John 12:13

ἐκραύγαζον for ἔκραζον (from Matt. and Mark) with אBDLQ against A.

13. τὰ βαΐα τῶν φ. Literally, the palm-branches of the palm-trees; i.e. those which grew there, or which were commonly used at festivals. Βαῑ̔ον (here only) means a palm-branch, apparently of Coptic origin. S. Matthew (Matthew 21:8) has κλάδους�. δένδρων; S. Mark (Mark 11:8) στιβάδας ἐκ τ. δ. As often, it is S. John who is the most precise. Comp. Simon’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem (1Ma 13:51). The palm-tree was regarded by the ancients as characteristic of Palestine. ‘Phœnicia’ (Acts 11:19; Acts 15:3) is probably derived from φοίνιξ. The tree is now comparatively rare, except in the Philistine plain: at ‘Jericho, the city of palm-trees’ (Deuteronomy 34:3; 2 Chronicles 28:15) there is not one. For κραυγάζω see on John 18:40.

Ὡσαννά. This is evidence that the writer of this Gospel knows Hebrew. see on John 6:45. In the LXX. at Ps. 117:25 we have a translation of the Hebrew, σῶσον δή, ‘save we pray,’ not a transliteration as here. (Comp. ‘Alleluia’ in Revelation 19:1; Revelation 19:6). This Psalm was sung both at the F. of Tabernacles and also at the Passover, and would be very familiar to the people. It is said by some to have been written for the F. of Tabernacles after the return from captivity, by others for the founding or dedicating of the second Temple. It was regarded as Messianic, and both the Psalm and the palm-branches seem to imply a welcoming of the Messiah. In what follows the better reading gives Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. The cry of the multitude was of course not always the same, and the different Evangelists give us different forms of it.