“Hosannah in the highest” — One Phrase With Many Prophetic Meanings

Matthew 21:9, Hosannah in the highest. The simple Hebrew phrase hoshana rabbah has more depth and spiritual significance than first meets the eye. Let’s explore it.

First of all, it was this phrase—hosanna in the highest—(Heb. hoshana rabbah) that the crowds of Jews exclaimed as Yeshua entered Jerusalem riding a colt in Matthew 21:9 (also Mark 11:9; Luke 19:38). This event has become known as Yeshua’s “Triumphal Entry.”

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The phrase hoshana rabbah, in part, derives from Psalm 118:25, a psalm which is called the Great Hallel (Heb. meaning “praise”), and was the climax of a series of psalms that the priests would proclaim or sing from the temple in Jerusalem on various feast days including the Feast of Tabernacles.

Psalm 118 is a prophetic psalm, which speaks of the coming Messiah who was the hope of the Israelite people. The words of this psalm prophetically points to Yeshua the Messiah in every way. That’s why the crowds proclaimed “hoshana in the highest, ” at Yeshua’s entry into Jerusalem, for upon him, they had pinned their highest hopes of a Messianic figure who would deliverer them from their oppressors (in this case, the Romans).

The actual Hebrew words in Psalm 118:25 are ana YHVH hoshiah na, which can be translated as “I beg you YHVH save now,” (Green’s Interlinear), “Save now, I pray, O YHVH” (KJV), or “O [YHVH], please save us!” (The ArtScroll Stone Edition Tanach).

The phrase “Hosanna in the highest” was an added exclamation of the people, and is not Continue reading