If one keep this situation in view, it will be seen that the bystanders could in no way get the idea that Jesus here welcomes a messianic [pg 161] acclaim. This, however, was the first sign which he again performed after coming out of his retirement. Thereby he legitimated himself before the Paschal caravan as the Forerunner, for which his adherents in Galilee took him before he suddenly withdrew into solitude in the north. Now the demonstration is let loose, and they prepare for him as the Forerunner the ovation at the entrance into Jerusalem. In demonstrating the proper character of this occurrence one has to deal with apparently insignificant detail to which not everyone may be inclined to ascribe due importance. In view of this the following points are to be kept in mind: 1. In the representation which assumes the messiahship of Jesus there must come about as of itself a shifting of detail which has the effect of describing a messianic entrance. This is the case with Matthew. There is no evidence of a deliberate purpose on the part of the writer. 2. Mark’s delineation shows such originality in comparison with the parallels (one has but to think of the story of the Baptism and the report of the Last Supper) that one cannot easily lay too great weight upon the peculiarity [pg 162] of his account,—especially when it results in so clear and consistent a picture as is here the case. 3. Nothing is accomplished by the assertion that proof has not been brought that it was assuredly a question of an ovation to the Forerunner. For then it remains to demonstrate how it was, that, on the presumption that it was actually an ovation to the Messiah, the transactions in the Jerusalem days make no allusion at all to the presumed messianic pretension and the venal accusers do not appeal to any such claims. What must the Roman procurator have done if a man had marched into the city hailed by the populace as the Son of David? 4. The true historical apprehension is peculiarly difficult for us here because of our notion that the signs and wonders were regarded by the contemporaries as a confirmation of the messiahship of Jesus. In that opinion we share the standpoint upon which the Johannine representation is based. According to the conception of Jesus’ contemporaries, however, the Messiah needs no signs, but rather he will be at once manifest in his power! The signs belong on the contrary to the period of the Forerunner! 5. Our translation also has a prejudicial [pg 163] effect. The word _ἐρχόμενοζ_ denotes in all passages a personality sharply defined for that time. Hence one must in every case translate it in accord with this perception,—not one time as a substantive [cf. the German Bible] and again (in the story of the ovation) as a verb-form, just as happens to be most convenient. “The Coming One” is the Forerunner, because before the messianic judgment he is to come in the name of God to put everything in order.