J. Duncan M. Derrett 128 ∆Apostelei' comes from Is 32,20 mes#aleh≥ey regel, not indicating so much immediacy (Bengel) as prophecy. Mk 4,29 (q.v.) illustrates the for- mer, not the latter. The righteous, when called upon, will send the ass. They do not fear for it. If it miscarries 39, it is all in a good cause - it is doing the work for which it was created. 5. The Solution40 Palin is an intrusion derived from a misunderstanding. Jesus tenders v no inducement to the custodian(s), no misrepresentation. He predicts that when they hear the Master is in need they will not hinder his disci- ples’ initiative. People can be presumed to know that a tied-up colt (pwlon dedemevnon 11,2) was to be the Messiah’s mount from as far back ' as Gen 49,10-11 41: «Until Shiloh come; And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be. Binding his foal to the vine, and his ass’s colt to the choice vine». The LXX renders both ‘ i$ro$, his foal, and beni$ ’ atono$, his colt, with pwlon, another example of exergasia, for it is one animal only. The bind- ' ing of the foal is noted by Mark with his tiv poiei'te luvonte~ ton pw''lon ; at 11,5 42. Targum Onqelos speaks of the Messiah and of his people’s building the Temple, with righteousness round about him and doers of the Law through his doctrine. The pseudo-Jonathan Targum speaks of the Messiah who girds his loins and arrays the battle against his adversaries. Improbably the ass is his war-horse, as it were. He cannot look at any- thing unclean... The Neofiti Targum is similarly un-Christian. The frag- mentary Targum says the king Messiah will bind his loins and go forth to war against those that hate him. The targumic evidence is no doubt the 39 Mishna at B.M. 98a-b. 40 I am at variance with Vincent Taylor, Mark (London, 1952), 454-455. I acknowl- edge a letter (24.09.98) from Prof. J. K. Elliott (Leeds), who drew my attention to C.H. Turner’s opinion that the clause «and he will at once send it back here» was part of the disciples’ message. See J.K. Elliott (ed.) The Language and Style of the Gospel of Mark (Leiden, 1993), 111ff. Turner concurs with the conventional understanding of the pas- sage, in which the infaustum palin is taken for granted. v 41 Justin, Apol. 32,6. b. Sanh. 98b. Midr. R. Gen 98.9, 99.8. (Sonc. 957, 983). b. Ber. 56b-57a (Sonc. 350). Pesiqta Rabbati 33.13 (trans. Braude II, 659 [49,12]). Strack- Billerbeck, I, 842 (ad Mt 21,5); IV/1, 877. Pesch, Markus II, 179. J. Blenkinsopp, «The ora- cles of Judah and the messianic Entry», JBL 80, 1981, 55-64; Harvey, Constraints, 124 n.18. 42 Luonte~ significant as it shows they drew the animal and so accepted liability in v regard to it. b. B.M. 94b (Sonc. 544); m. B.M. VIII.3; b. B.M. 98b-99a. Maimonides, ubi cit. i,5 (trans. 53); iii.1-3 (trans. 58-60).