“the King of Israel” = as Nathanael called him(1:49), a messianic title. Notice that he allows them to greet him this way (Lu 19:38-40), even though he prevented it a year before in Galilee(Joh 6:14-15). Interestingly enough, “It was this public acclamation of Jesus as King of Israel or King of the Jews which was the foundation of the charge made against him before Pilate (18:33)” (Bernard).

John 1:49  Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”

Luke 19:38-40  “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”  “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

John 6:14-15  After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”  Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

John 18:33  Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

The Messiah was recognized by Martha and John the Baptist as “the Coming One” (John 11:27, Mt 11:3).

John 11:27  “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

Matthew 11:3  to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

“Hosanna” = is a transliteration of a Hebrew and Aramaic expression meaning “save” or “save, I pray”.

The crowd is expressing praise to Jesus. These clips of what they were saying are partly based upon and partly taken from (Psalm 118), particularly verses 25-26. Note the context of the whole psalm, which speaks of salvation through the Messiah.

Psalms 118:25-26  O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you.

The shouting is started by the crowd coming from Jerusalem, so the disciples had nothing to do with starting this event.

The palm branch is emblematic of triumph and victory (Le 23:40, Re 7:9). See also #/APC 1Ma 13.51 and #/APC 2Ma 10.7. Also note the following quote: “if a man takes palm tree branches in his hands, we know that he is victorious.”  (Vajikra Rabba, sect. 30. fol. 170. 3 qt’d in Gill). The palm frond is also found on Jewish coins from 140 B.C. – A.D.70 with the inscription “the redemption of Zion”. Palms were an emblem of victory and the significance of their use here is the victory of the Messiah, not in the way the people forsee, but certainly in the manner God desires.

Leviticus 23:40  On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

Revelation 7:9  After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

1 Maccabees 13:51  And entered into it the three and twentieth day of the second month in the hundred seventy and first year, with thanksgiving, and branches of palm trees, and with harps, and cymbals, and with viols, and hymns, and songs: because there was destroyed a great enemy out of Israel.

2 Maccabees 10:7  Therefore they bare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms unto him that had given them good success in cleansing his place.

“It has been the custom of all lands to bestrew in some manner the pathway of those who are thought worthy of the highest honor. When Lafayette visited our fathers after the Revolution, the roads over which he approached our cities were strewn with flowers. Thus over flowers Alexander entered Babylon, and Xerxes crossed the bridge of the Hellespont over a myrtle-strewn pathway. Monier tells of a Persian ruler who in modern times made his honored progress over a road for three miles covered with roses. But it is more natural to contrast the entry of Jesus with the Roman triumphs so popular in that day. The wealth of conquered kingdoms was expended to insure their magnificence. We find none of that tinsel and specious glitter in the triumph of Christ. No hired multitudes applaud him; no gold-broidered banners wave in his honor. There is nothing here but the lusty, honest shout of the common people, and the swaying of the God-made banners of the royal palms. The rich in purse, the learned in schoolcraft and the high in office were, as usual, not there (1Co 1:26).” (McGarvey commenting on Mark 11:8)

1 Corinthians 1:26  Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

If the crowd had not gotten so excited that they started praising Jesus, the rocks would have done it (Luke 19:40). Edersheim makes the observation that “It would have been so in that day of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. And it has been so ever since. Silence has fallen these many centuries upon Israel; but the very stones of Jerusalem’s ruin and desolateness have cried out that He, Whom in their silence they rejected, has come as King in the Name of the Lord.”

Luke 19:40  “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”