The Shekinah Glory and Palm Sunday

she·ki·nah/SHəKHēˈnä/  to reside, to dwell

This "visible manifestation of the Divine Presence" had resided with the nation of Israel since the day in which they were called out of Egypt. It was the pillar of fire by night; the cloud of smoke that guided them by day. He who was their protection, their glory, their God, had set them apart by His dwelling presence and their unique relationship with Him. But in the sad days when the kingdom of Israel rejected the very God who resided among them His shekinah glory departed from them.
   

Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. When  the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD'S house, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them...The glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is east of the city. 
--- Eze 10:18-19; 11:23 ---

As a nation they were scattered,                               
                                  at the mercy of the Gentile captors,
                                  stripped of their past glory,
                                  without a true relationship with their God.

This is the state in which Israel remained to that day, 500 years later, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, humbly seated on the colt of a donkey. That day He, the incarnate Shekinah glory, returned to the city following the same course through which the glory had departed (and the same path through which He will come again - Eze 43:1-12). His presence there was an offer of Himself to restore His glory among them, an offer to redeem the kingdom which was lost, an offer to once again be their God, an offer to reside with them as their Messianic King. Their shouts of  "hosanna" could be misinterpreted for their acceptance of this offer but insight into their hearts (and their shouts of  "crucify Him" only days later) show that little had changed since the day when they had rejected Him and their nation had crumbled.

In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

'You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;

You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

For the heart of this people has become dull,

With their ears they scarcely hear,

And they have closed their eyes,

Otherwise they would see with their eyes,

Hear with their ears,

And understand with their heart and return, 

And I would heal them.'

--- Matt 13:14-15 ---

   

He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 
 --- John 1:11 ---

When {Jesus} approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it.  
--- Luke 19:41 ---