Hosanna

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

HOSANNA ( הוֹשענא, Gr. ὡσαννά).—One of the Hebrew words which (like , Hallelujah, Sabbath, Sabaoth) have passed, transliterated and not translated, from the vocabulary of the Jewish to that of the Christian Church. In the NT it occurs only in three Gospels: in them it is found six times ( Matthew 21:9;  Matthew 21:15,  Mark 11:9-10,  John 12:13), but only in the history of our Lord’s triumphant entry to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and only as a vocal cry uttered, either by the palm-bearing multitude who met Him, or by the children who hailed Him thereafter in the Temple ( Matthew 21:15). Among the Jews, however, the word came to designate not alone the cry, but also the of palms, myrtle, or willow which on their joyous feast of Tabernacles, and especially on its seventh day, the people were accustomed—for the Law did not enjoin this ceremony—to carry in procession with the priests to the fountain of Shiloah and thence again to the Temple, where these ‘hosannas’ were piled up and beaten against the altar. It is only with ‘Hosanna’ as a cry that we are here concerned; but we cannot forget that when, in honour of our Lord, the multitude raised the cry, they ‘took branches of palm trees’ ( John 12:13) as well; and therefore, besides expounding the meaning of the cry, we must consider how a ceremony customary at the feast of Tabernacles came to be adopted, popularly, on an occasion when the worshippers were assembling at Jerusalem to celebrate a feast of a widely different character, that of the Passover.

Philologically, the word Hosanna is explained as a derivation from or contraction of  Psalms 118:25 (Heb.): ânnâ Jahweh hôshî‘âh-nnâ (‘I beseech thee, O Lord, save now’). This Psalm was sung, and this verse of it used as a refrain by the people, at the feast of Tabernacles; and the refrain was abbreviated, through constant popular repetition, into Hôshaʽnâ , just as the old Canaanitish cry Hoi Dod (= ‘Ho Adonis’) was turned into a common interjection, Hedad .

The vocal ‘Hosanna’ was used by the Jews at the feast of Tabernacles when the branches also were employed; and on this account it has been asserted by Mr. Lewis N. Dembitz (in the Jewish Encyc . vol. vi. p. 276, s.v. ‘Hoshana Rabbah’) that ‘the Gospels by a mistake place the custom in the season shortly before the Passover, instead of in the feast of Booths.’ To this it may be answered, (1) that, according to another writer in the same Encyclopedia , Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler (vol. vi. p. 272), Hosanna ‘became a popular cry used in solemn processions wherewith was connected the carrying of palm branches as described in  1 Maccabees 13:51 and  2 Maccabees 10:7.’ But (2) the procession in  1 Maccabees 13:51 was not at the feast of Tabernacles, which was kept on the 15th day of the 7th month ( Leviticus 23:34), but at a wholly different season, ‘on the three and twentieth day of the second month’; while the celebration in  2 Maccabees 10:7, though ‘the procession was after the manner of the feast of Tabernacles’ (v. 6), was somewhat later in the year. Thus there was historical and uninspired (for the Jews did not hold the Books of Maccabees to be inspired) precedent for the employment both of the palm-bearing and the shout on other suitable occasions besides the feast of Tabernacles. And (3) was not the occasion of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem one that must have seemed eminently suitable alike to His disciples who began it ( Luke 19:37) and to the candid ( Matthew 21:15) and grateful ( John 12:17) Israelites who joined them in the celebration of it? The Jews, we know, were accustomed to associate with the feast of Tabernacles the highest of those blessings which Messiah was to bring. It was as Messiah that Jesus now presented Himself. He had chosen to ride that day upon the ass’s colt, in accordance with Zechariah’s prophecy ( Zechariah 9:9), just on purpose to make an offer of Himself to Jerusalem as her promised King ( Matthew 21:4,  John 12:14). What, accordingly, would the people look for at His hands? What would they ask from Him? Salvation; but salvation not on its negative side alone, of deliverance, but on its positive side as well, of fruition. If the approaching feast of the Passover would remind them of the former, how their Egyptian oppressor had been smitten ( Exodus 12:29), it was the feast of Tabernacles which pre-eminently supplied illustrations of the latter: its branches and its booths were redolent of that first night of freedom which their fathers had enjoyed under the cool booths of Succoth ( Exodus 12:37). so refreshing after the dust and heat of the brickfield and the furnace. Both sides—the negative and the positive, the smiting and the booths—were in one chapter (Exodus 12): they could hardly remember the one without the other. The form, therefore, which the celebration of our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem is described by the Four Evangelists as assuming, is not such as to require us to suppose that they made a mistake in placing it at the season of the Passover. On the contrary, it was neither unprecedented nor unnatural; and the fact that it was not a legally prescribed but only a popular ceremony, left them quite free to use it when they thought fit. It is not as if the Evangelists had transferred the unleavened bread of the Passover to the Feast of Tabernacles.

Hosanna is rendered in both Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 (cf.  Psalms 118:25, whence it is taken) ‘Save now.’ The now is not here an adverb of time, but an interjection of entreaty, as in ‘Come now’: the word means ‘Oh! save’ ( Jewish Encyc .), or ‘Save, we beseech Thee.’ As given (1) absolutely, as in  Mark 11:9 and  John 12:13, the natural meaning of this would be an address to Christ, as Messiah, asking Him to bestow the salvation expected of Him; or, as our English hymn expresses it, ‘Bring near Thy great salvation.’ We can understand how, in this sense, ‘Hosanna’ should be followed by salutations or acclamations, ‘Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ( Psalms 118:26,  Matthew 21:9,  Mark 11:9), ‘Blessed is the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord’ ( Mark 11:10), or ‘Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord’ ( John 12:13). All the different forms may have been used, for there was a multitude of speakers. The sequence of the thoughts is natural: for if Jesus be once conceived of as able to save (either by His own power or by that of Him that sent Him), the next thing, obviously, for His people to do, after asking Him to exert His power in their behalf, is to rejoice that He has come, and to bless Him for coming.

But (2) it is not only in this absolute construction that the Evangelists use the word Hosanna . St. Matthew employs it with a dative, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ ( Matthew 21:9); and both St. Matthew and St. Mark give us ‘Hosanna in the highest.’ Both these variations have been censured by Dr. Kaufmann Kohler ( Jewish Encyc. l.e. supra ) as ‘corruptions of the original version’: the addition ‘in the highest,’ he declares to be ‘words which no longer give any sense.’ But in a connexion which seems to justify St. Matthew, the dative is used alike in the OT ( Psalms 3:8 ‘Salvation belongeth unto the Lord’) and in the NT in a passage based upon that Psalm ( Revelation 7:10 ‘Salvation unto our God; and unto the Lamb’); while there is surely nothing ‘senseless’ in the thought that the salvation which God gives, or sends, to men should fill the highest heaven with rejoicings in His praise. We have the idea in the OT ( e.g.  Psalms 8:1) and in the NT ( Luke 2:14,  Ephesians 3:10). To some Christian commentators, however, and those of no mean weight,— e.g. Cornelius à Lapide and Dean Alford,—St. Matthew’s use of Hosanna with the dative has seemed to render requisite a different interpretation of the word. Hosanna was, says Alford (on  Matthew 21:9), ‘originally a formula of supplication, but [became] conventionally [one] of gratulation, so that it is followed by a dative, and by “in the highest,”—meaning “may it also be ratified in heaven,”—and he cites  1 Kings 1:36, where Benaiah answers David, saying, ‘Amen: the Lord, the God of my lord the king, say so too.’ Cornelius à Lapide takes ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ as a prayer for Christ, offered by the people ‘asking all prosperous things for Him from God.’ Now, this would, in itself, be admissible enough. Of Messiah, even when thought of as Divine and reigning, the Scripture says, ‘prayer also shall be made for him continually’ ( Psalms 72:15). But it seems unnatural to postulate so violent an alteration in the meaning of the word—from ‘supplication’ to ‘gratulation,’ when, taken in its original meaning, it yields a sufficient sense: ‘Save now, for it is to thee, O Son of David, that the power to save us has been given.’ It was not unnatural that the people should speak in this sense: as Jews they knew already that ‘salvation belongeth unto God’ ( Psalms 3:8). This view derives considerable confirmation from the parallel passage in the Apocalypse, where the whole scene in ch.  Psalms 7:14, and even the very words—‘the multitude before the throne and before the Lamb … with palms in their hands’ ( Revelation 7:9, cf.  John 12:13), who cry with a loud voice (cf.  Luke 19:37), saying, ‘Salvation to our God … and to the Lamb’—seems to be based on what happened at Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday; as if the Seer were beholding the salvation come which that day was asked, and recognized that the palm-bearers of the earthly Jerusalem were precursors of the hosts of the redeemed. St. John, it will be remembered, has, in his Gospel ( John 12:16), the remark, ‘These things understood not his disciples at the first, but after he was risen they remembered,’ etc. If, as seems clear, the vision is expressed in figures drawn from that event, then the acclaim in heaven must be held to settle the meaning of those Hosannas upon earth: the dative of the Apocalypse is the dative of the Gospel: it is the dative not of a prayer for Jesus, but of an ascription of salvation to Him as its Mediator and Bestower.

It remains only to be added that the Third Evangelist, while recording the same Triumphal Entry, and mentioning the acclamations of the people, omits alike the palm-branches and the word ‘Hosanna.’ The explanation, no doubt, of both omissions lies in the fact that St. Luke wrote especially for Gentiles: his readers would not have understood the Hosanna, and would have misunderstood the palms. To Greeks the palm-branch would have been, inevitably, the palm of pride and victory: not, as to the Hebrew mind, an emblem of peaceful rest, and freedom, and household joy. ‘Hosanna’ would have meant nothing at all. Therefore the Evangelist to the Greeks paraphrases the word, and paraphrases with it St. Matthew’s and St. Mark’s addition to it, ‘in the highest’; rendering the whole by ‘Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest’ ( Luke 19:38). And, as St. Matthew had the dative of ascription, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’—as looking for salvation to Him who had come to Jerusalem in this capacity; so St. Luke, in his paraphrase of the Hosanna, employs what we may call a dative clause: his ‘Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest,’ are introduced so as to show us these as the result of Christ’s coming as King in the name of the Lord: it is for these ends that He has come; and on this account the people call Him blessed. It was for these ends that He was born: wherefore the angels sang the same strain over Him at His Nativity ( Luke 2:14); it is for these ends now that He paces forward to His cross: and therefore men, though as yet they understand it not ( John 12:16), are moved, by a Power they know not, to bear Him record.

Literature.—Art. ‘Hosanna’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible and in Encyc. Bibl.; Jewish Encyc, loc. cit .; Milligan, Com. on Gospel of St. John and Revelation  ; Westcott, St. John’s Gospel  ; Cornelius à Lapide, Neale and Littledale, and Perowne, on Psalms 118.

James Cooper.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

HOSANNA (=‘O save’!). An acclamation used by the people on Palm Sunday in greeting Jesus on His last entry into Jerusalem, and afterwards by the children in the Temple (  Matthew 21:9;   Matthew 21:15 ). It occurs six times in the Gospels (all in the connexion above noted).

The expression, which has preserved its Hebrew form (like ‘Amen’ and ‘Hallelujah’), was originally (in Hebrew) a cry addressed to God ‘ Save now ’! used as an invocation of blessing. When the word passed over (transliterated into Greek) into the early Church it was misunderstood as a shout of homage or greeting = ‘Hail’ or ‘Glory to.’

The simplest form of the Palm Sunday greeting occurs in  Mark 11:9 and   John 12:13 ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,’ which really was the cry of the people. The additions that occur in the other passages (‘Hosanna to the son of David ,’   Matthew 21:9;   Matthew 21:15 , and ‘Hosanna in the highest ,’   Matthew 21:9 ,   Mark 11:10 ) seem really to be later amplifications due to misunderstanding of the real meaning of ‘Hosanna.’ The Hosanna cry (cf.   Psalms 118:25 f.) and the palm branches naturally suggest the Feast of Tabernacles, when the people used to raise the cry of ‘Hosanna,’ while marching in procession and waving branches of palm, myrtle, and willow. The great occasion for this was especially the 7th day of the Feast, when the Hosanna processions were most frequent. Hence this day was early designated ‘Day of Hosha‘na’ [Hosanna], and the lulab branches then used also received the same name. It was the greatest of popular holidays, probably the lineal descendant of an old Canaanitish festival, and still retains its joyous character in the Jewish Festival calendar ( Hosha‘na Rabba ).

It is not necessary, however, to suppose, with Wünsche ( Erläuterungen der Evangelien aus Talmud und Midrash , p. 241), that a confusion has arisen in the Gospel accounts of Palm Sunday between Tabernacles and Passover. Such processions were not peculiar to Tabernacles. They might be extemporized for other occasions of a joyous character (cf. 1Ma 13:51 , 2Ma 10:7 ), and this was the case in the scene described in the Gospels.

In its transliterated form the word ‘Hosanna’ passed over into early liturgical (esp. doxological) use (cf. e.g. Didache 10:6 ‘Hosanna to the God of David’), as an interjection of praise and joy, and was developed on these lines. The early misunderstanding of its real meaning was perpetuated. But the history of this development lies outside the range of purely Biblical archaeology.

G. H. Box.

Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology

Joyful Aramaic exclamation of praise, apparently specific to the major Jewish religious festivals (especially Passover and Tabernacles) in which the Egyptian Hallel ( Psalm 113-118 ) was recited. Originally an appeal for deliverance (Heb. hosia na, Please save  Psalm 118:25 ), it came in liturgical usage to serve as an expression of joy and praise for deliverance granted or anticipated. When Jesus came to Jerusalem for his final presentation of himself to Israel, the expression came readily to the lips of the Passover crowds.

In the Bible the expression occurs only in accounts of that event. Matthew, Mark, and John all transliterate it (Luke does not, but appears to paraphrase it with the Greek word for "glory": see his "glory in the highest, 19:38). According to Matthew, the crowd that accompanied Jesus that day shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David!" (21:9), as did the children later in the temple (v. 15). Mark (11:9) and John (12:13) do not have "to the Son of David, " but all three follow the opening cry with, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (from  Psalm 118:26 ). Matthew and Mark conclude the people's cries with "Hosanna in the highest" (apparently an echo of  Psalm 148:1 ), which John omits. But Mark inserts "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David" (11:10), and John adds, "Blessed is the King of Israel" (12:13). These appear to be interpretations of "he who comes in the name of the Lord." And they agree essentially with Luke's formulation of the people's words taken from  Psalm 118:26 , "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord" (19:38).

Those from whose lips "Hosanna" rose that day seem to have looked on Jesus as God's anointed one from the house of David of whom the prophets had spoken and through whom they hoped that all their messianic expectations would be fulfilled. However misguided their particular expectations may have been, their actions underscore the theme of the Gospels that Jesus is indeed the promised son of David through whom the redemption announced by God's prophets has come. In him the age-old cry, "Lord, save us, " has become the glad doxology, "Hosanna, " which equals: "Praise God and his Messiah, we are saved."

Most likely the authors of the Gospels transliterated "Hosanna" rather than translating it because it served on the people's lips as a joyful exclamation which, if translated, would have sounded like a prayer. In similar fashion, John transliterated "Hallelujah" in  Revelation 19:1,3 ,  4,6 because it had become an exclamation of praise whereas originally it was a call to praise ("Praise the Lord").

John H. Stek

Bibliography . R. E. Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII  ; G. F. Hawthorne, ISBE, 2:761.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

The Hebrews read it Hoshiah-na. The meaning is, "Save me, I beseech you;" from Jahash, to save; and Na, I pray you. It is hardly necessary to tell the reader, that it was with this salutation the multitude hailed Christ, in his public entrance into Jerusalem, five days before his death. The prophet Zechariah had predicted of the Messiah, that he should so come; and none but Christ ever did so. (Compare  Zechariah 9:9 with  Matthew 21:1-11) It was prohesied also by David, that "prayer should be made for him continually." ( Psalms 72:15) And here we find the unceasing cry Hosanna, which is a form of blessing and prayer included; as if they had said, "Preserve, Lord, this son of David!" And the spreading of their garments in the way, and strewing the road with branches of trees, were all figurative of laying every thing at the feet of Jesus. The feats of Tabernacles was so celebrated, to denote holy joy in the gathering in all the Lord's blessings; and some have thought, that this feast was particularly typical of this entry of the Lord Jesus; for it is somewhat remarkable, that at this feast they carried branches, which they called Hosannas. I cannot dismiss the consideration of this article, without subjoining one thought more, to remark the conduct of the Jewish children upon this occasion. For what but a divine overruling power could have produced such an effect, that in the moment their fathers, and the scribes and pharisee's were moved with indignation, those little children should join the Redeemer's train, and mingle their infant voices in the Hosanna of the multitude! And the reader will not overlook in this account, I hope, how thereby that blessed prophecy was fulfilled, and which Jesus himself explained and applied. "Have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" ( Matthew 21:16;  Psalms 8:2)

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Originally the word ‘Hosanna’ was a combination of parts of two Hebrew words that meant ‘save’ and ‘pray’. When the word was joined to the name of God, Yahweh, the expression became both a prayer and an exclamation of praise: ‘Save us, O Lord’.

The Hebrew form of the word occurs only once in the Old Testament, in Psalms 118. The scene is one of triumph, as Israel’s king enters the temple for a public ceremony of praise to God for a recent victory in battle. His entrance is followed by a shout of ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’, accompanied by the waving of palm branches, as the people welcome their victorious king ( Psalms 118:25-27). ‘Hosanna’ later became an expression of praise in expectation of the great Saviour-Messiah.

In the New Testament the word is used in a setting similar to that of Psalms 118. When people in Jerusalem welcomed Jesus as their Saviour-Messiah, they shouted praises of ‘Hosanna’ and waved palm branches. By going direct to the temple, Jesus showed that his messiahship was concerned chiefly with spiritual issues, not political. In the temple also he was greeted with shouts of ‘Hosanna’, and again Jesus accepted the praise. He was indeed the promised Messiah ( Matthew 21:1-17;  John 12:12-15; see Messiah ).

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

"Save we pray": the multitude's cry at Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem ( Matthew 21:9;  Matthew 21:15;  Mark 11:9-10;  John 12:18). Taken from Psalm 118, which they were wont to recite at the feast of tabernacles in "the great Hallel" (Psalm 113-118), in responses with the priest, while they waved willow and palm branches with rejoicings. The seventh or last day of the feast was called "the Great Hosanna." The boughs too were called hosannas. They often transferred the joyous usages of this feast to other occasions of gladness, as that of our Lord's approach in triumph to His capital. Feasts, on the prophetic significance of the Hosanna cry and the feast of tabernacles which is especially associated with consummated salvation).  Hebrews 9:28;  Revelation 7:9-10; Israel shall join the Hosanna cry and say, "Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord" ( Luke 19:38;  Luke 13:35;  Psalms 118:25-26;  Isaiah 12:1-3). (See Feasts .)

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Ὡσαννά (Strong'S #5614 — — hosanna — ho-san-nah' )

in the Hebrew, means "save, we pray." The word seems to have become an utterance of praise rather than of prayer, though originally, probably, a cry for help. The people's cry at the Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem ( Matthew 21:9,15;  Mark 11:9,10;  John 12:13 ) was taken from  Psalm 118 , which was recited at the Feast of Tabernacles (see Feast in the great Hallel ( Psalm 113 to 118) in responses with the priest, accompanied by the waving of palm and willow branches. "The last day of the feast" was called "the great Hosanna;" the boughs also were called "hosannas."

Charles Buck Theological Dictionary

In the Hebrew ceremonies, a prayer which they rehearsed on the several days of the feast of tabernacles. It signifies, "save us now;" or "save us, we pray." There are divers of these hosannas; the Jews call them hoschamoth, 1: e. hosannas. Some are rehearsed on the first day, others on the second, &c. which they call hosanna of the first day, hosanna of the second day, &c. Hosanna Rabba, or Grand Hosanna, is a name they give to their feast of tabernacles, which lasts eight days; because during the course thereof, they are frequently calling for the assistance of God, the forgiveness of their sins, and his blessing on the new year; and to that purpose they make great use of the prayers above mentioned. The Jews also apply the terms hosanna rabba in a more peculiar manner to the seventh day of the feast of tabernacles, because they apply themselves more immediately on that day to invoke the divine blessing, &c.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Hosanna, Save, We Beseech! The exclamation with which Christ was greeted at his last entry into Jerusalem.  Matthew 21:9. It is a Hebrew phrase, known in earlier times and taken from  Psalms 118:25, which was recited as a part of the Great Hallel,  Psalms 113:1-9;  Psalms 114:1-8;  Psalms 115:1-18;  Psalms 116:1-19;  Psalms 117:1-2;  Psalms 118:1-29, at the feast of tabernacles, and which was therefore familiar to the Jews.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Hosanna. (Save Now). "Save, We Pray!" , the cry of the multitudes, as they thronged in our Lord's triumphal procession into Jerusalem.  Matthew 21:9;  Matthew 21:15;  Mark 11:9-10;  John 12:13.

The Psalm from which it was taken, Psalms 118, was one with which they were familia, r from being accustomed to recite the 25th and 26th verses,  Psalms 118:25-26, at the Feast of Tabernacles , forming a part of the great hallel. Psalms 113-118

Morrish Bible Dictionary

This word, which is the same in the Greek, is considered to be a compound of two Hebrew words, and signifies 'save now,' as in  Psalm 118:25 . In the N.T. the sense appears to be 'bestow blessing.' "Bestow blessing on the Son of David: bestow blessing [O thou who art] in the highest."  Matthew 21:9;  Mark 11:9,10;  John 12:13 .

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A word of joyful acclamation in Hebrew, signifying save now. The people cried Hosanna as Jesus entered in triumph into Jerusalem; that is, they thus invoked the blessings of heaven on him as the Messiah,  Matthew 21:9 . This was also a customary acclamation at the joyful feast of tabernacles, in which the Jews repeated  Psalm 118:25,26 .

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

"Save, I beseech thee," or, "Give salvation," a well known form of blessing,  Matthew 21:9;  Matthew 21:15;  Mark 11:9-10;  John 12:13 .

King James Dictionary

HOSAN'NA, n. s as z. Heb. save, I beseech you.

An exclamation of praise to God, or an invocation of blessings. In the Hebrew ceremonies, it was a prayer rehearsed on the several days of the feast of tabernacles,in which this word was often repeated.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Mark 11:9 Psalm 118:25-26

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Matthew 21:9 Psalm 118:25

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) A Hebrew exclamation of praise to the Lord, or an invocation of blessings.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( Ὡσαννά , from the Heb. הוֹשַׁיעָהאּנָּא , as in  Psalms 118:25;  Isaiah 59:1;  Isaiah 45:20), a form of acclamatory blessing or wishing well, which signifies Save now! i.e. "succor now! be now propitious!" It occurs in  Matthew 21:9 (also  Mark 11:9-10;  John 12:13), "Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest." This was on the occasion of our Savior's public entry into Jerusalem, and, fairly construed, would mean, "Lord, preserve this Son of David; heap favors and blessings on him!" It is further to be observed that Hosanna was a customary form of acclamation at the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast was celebrated in September, just before the commencement of the civil year, on which occasion the people carried in their hands bundles of boughs of palms, myrtles, etc. (Josephus, Ant. 13, 13, 6; 3:10, 4). They then repeated the 25th and 26th verses of Psalms 118, which commence with the word Hosanna; and from this circumstance they gave the boughs and the prayers, and the feast itself the name of Hosanna. They observed the same forms, also, at the Encaenia, or Festival of Dedication ( 1 Maccabees 10:6-7; 2 Macc. 13:51;  Revelation 7:9), and the Passover. — Kitto. The psalm from which it was taken, the 118th, was one with which they were familiar, from being accustomed to recite the 25th and 26th verses at the Feast of Tabernacles.

On that occasion the Great Hallel, consisting of Psalms 113-118, was chanted by one of the priests, and at certain intervals the multitudes joined in the responses, waving their branches of willow and palm, and shouting as they waved them Hallelujah, or Hosanna, or "O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity" ( Psalms 118:25). This was done at the recitation of the first and last verses of Psalms 118, but, according to the school of Hillel, at the words "Save now, we beseech thee" ( Psalms 118:25). The school of Shammai, on the contrary, say it was at the words "Send now prosperity" of the same verse. Rabban Gamaliel and R. Joshua were observed by R. Akiba to wave their branches only at the words "Save now, we beseech thee" (Mishna, Succah, 3, 9). On each of the seven days during which the feast lasted the people thronged in the court of the Temple, and went in procession about the altar, setting their boughs bending towards it, the trumpets sounding as they shouted Hosanna. But on the seventh day they marched seven times round the altar, shouting meanwhile the great Hosanna to the sound of the trumpets of the Levites (Lightfoot, Temple Service, 16, 2). The very children who could wave the palm branches were expected to take part in. the solemnity (Mishna, Succah, 3, 15;  Matthew 21:15). From the custom of waving the boughs of myrtle and willow during the service the name Hosanna was ultimately transferred to the boughs themselves so that, according to Elias Levita (Thisbi, s.v.), "the bundles of the willows of the brook which they carry at the Feast of Tabernacles are called Hosannas." The term is frequently applied by Jewish writers to denote the Feast of Tabernacles, the seventh day of the feast being distinguished as the great Hosanna (Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. S. 5. ישׁע ). Monographs on this ejaculation have been written in Latin by Bindrim (Ros. 1671), Nothdurfft (Bruisw. 1713), Pfaff (T Ü bingen, 1789), Winzer (Lips. 1677-78,1703), Bucher (Zittav. 1728), Wernsdorf (Viteb. 1765), Zopf (Lips. 1703). (See Hallel).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hō̇ - zan´a ( ὡσαννά , hōsanná ): This Greek transliteration of a Hebrew word occurs 6 times in the Gospels as the cry of the people when our Lord entered Jerusalem as the Messiah represented by Zec (  Proverbs 9:9 ), and of "the children" when He cleansed the temple ( Matthew 21:9 bis , 15;  Mark 11:9 f;   John 12:13 ). In  Matthew 21:9 it is "Hosanna to the son of David!" followed by "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!"; in   Matthew 21:15 it is also "Hosanna to the Son of David!"; in   Mark 11:9 f it is "Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the kingdom that cometh, the kingdom of our father David: Hosanna in the highest"; and in   John 12:13 it is "Hosanna: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel." Thus in all the evangelists it is an acclamation or ascription of praise. This has raised the question whether the supposed derivation from   Psalm 118:25 , beginning with 'ānnāh Yhwh hōshı̄‛āh nnā' , "Save now, pray" (which is followed ( Psalm 118:26 ) by "Blessed be he that cometh (the Revised Version margin "or entereth") in the name of Yahweh") is correct. (See Thayer, HDB  ; Cheyne, EB; Dalman, Words of Jesus .) Various other explanations have been suggested. Thayer remarks, "It is most natural to regard the word Hosanna, as respects its form, as neither syncopated nor contracted, but the shorter Hiphil imperative with the appended enclitic" ‛hōsha‛nā'  ; compare  Psalm 86:2;  Jeremiah 31:7 ), for which there is Talmudic warrant. "As respects its force, we must for ... contextual reasons, assume that it had already lost its primary supplicatory sense and become an ejaculation of joy or shout of welcome." It is said to have been so used in this sense at the joyous Feast of Tabernacles, the 7th day of which came to be called "the Great Hosanna," or "Hosanna Day." But, while the word is certainly an ejaculation of praise and not one of supplication, the idea of salvation need not be excluded. As in   Revelation 7:10 (compare   Revelation 19:1 ), we have the acclamation, "Salvation unto God ... and unto the Lamb," so we might have the cry, "Salvation to the son of David"; and "Hosanna in the Highest," might be the equivalent of "Salvation unto our God!" He who was "coming in the name of the Lord" was the king who was bringing salvation from God to the people.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Hosan´na a form of acclamatory blessing or wishing well, which signifies, Save now! Succor now! Be now propitious! It occurs in (also; )—'Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!' This was on the occasion of our Savior's public entry into Jerusalem, and, fairly construed, would mean, 'Lord, preserve this Son of David; heap favors and blessings on Him!' It is further to be observed that Hosanna was a customary form of acclamation at the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast was celebrated in September, just before the commencement of the civil year; on which occasion the people carried in their hands bundles of boughs of palms, myrtles, etc. They then repeated , which commence with the word Hosanna; and from this circumstance they gave the boughs, and the prayers, and the feast itself, the name of Hosanna. They observed the same forms also at the Encaenia (;; ) and the Passover. And as they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with great joy and gladness, in like manner, on this occasion, did they hail the coming of the Messiah, whose advent they believed to be represented in all the feasts.