Old David, his mule, Good Friday, and the Cross. Do you see the connection, or is there any?
Let’s take a slower look at each one to see if we spot any connection.
First, old David. We remember him as the dashing young man who was the giant slayer, king, and warrior. But, alas, he did eventually become old. In fact, as an older man he could no longer fight in those dangerous battles that sometimes engulfed Israel. His men implored him to stay back and let them fight lest he die in battle. 2 Samuel 18:3 says they reasoned: Even if half of us die, they won’t care; but you are worth ten thousand of us. It would be better now for you to support us from the city.
Then, there is David’s mule. David could no longer ride a prancing stallion in a street parade. He adopted a mule. It was slower. The mule is not mentioned in the Bible very much until David’s older days. It is the hybrid offspring of a female donkey and a stallion. Mules don’t go into heat and can plow beside mares with no attraction if she goes into heat. David’s mule is famous from 1 Kings chapter one. Its role is described below.
When David got too old to rule his kingdom well, it was time to appoint one of his sons to replace him. He believed that God wanted Solomon to be king and swore it to Solomon’s mother, the famous Bathsheba, with whom he had once had an affair. He ordered in 1 Kings 1 that his personal mule be ridden by Solomon in an official parade to declare that Solomon would be his successor as king of Israel, thus proclaiming the rightful ruler. THE KINGLY FATHER AUTHENTICATES THE RIGHTFUL PRINCE TO REIGN. Could this be the purpose of Good Friday?
The people watching the King Solomon parade got so excited that their shouts reverberated throughout the city. There were some people in town who were currently having a usurpers meeting to plan to take over the kingdom now that David was old. They heard the shouts and found out that the king-appointed prince was having a parade to let the people know that he was the king’s choice to replace him. Oops!! The usurpers got very nervous for their own heads! Their meeting ended abruptly. The main one there was another of David’s sons, Adonijah, who planned to take over his own father’s throne. They chose ways to appeal their cases: one clung to the altar, and the guilty prince promised allegiance to his brother, Solomon, and pled for mercy to the queen mother.
Now, Good Friday. Why did God have a Friday parade (what we now call “Good Friday”) in the crucifixion story? Does it fit the narrative? Could this be another way for God to speak from heaven that “this is my Son”? Maybe Jesus needed extra affirmation shortly before he suffered. David affirmed Solomon; God affirmed Jesus. His [God’s] Son was about to accomplish the culmination of the ages, buying back a captured humanity with the ransom payment of His own blood. He came to give His life as a ransom for many. What a wonderful Savior! This heroic feat was too holy to be spoken of fleetingly here. See “The Cross” below.
What about the animal? We know that it was a male and was not “broken in.” No one had ever ridden upon it before; the King of kings was in charge and did not fear. It was the offspring of Mrs. Donkey; it was either a mule or another donkey. In Romance languages, it carries a masculine article.
G. K. Chesterton considered it a donkey and wrote a famous poem about it, reprinted in many secular literature books. He called it “The Donkey.”
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil’s walking parody
Of all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
Could the animal have been a mule? We are never told. The “foal” of an ass (Mrs. Donkey) could have been either a mule or another ass (donkey). Some commentaries say that Jesus rode two animals since it mentions the mother and her foal. But that doesn’t make sense. It seems that the foal was still so young that it still “hung out” with its mom. Jesus told his men that they would find a Mrs. Donkey with her young. They brought both of them to Jesus. It was easy to lead both of them. Junior went everywhere that Mom went. If it was a mule, it would remind us of the 1 Kings 1 story when the Father (God) vindicated His son, Jesus.
The shouts of the people on the original “Good Friday” also brought attention to what was happening. The angry Jewish leaders wanted Jesus to make the people stop praising him. He told them that if they stopped praising Him, the rocks would cry out.
The Cross. The sacrificial, heroic feat accomplished by Jesus at Calvary was too magnificent not to be acclaimed by thousands upon thousands of hymns. Songs like “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “At the Cross” just begin to tell us what happened there. Modern poets like Keith and Krystin Geddy today prick our dull consciences with their powerful lyrics like lines from “This the Power of the Cross” and “In Christ Alone.” Hymns from every generation and clime and language have spoken of what He accomplished at the cross. Of course, thousands have been lost in time, though never forgotten in heaven.
Maybe there is a connection after all!