Another historical issue is the story that, just before Passover, Jesus decided to ride in on an ass to the Temple, and the Jews were waving palm branches and shouting "hoshanah" and the storyteller is speaking as though they were waving at Jesus.
That would be about this time of year, and if you check out the palm trees, they aren't really blooming that well yet. There is a holiday, about 6 months from now called "Sukkot", where the religious Jews will be buying palm branches and join them with 2 other species (plus a fruit called an "etrog") and will wave them every morning, for a week (except on Shabbat), and cry out "hoshannah...(some praise to God)...hoshannah. Hoshannah...(a different praise to God)...hoshannah...etc."
Except that this doesn't happen until the fall.
On the last day of the holilday, after all of the "hoshannahs" the Jews wack the willow part of the item on the ground (some weird reason that nobody knows why. Probably having to do with evil spirits and there is an embarassment about that, so we just keep mum), and then the pamls branches are tossed away.
My guess is that someone heard of this tradition, and tossed it into the story without any concern for spring or autumn. And had Jesus rode into the middle of all of these "hoshannahs" and said "thank you, thank you" the Jews would have looked at him and said "Hey buddy! Move out of the way! Can't you see we are waving here?!"
That's the problem with Messiahs. They think it's all about them!
![[Image: esrog_setup.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.jewishaustralia.com%2Fesrog_setup.jpg)
That would be about this time of year, and if you check out the palm trees, they aren't really blooming that well yet. There is a holiday, about 6 months from now called "Sukkot", where the religious Jews will be buying palm branches and join them with 2 other species (plus a fruit called an "etrog") and will wave them every morning, for a week (except on Shabbat), and cry out "hoshannah...(some praise to God)...hoshannah. Hoshannah...(a different praise to God)...hoshannah...etc."
Except that this doesn't happen until the fall.
On the last day of the holilday, after all of the "hoshannahs" the Jews wack the willow part of the item on the ground (some weird reason that nobody knows why. Probably having to do with evil spirits and there is an embarassment about that, so we just keep mum), and then the pamls branches are tossed away.
My guess is that someone heard of this tradition, and tossed it into the story without any concern for spring or autumn. And had Jesus rode into the middle of all of these "hoshannahs" and said "thank you, thank you" the Jews would have looked at him and said "Hey buddy! Move out of the way! Can't you see we are waving here?!"
That's the problem with Messiahs. They think it's all about them!
“I've done everything the Bible says — even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!"— Ned Flanders
