Note 61 — Chapter X · THE TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS, AND HIS LAST JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM.
George Eliot translation
That the above motive will not suffice to explain the conduct of Jesus, Paulus has also felt; for only the despair on his part of finding a more real and special motive, can account for his becoming in this solitary instance mystical, and embracing the explanation of Justin Martyr, whom he elsewhere invariably attacks, as the author of the perverted ecclesiastical interpretations of the Bible. According to Justin, the ass designated ὑποζύγιον (that is under the yoke), is a symbol of the Jews; the ass never yet ridden, of the Gentiles (Dial. c. Tryph. 53); and Paulus, adopting this idea, endeavours to make it probable that Jesus, by mounting an animal which had never before been ridden, intended to announce himself as the founder and ruler of a new religious community. Exeg. Handb. 3, a, s. 116 ff. ↑