the Lord while Balaam could not. Three times she tried to protect him:
- She turned aside from the road and went into a field.
- She pressed against a wall, crushing Balaam’s foot as she avoided the angel.
- With nowhere left to turn, she lay down beneath Balaam.
Balaam struck her after each attempt. Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and afterward He opened Balaam’s eyes. The animal Balaam treated as an obstacle had actually been preserving his life.
“What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
This also brought Job 33:29–30 to mind, where Elihu speaks of God working repeatedly to turn a person back from destruction and bring that life into the light. The passage is not a formula promising that every divine warning will happen exactly three times. In Balaam’s story, however, the repeated mercy is impossible to miss.
Balak wanted Balaam to curse Israel. Across three repeated preparations at different locations, altars were built and sacrifices were offered, but God put blessings in Balaam’s mouth instead. Numbers 23–24 records further oracles as well, so it is more accurate to speak of three repeated attempts to obtain a curse than only three prophecies. Human pressure could not overturn what God had determined to bless.
Video: Balaam and His Donkey
Video summary: This retelling presents Balaam’s journey, the donkey’s three attempts to avoid the angel, the opening of the donkey’s mouth and Balaam’s eventual recognition that God stood against his way. Read Numbers 22:22–35 (NKJV) alongside the video for the complete biblical account.
What These Two Donkey Accounts Teach Me
The triumphal entry and Balaam’s journey are different events with different purposes, so I do not want to merge them into one hidden code. Yet reading them together leaves me with several honest reflections:
- Jesus’ kingship is humble. He fulfilled the prophetic picture without performing earthly greatness.
- Small textual details deserve attention. The presence of the mother donkey made me reread all four Gospels more carefully.
- God may use what we overlook. Balaam dismissed the creature that could see the danger he could not.
- Correction can be mercy. What first feels like resistance may sometimes be protection, although every obstacle should still be tested with prayer, Scripture and wisdom.
- God’s purposes cannot be manipulated. Balak sought a curse, but God caused blessing to be spoken.
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming as the humble and righteous King. Teach me to read Your Word carefully and to receive correction without pride. Open my eyes when I cannot see what You are showing me. Help me distinguish the truth of Scripture from my own assumptions, and let every personal insight lead me back to You. Amen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Jesus ride both the donkey and the colt?
Matthew says both animals were brought, but Mark, Luke and John identify the colt or young donkey as the animal Jesus sat on. The combined accounts do not require Jesus to have ridden both.
Why does Matthew mention the mother donkey?
Matthew records that the colt was with its mother and that both were brought to Jesus. He does not state why she accompanied the colt, so practical explanations should be treated as possibilities rather than certain doctrine.
Does Zechariah 9:9 describe two animals?
The prophecy uses parallel lines: the second phrase identifies the donkey more precisely as a colt, the foal of a donkey. Matthew records two animals in the historical scene, while the prophecy’s focus is the humble King riding the young donkey.
Does the donkey symbolise the end and the colt the beginning?
That was my personal devotional association with Christ as the Beginning and the End. It can be shared as reflection, but Matthew 21 does not assign those symbolic meanings to the animals.
What is the connection with Balaam’s donkey?
Both accounts show that donkeys can carry surprising importance in a biblical scene. The direct meanings differ: Jesus’ colt fulfils the promised King’s entry, while Balaam’s donkey sees danger, protects her rider and exposes his spiritual blindness.
Topics Covered: Jesus and the donkey and colt, Matthew 21:7, triumphal entry, Palm Sunday, Zechariah 9:9, Hebrew poetic parallelism, humble King, Balaam’s donkey, spiritual sight, three warnings, personal biblical reflection.
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