COLT (Heb. עַ֫יִר, H6555, Gr. πῶλος, G4798, colt, foal). The term “colt” is applied in the Bible a number of times to a young ass and once to a young camel (Gen 32:15). Outside the Bible it is always applied to a young horse. In the account of Jacob blessing his sons, Judah is spoken of as “binding his foal to the vine and his ass’s colt to the choice vine” (Gen 49:11). Jair, one of the judges, is said to have had thirty sons who rode on thirty ass colts (Judg 10:4). Job speaks of “a wild ass’s colt” (Job 11:12). Isaiah describes asses as beasts of burden and as used in farming (Isa 30:6, 24).

The most important reference to an ass colt is in Zechariah 9:9, predicting the coming of Israel’s king to Jerusalem riding on a colt, the foal of an ass. This Scripture is quoted by both Matthew and John in their accounts of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. All four gospels record this important event and the fact that Jesus rode on an ass’s colt on that occasion (Matt 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19). The synoptic gospels tell how Jesus directed two of His disciples to obtain the colt. Matthew alone records that they brought both the colt and its mother (Matt 21:7). Jesus’ actions seem to be a deliberate fulfillment on His part of the Messianic prophecy. The choice of an ass rather than a horse seems to have been because the former was regarded as an animal of peace, while the latter was used for war. Furthermore, in Pal. the ass was the domestic animal most frequently used for riding. Hence Jesus’ use of it was also an evidence of His humility.