What is the significance of the donkey Jesus rode on Palm Sunday? I'm working on different symbols of Palm Sunday. Has anyone done work on the significance of the donkey Jesus rode on?
Yair Zakovitch, as cited by Bruce Feiler in Abraham, page 89, has considered the significance of the donkey. He explains:


  Look, the Gospels are a very good piece of Jewish literature, and they understand that one cannot have a messianic leader who is not Davidic.  If you want to convince the Jews that Jesus is the one, he has to be linked with David.  He has to fulfill the prophecies.  A messiah king has to be born in Bethlehem, he has to come to Jerusalem.  Sure enough, when Jesus enters Jerusalem he enters on a donkey, because that's what we read in Zechariah 9.