Aramaic Word Study – A  Colt – ‘Ila’  עִילָא  Ayin Yod Lamed Aleph 

Matthew 21:2: “Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.”

Yesterday was Palm Sunday where we celebrated what is called the Triumphal Entry where Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  This was in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9: “Rejoice 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 is interesting that the syntax of this verse reads that Our King will come upon a chamor which is a mature donkey and the verse also says upon an ayir  which is a colt, not a mature donkey. 

Then we jump to Matthew’s account which is more complete than the other accounts in the Gospels and find something not in the Synoptic Gospels. Luke was a scientist Matthew, it is believed by many, was a tax collector who was an independent contractor and businessman. The thought processes of the two could easily emphasize two different perspectives.   

The word in Hebrew and Aramaic for ass/donkey is chamar.  As indicated the word for colt or foal in Hebrew is iyar which is a young donkey and in Aramaic it is ‘ila’.  The Aramaic ‘ila’  also has the idea of exalting or raising up. Did Jesus ride two animals into Jerusalem? 

Thomas Aquinas as with other church fathers suggest that Jesus rode both a donkey and a colt. He rode the donkey up to the mountain and the colt into the city.  The church fathers teach and I agree that the donkey was a symbol of humility where a horse would have represented a conqueror and/or victorious military leader.  Jesus did not enter Jerusalem as a conqueror as people had hoped the Messiah would do.  This would explain why he had to ride in on a donkey. But why also on a colt?

The church fathers explain that Jesus rode to Jerusalem on the colt and then just as he entered Jerusalem he got off the colt and rode into Jerusalem on the donkey with the colt by its mother’s side. Why would he do that?  Again, the church fathers explain that the reason Jesus rode the colt up the mountain was to represent he was the Savior for all the people of the world and the donkey into the city was to represent that He was also the Savior for the Jewish people as well. 

In other words Jerusalem represented the message to the world that there is one God YHWH and the message of the Jewish people is to bring that knowledge to the world.  Yet, the Jews represented the mother to the Gentiles or the church who would receive the message of Jesus Christ, the Gospel and their mission would be to bring the Gospel to the world. 

This is shown by the play off the Aramaic word ‘ila’ which also means to exalt or rise up.  The church would exalt the name and message of Jesus, the Gospel, the foundation of which was preserved by the Jews which guarded and still bring the message of the monotheistic faith. 

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