“Riding on a donkey”
See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A humble or even comical image of a king on a little donkey.
The cultural key
The mount is the message. In the ancient world a king going to war rode a horse or a war-chariot, the tank of the age; a king riding a donkey was coming in peace, on the animal of ordinary travel and of peaceful royal processions (Solomon rode a mule to his coronation). So Zechariah's promised king is a study in deliberate contrast: he is 'righteous and victorious', a true conquering king, yet he comes 'humble and riding on a donkey,' announcing that his reign brings not more war but peace (the next verse: 'He will proclaim peace to the nations'). This is precisely the scene Jesus stages on Palm Sunday, deliberately riding a donkey into Jerusalem to enact this prophecy and declare what kind of king he is. A modern reader may find the donkey humble or quaint; the first hearers saw a king pointedly refusing the warhorse and coming in peace.
Recovered meaning
Kings rode warhorses to battle and donkeys in peace, so a victorious king on a donkey signals that his reign brings peace, not conquest. Jesus deliberately fulfills this image riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.