He thus traversed Galilee in the midst of a continual feast.  He rode on a mule.  In the East this is a good and safe mode of traveling; the large, black eyes of the animal, shaded by long eyelashes, give it an expression of gentleness.  His disciples sometimes surrounded him with a kind of rustic pomp, at the expense of their garments, which they used as carpets.  They placed them on the mule which carried him, or extended them on the earth in his path.[1] His entering a house was considered a joy and a blessing.  He stopped in the villages and the large farms, where he received an eager hospitality.  In the East, the house into which a stranger enters becomes at once a public place.  All the village assembles there, the children invade it, and though dispersed by the servants, always return.  Jesus could not permit these simple auditors to be treated harshly; he caused them to be brought to him and embraced them.[2] The mothers, encouraged by such a reception, brought him their children in order that he might touch them.[3] Women came to pour oil upon his head, and perfume on his feet.  His disciples sometimes repulsed them as troublesome; but Jesus, who loved the ancient usages, and all that indicated simplicity of heart, repaired the ill done by his too zealous friends.  He protected those who wished to honor him.[4] Thus children and women adored him.  The reproach of alienating from their families these gentle creatures, always easily misled, was one of the most frequent charges of his enemies.[5]

[Footnote 1:  Matt. xxi. 7, 8.]

[Footnote 2:  Matt. xix. 13, and following; Mark ix. 35, x. 13, and following; Luke xviii. 15, 16.]

[Footnote 3:  Ibid.]

[Footnote 4:  Matt. xxvi. 7, and following; Mark xiv. 3, and following; Luke vii. 37, and following.]

[Footnote 5:  Gospel of Marcion, addition to ver. 2 of chap. xxiii. of Luke (Epiph., Adv.  Haer., xlii. 11).  If the suppressions of Marcion are without critical value, such is not the case with his additions, when they proceed, not from a special view, but from the condition of the manuscripts which he used.]

The new religion was thus in many respects a movement of women and children.  The latter were like a young guard around Jesus for the inauguration of his innocent royalty, and gave him little ovations which much pleased him, calling him “son of David,” crying Hosanna,[1] and bearing palms around him.  Jesus, like Savonarola, perhaps made them serve as instruments for pious missions; he was very glad to see these young apostles, who did not compromise him, rush into the front and give him titles which he dared not take himself.  He let them speak, and when he was asked if he heard, he replied in an evasive manner that the praise which comes from young lips is the most agreeable to God.[2]

[Footnote 1:  A cry which was raised at the feast of tabernacles, amidst the waving of palms.  Mishnah, Sukka, iii. 9.  This custom still exists among the Israelites.]