HEBREW WORD STUDY – HOSANNA – HOSHI’AH  השיעה  Hei Shin Yod Ayin Hei

Matthew 21:9: “And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”

Psalm 118:25: “Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.”

Today is Palm Sunday which celebrates the triumphal entry of Jesus in Jerusalem.  Many people gathered Palm branches to wave and lay before Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  The Palm branches were used during the celebration of the liberation of the Jews by the Maccabees.  We find this in I Maccabees 13:51. This victory is celebrated in the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.  Hence we call this Palm Sunday as that was one distinction of that day where everyone at church gets a palm branch. Actually it would have been more accurately called Donkey Sunday and everyone gets a little plastic donkey, as the donkey was what was really predicted from Scripture in 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.” However, I doubt it would carry the same flair as Palm Sunday and besides adolescents would want to use the “A” word rather than a donkey.

There was something else predicted in Zechariah 9:9, the King arriving with salvation. The fame of Jesus had spread throughout Judea and people began to talk. A rumor started that this was the Messiah and he was heading for Jerusalem. Like all prophetic people, they began to spread the rumor that this was the fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 and He would arrive on a donkey to declare salvation (this might have been started by the chief priest).  Most people equated salvation with deliverance from the Roman Empire. They would not have been the first prophetic people to mix up the prophetic signs.  Lest face it,  Kissinger is too old to be the antichrist. 

However, this is the reason the people brought out the palm branches expecting another deliverance like with the Maccabees. And no they did not turn against Jesus a week later.  They were just quickly silenced like a Trump supporter.  The court area of those who cried “Crucify Him!” was filled with paid agitators, egged on by the chief priest and his supporters.  The court where Pilate stood was pretty small and the only ones who were allowed to enter were those approved by the Chief Priest. Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ had it right showing guards turning the true supporters of Jesus away.  It was what we call today a Kangaroo court. The Jews hated capital punishment and the Talmud is filled with so many legal obstructions to the laws of capital punishment that it became virtually impossible to execute someone under Jewish law.  Hence the crime of treason had to be leveled against Jesus to get Him executed by the Romans, which, oddly enough the triumphal entry proved to be perfect evidence of treason.  I won’t put it past the chief priest to have staged the whole thing to build a case of treason against Jesus and ironically used the people’s adoration of Him to do it. 

Most incriminating evidence came not only from the palm branches reflecting liberation but also from the shout of Hosanna.  You will probably learn from your preacher or priest that Hosanna is a proclamation of praise.  That is confusing Hosanna with Hallelujah, although colloquially it can mean praise. But to the first century Jews is meant something else.  Bible scholars believe the word was taken from Psalm 118:25 and people were actually quoting this Psalm. The first word is hoshi’ah which means save now. This comes from the root word yasha’ where you get the name yeshua , Joshua or Jesus. It means salvation.  However, to the mind of the first century Jew salvation did not indicate a spiritual matter but a political matter. All throughout the Old Testament, it talks of being saved and salvation and we Christians simply related it to getting saved or born again when in the mind of the writer it meant deliverance from a foreign enemy. 

To those who are members of our All Access and attend our online Hebrew class,s we learned last week about the Hiphal stem.  This word yasha’ is prefixed with a Hei or h which indicates the Hiphal stem and makes it is causative. Yasha’ means to be delivered, rescue or save.  Hence it means “do something to bring about our deliverance.”  The Hei at the end with the yod at the beginning could indicate one of two things. It is either in an imperfect form which would render it as “you will deliver us” or as most translators believe as I do that the Hei is a paragogic Hei which is an intensifier, thus: “Save us now.”   The word is really a compound word. yehsaha and anna. The internet calls anna as a plea or please.  This is not entirely correct. It comes from the root word ani or anah which means to answer or respond. It can be taken as a plea expressing a strong desire for an answer as “please respond.”  

Put together Hosanna would translate out as “Please answer our prayer for deliverance.” Of course: “Save now” also works.