In Matthew 21:1-3 we know that Jerusalem was bulging with people, some 2 million there to celebrate “Passover.” 1500 years earlier, God used His servant Moses to deliver the Israelites from the slavery of the Egyptians. Nine plagues were released by the hand of God, and each time pharaoh hardened his heart. The 10th plague was announced, “the death of the firstborn” from every house. The only way of escape was to slaughter a lamb and mark the top and bottom of the door of each house.
Now, 1500 years later, Jesus comes not quietly as He always had done. No, this time He stages an event! Matthew as well as the other gospel writers are very specific as to the details of Jesus’ entry into the city and the events that follow.
Matthew tells us that as they came near to Jerusalem, they did so by coming on a route that led them by a village called “Bethphage,” or house of figs, where Jesus sent two of His disciples to get the donkey and its colt. What is interesting is that the location of Bethphage is the route a person would take if they entered the temple through the main gate.
You would enter the city through the water gate and then the temple through the main gate. Previously, as Jesus went into the temple, it is believed that He always went in through the “sheep gate” at the opposite end of the temple. Not this time.
Then there is, if you read the other accounts of this, a belief that Jesus actually entered the city three straight days, each time staying with the disciples outside the city in a village called Bethany with the twelve.
Here is the triumphal entry He rides in, and Mark 11:11 tells us that “Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.” That would have been on Saturday, which was the Sabbath, and there were no money changers in the temple. Interesting as He goes into the temple the first time it is the Sabbath and the only ones at the temple would have been the priests. So Jesus shows that He is the Great High Priest.
Then the next day He again goes into the temple on Sunday, which was the first day of the week, Matt. 21:12–13. That is the day He cleanses the temple and restores it. It is that day that we see Him enter the temple as the King with authority.
Lastly, on Monday, Luke 19:41 records for us the fact that He again goes into the city, wept over it, and again cleanses the temple. This time He appears as a prophet.