The Ass & The Onager
Part 4 - Scripture & Legend
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
On 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.
- The Donkey by G. K. Chesterton
Section 6 - The Ass in Scripture
In addition to representing nobility and absurdity, the ass is usually a symbol of judgement in Scripture. Generally, whoever is riding the ass has come as a Judge, and is a type of Christ. I will go through some examples found in the Old and New Testaments. Keep the theme of Judgement in mind.
As told in the beginning of this series, Balaam (Numbers 22:21-35) is riding an ass on his way to curse the Isrealites. The donkey, possibly due to its nobility, possibly due to its humility, perceived the Angel of the Lord long before Balaam. In the Christian Middle Ages, this story came to represent the stupidity and pride of humans. Balaam, being a kind of Anti-Christ, was riding on a donkey to to curse (judge) Israel.
The Catholic Encyclopedia states that asses are mentioned over 130 times in Scripture. It goes on to say that asses, specifically white asses, were more rare and were reserved for the use of the nobles. As I explained in a previous post, the East had a higher view of the donkey than the West. Eastern breeds tended to be larger and finer. They were used as mounts both by the common people and those of the highest rank.
The Book of Judges references asses as the mounts of princes multiple times. Deborah sings in Judges 5:10, “Those who ride on white donkeys, seated on saddle rugs, and those who travel the road.” Charbonneau-Lassay uses this translation: “Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgement, and walk by the way.”
Judges 10:3-4 states, “Jair the Gileadite came after him and judged Israel twenty-two years. He had thirty sons, who rode on thirty donkeys and possessed thirty cities in the land of Gilead (these are called Havvoth-jair to the present day).”
Judges 12:13-14 says, “After him Adbon, son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, judged Israel. He had forty sons and thiry grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years.” The number seventy is also significant in that it represents perfect spiritual order and judgement.
One of the strangest and most famous passages in the book of Judges that involved a donkey is the story of Samson (Judges 15:14-20). Samson, the last of the Judges, had been captured by the Philistines who had brought him bond in cords to the rock, Etam.
“Now when he was come to the place of the Jawbone, and the Philistines shouting went to meet him, the spirit of the Lord came strongly upon him: and as the flax is wont to be consumed at the approach of fire, so the bands with which he was bound were broken and loosed. And finding a jawbone, even the jawbone of an ass which lay there, catching it up, he slew therewith a thousand men.
And he said: With the jawbone of an ass, with the jaw of the colt of asses I have destroyed them, and have slain a thousand men. And when he had ended these words singing, he threw the jawbone out of his hand, and called the name of that place Ramathlechi, which is interpreted the lifting up of the jawbone. And being very thirsty, he cried to the Lord, and said: Thou hast given this very great deliverance and victory into the hand of thy servant: and behold I die for thirst, and shall fall into the hands of the uncircumcised. Then the Lord opened a great tooth in the jaw of the ass, and waters issued out of it. And when he had drank them he refreshed his spirit, and recovered his strength. Therefore the name of that place was called, The Spring of him that invoked from the jawbone, until this present day. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.”
This is a very strange passage indeed. Instead of riding on an ass, Samson uses the jawbone of an ass and a colt to kill his enemies. This is striking, not only because of the strangeness, but because Samson was a Nazarite, which requires taking a vow not to touch anything unclean including the carcasses of animals. Samson actually breaks every one of his Nazarite vows, but that is not the focus of this post.
I don’t have an explanation for this passage in Scripture, but it is interesting to note the parallels to Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. Both an ass and a colt are mentioned, and Samson thirsts like Christ on the Cross. He cries out to the Lord to be delivered from the hands of the uncircumcised, as Jesus was handed over to the Romans. It is interesting that it is the jawbone of the ass (instead of, for instance, the femur or pelvis), which could be linked to speech and a possible connection to Balaam’s donkey.
I would love to hear from readers if they have a symbolic interpretation of this passage from the story of Samson!
The final Old Testament reference I will mention is that in the Mosaic Law, the ass is the only animal whose first born can be ransomed at birth by the sacrifice of a lamb. Exodus 13:13 states: “But every first-born donkey you will redeem with a lamb or kid; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. All the human first-born, however, among your sons, you will redeem.” By sacrificing a lamb or kid to God, the Israelites could redeem their first born asses.
It boggles my mind to think that donkeys could have such a high place in Scripture!
Now, I will switch my focus from the Old to the New Testament.
Donkeys are often associated with carrying Christ (Christ bearers!), though there is only one explicitly mentioned in the Gospels. If we consider the patterns of the donkey, that of both divine nobility and lowly humility, as well as judgement, we can begin to see why Christ has often been shown with one in Christian tradition.
We all know the image of Joseph and a pregnant Mary trying to find an inn to deliver the Christ Child. Mary is often shown riding a donkey with Joseph leading. The detail of the donkey is not in the canonical Gospels but is described in the 2nd century Protoevangelium of James.
The donkey is also usually depicted in nativity scenes but is not explicitly mentioned in the Gospels. The tradition of including donkeys and oxen in nativity scenes comes from the apocryphal gospel of Pseudo-Matthew who references the verse, Isaiah (1:3) “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.”
In Matthew’s Gospel, the Holy Family needed to flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s massacre of all boys under two years of age. This event, called the Flight Into Egypt, is also often depicted with a donkey, but no donkey is mentioned in the text. However, Mary hiding her colt, Jesus, from the wrath of the wild onager, Herod, displays the pattern of the onager nicely.
Finally, one of the most famous passages in the New Testament, Christ’s Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem, otherwise known as Palm Sunday, explicitly mentions a female ass and her colt. “When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it, you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here.’” (Mark 11:1-2)
The Grand Medieval Bestiary points out that while the Gospel of John makes it seem like the finding them was random chance (it wasn’t), the 3 synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, mention Christ sending two disciples to specifically find them. The presence of the donkey fulfills the prophecy in Zachariah (9:9): “Behold thy King will come to thee…he is poor and riding upon an ass.”
Remember, a colt is an uncastrated male donkey under 4 years old. The colt is complete, whole, and untouched. It has not lost its generative organ so it is capable of bringing forth life. Christ has come riding the donkey to bring judgement upon Jerusalem and new life. Taylor Marhsall made the connection to Jehu and Christ chasing out the money changers in the Temple: “King Jehu rode into Samaria (a kind of false Jerusalem) over the garments of his adherents in order to destroy the temple of the false god Baal (2 Kgs 9:11-10:28). One of the first things Christ does upon entering Jerusalem is bring judgment to the Temple which has become a den of thieves.”
Why did Christ ride both an ass and her colt? The gospels have varying accounts on what Christ rode on. Both Matthew’s and John’s gospels mention finding the ass and her colt, while Mark and Luke only mention the colt. Did Christ ride on both at the same time?
This essay from The New Theological Movement has an explanation by way of Cornelius Lapide, SJ:
“Fr. Cornelius a’ Lapide thinks it reasonable to conclude that Christ rode upon both the ass and the colt, though of course not at the same time but in succession. The Jesuit scholar states that it is most likely that the Savior rode the ass down the Mount of Olives and up the hill to the entrance of Jerusalem, but that, when he entered the Holy City, he sat upon the colt.
The primary reason Fr. Cornelius gives for this transitioning between the two beasts is that “the colt perchance was not strong enough to bear a rider in the descent and ascent of the mountain.” The colt, of course, was smaller than the ass (being its foal) and therefore was likely too weak to carry the Christ.
On the other hand, “the ass was not so becoming for the entry into the city.” Therefore, the Lord sat upon the ass’ colt when he came to the City itself. And this is corroborated by the other Gospels which specify that the animal upon which the Savior sat as he came into Jerusalem was a colt.”
The author goes on to elaborate Lapide’s allegorical interpretation:
“The Gentiles are mystically signified by the colt, while the Jews are represented by the ass. According to Lapide, the Lord begins by riding upon the ass, but enters Jerusalem upon the colt; for the Gentiles would be the first to receive Christ as their King, although the Jews were the first to receive the Promise. Still, the ass too is led into the Holy City by the Good Jesus, for all Israel will be saved (cf. Romans 11:26).”
It is also worth noting that in many icons of the Entry into Jerusalem, including the one above, Christ is riding a white ass. As I mentioned above, white asses were more rare and reserved for those of high rank and status.
Section 7 - Legends of the Ass
Charbonneau-Lassay recounts multiple legends related to the donkey and the Crucifixion.
“Simple Christians have had no difficulty in making the ass a sympathetic emblem of Christ, and have warmly honored the donkey of the Bethlehem stable, the mount of the journey to Egypt, and the she-ass and her foal of the triumph of the Day of Palms. Very ancient legends in France, Spain, and Italy, tell how the Savior rewarded the latter by allowing their offspring to become that kind of gray donkey that has two lines of dark hair in the form of a cross on its back and shoulders.
In the tradition of our western French provinces, the gray ass marked with the long, dark dorsal cross is a symbol of the Savior carrying the cross of Calvary on his shoulders. Hungarian legends put a great strain on the gospel texts by claiming that the cruciform dorsal stripes on the gray ass were made by spurts of the divine blood at the scene of the Crucifixion.
It should be added, on the other side of the picture, that in certain parts of Ireland folk say that the donkey’ stripes are vestiges of the whiplashes that Jesus had to give his disobedient mount. Because of its historical role of carrying Christ, in some countries the ass has received the title of Christophore, Christ-Bearer, from which comes the name Christopher. The same name was given in very ancient times in these same places to holy men who maintained among their fellows the teaching and the spirit of Christ.”
In this passage, Charbonneau-Lassay refers to an image of St. Christopher with a donkey’s head. These images are more popularly known as dog-headed. The connection between the donkey and the dog is interesting here and I do not know how to explain it. However, the donkey being called “Christ-Bearer”, does make more sense than the dog.
The donkey is an unlikely symbol of God’s divine judgement. The Western world considers it a beast of absurdity, humility and stubbornness. The East considered it a noble beast of dignity, divinity and wealth. In my opinion, Christ unites both the humility and the nobility of the donkey in His entry into Jerusalem. He comes to bring Judgement and Redemption and call all of us to become Christ-Bearers.
To conclude this series, I will provide the story of Christ’s Entry Into Jerusalem otherwise known as Palm Sunday. Thank you for reading and please click the subscribe button. Make sure to also check out my podcast, I Might Believe in Faeries!
Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11):
“When they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them here to me. And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, ‘The master has need of them.’ Then he will send them at once.’
This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:
‘Say to daughter Zion, Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’
The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them. They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them, and he sat upon them. The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying:
‘Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.’
And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds replied, ‘This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.’”