Meekness, or “The Most Dangerous Person in the Room …”

Situational awareness –“How do you know who is the most dangerous person in the room?” Is it:
• The biggest guy?
• The person who is obviously armed?
• Is it the loudest person?
• The obviously agitated person in the back of the room?
• Someone you know by reputation as being “bad””
• How about that quiet, meek guy sitting in the corner?
So here is something to ponder: What if Jesus was setting in that room? Certainly, with just a thought, Our God (and Jesus is part of that God head) could not only end your life, but erase the memory of your existence, with just a thought. Would a believer fear that Jesus would do so? I think not, for Jesus was “meek”. So let us take a Biblical look at “meekness”.

Let us take a look at –

Numbers 12:3 – (various versions)

“Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.”

English Standard Version

“Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.”

New International Version

“Now the man Moses was very humble, above all the men who were on the surface of the earth.”

World English Bible

What is the Hebrew word here?
Transliteration: anav
Phonetic Spelling: (aw-nawv’)
Definition: poor, afflicted, humble, meek

Similarly in Psalm 37:11 –

“But the humble will inherit the land”

New American Standard

“But the meek shall inherit the earth;”

King James Version

So, back to that Numbers 12:3 thing about Moses being the most “awnawv” person on the face of the earth — Well, what is Numbers 12 about?

Chapter 12 of Numbers begins with Moses’ brother and sister complaining that Moses married an Ethiopian woman. They also complained about God speaking only to Moses: They believed God also spoke to them and not just their brother Moses. God was not happy people would speak against His special servant Moses and summoned a meeting with Aaron and Miriam and Moses. God reminded them of the stature and status of His servant Moses, that God speaks with Moses directly, not apparently just with dreams and visions. God reminded them that Moses is faithful with God’s house and with such qualities, they should have had some fear and reverence for such a servant, especially one so near to God Himself. When the conversation was over, Miriam was leprous, white as snow. Moses begged for her natural color to be restored, and God grants the intercessor his petition, but tells her to deal with her condition for seven days.

What are the odds that we are suppose to understand Moses was the “most poor” person on the face of the earth? I’d venture to say that is not the intent, even if we consider “poor” to poorness of spirit rather than material things.

What are the odds that we are suppose to understand Moses was the “most afflicted” person on the face of the earth? One nuance of meaning is possible, that Moses was “afflicted” by the unjust behavior of his siblings … BUT, I’d venture to say that is not the ONLY aspect viable.

What are the odds that we are suppose to understand Moses was the “most humble” person on the face of the earth? Also a possible nuance from the aspect of being very “humble” before God considering that God is speaking to the world through Moses … This is probably a primary aspect from a Jewish perspective.

However, what about that “meek” definition? It may be the key, but not in the way you might think … So, we will look more at this “English” word or concept of “meek”.

Going to a modern dictionary — Miriam Webster online –

1. enduring injury with patience and without resentment : MILD — a meek child dominated by his brothers
2. deficient in spirit and courage : SUBMISSIVE — “I don’t care,” came the meek reply
3. not violent or strong : MODERATE — his delivery varied from a meek, melodic patter to rapid-fire scriptural allusions

Note that Early English translations like the King James Version and the Geneva Bible tend to use the term “meek”, and the definition of this English word, at the time of these translations was more along the lines of definition #1 above, but probably without our modern mental picture of the term applying to some milk-toast wimp of a person: We tend to have a mental image of a “a meek child dominated by his brothers” meaning the child behaves that way out of fear or because of intimidation. Because of our mental image of a “meek” person, probably the closest concept we have today would be “humble” – Humble in the context that Moses knew of their grumbling, and humbly chose to just ignore it rather that take action against them; Moses had no pride in the matter, and pride seems to be behind the accusations of his siblings.

So, for now, let us capture that Old Testament Hebrew image of a humble person being one who does not take pride in themselves, nor think too highly of themselves before God, but rather one who seeks and does God’s will.

Now let us jump on over to the New Testament, where we see a Greek version of this term … and since we have already mentioned Psalm 37:11 – (read various versions)

“But the humble will inherit the land”

New American Standard

“But the meek shall inherit the earth;”

King James Version

And … leveraging the Psalm 37 quote, let us go to a place where Jesus expresses the same sentiment – this is recorded in “The Beatitudes” teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5 — Matthew 5:5 (read various versions)

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”

King James Verison

“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.”

World English Bible

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”

American Standard Version

All my poking around in various translations brought me to the conclusion that many later English translations try to deal with our changing mental image of “meek”, which had taken on the implications of being wimpy or fearful, by giving favor to using the translation “gentle” rather than “meek” ← I do not think this was successful, believing it better to realign our understanding of “meek”, for the truth is we do NOT have an exact equivalent to the original language, and OLD English “meek” probably was closest … so let us explore some more …

The Greek word used in Matthew 5 (and other places in the NT) is related to the adjective “praus” –
praus: mild, gentle
Original Word: πραΰς, πραεῖα, πραΰ
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: praus
Phonetic Spelling: (prah-ooce’)
Definition: meekness
Usage: mild, gentle.

This word in Greek, at the time had some very specific connotations —
So – From the Greek perspective, Aristotle, one of the great Greek philosophers actually defined the Greek “praus” as a specific ethically defined term. Aristotle defined every virtue as the mean between two extremes. On the one hand, there was the extreme of excess; on the other hand there was the extreme of defect; and in between, there was the virtue itself — the happy medium. Aristotle defines meekness, “praotes”, as the mean between “orgilotes”, which means excessive anger, and “aorgesia”, which means “excessive angerlessness.” Praotes (prautēs) or meekness, from Aristotle’s view, is the happy medium between too much and too little anger. Praotes or meekness then would be the happy medium between too much and too little anger. So, one “Greek” understanding might be “Blessed is the man who is always angry at the right level at the right time, and never angry at the wrong time or at the wrong level.”

However, much time passed from Aristotle’s days and “other” understandings existed by New Testament times: The the word, “praus”, has a second standard Greek usage referring to an animal which has been domesticated, which has been trained to obey the word of command, or which has learned to answer to the reins. It is the word for an animal which has learned to accept control. So, ponder this … Think of those giant Budweiser Clydesdale Horses: If a Clydesdale decided it was not going to play friendly with people, not obey commands, ignore the reins and bit. Well, there really would be nothing a handler could do to force the animal to comply, the horse is simply too large and too strong; one would simply have to let the horse go free, or harm the horse with something that compensates for how much more powerful the horse is than a man. It is a term of power under conscious control — so:
“Blessed is the man who has every instinct, every impulse, every passion and every power he possesses under control.” OR “Blessed is the man who is entirely self-controlled.”

BUT, there is still more — The Greek aspect that we translate as “humble” or “humbleness” – The Greeks contrasted the quality which they called, “praotes”, which the King James Version translates, “meekness”, with the quality which they called, hupselokardia, which means lofty-heartedness. The “praotes” concept includes true humility which banishes all pride.

So, we consider from the Hebrew perspective: Why? Because, in Matthew 5:5, Jesus is quoting from Psalm 37, a very Hebrew perspective. Jesus is probably quoting in Hebrew, or the similar street-language of the day, Aramaic. Certainly, as God, Jesus is aware the written language, that will be used to initially record his words, will be Greek. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that Jesus intent here is to convey the concept from a Hebrew perspective that considers a person can humble oneself before the true God, and expect God’s hand upon his life. So now we see, from a Hebrew perspective; it is not so much the blessing of the man who is self-controlled, for such complete self-control is beyond human capacity. Rather, it is the blessing of the man who is completely God-controlled – for it is only in service to God that we find our perfect freedom, and in doing His will that we find perfect peace, which leaves no room for pride.

So, another aspect is “Blessed is the man who has the humility to know his own ignorance, his own weakness, and his own need.”
OR
“Blessed is the man who is entirely God-influenced.”
OR
“Blessed is the man who has every instinct, every impulse, every passion and every power he possesses subject to God’s will.”

It is clear that this word, praus, means far more than the English word meek means today.
It is also clear that there is no one English word which will translate precisely from praus. Perhaps “gentle” comes closest to it, but lacks the perspective of power under conscious restraint.

Two other aspects to ponder — We shall gain from the from the following:
The Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:1 Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

World English Bible

So, WHO was the ultimate and perfect example of these “beatitudes or ‘things to be’???? Jesus.
How does Jesus demonstrate true “meekness” in the following verses?

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

Matthew 21:12 Entering the Temple, Jesus drove out all who were buying and selling there, and overturned the money-changers’ tables and the seats of the pigeon-dealers. 13 “It is written,” He said, “‘My House shall be called the House of Prayer’, but you are making it a robbers’ cave.”

14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the Temple, and He cured them. 15 But when the High Priests and the Scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done and the children who were crying aloud in the Temple, “God save the Son of David,” they were filled with indignation. 16 “Do you hear,” they asked Him, “what these children are saying?” “Yes,” He replied; “have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and of babes at the breast Thou hast brought forth the praise which is due’?” 17 So He left them and went out of the city to Bethany and passed the night there.

World English Bible

Think on this — the righteous amount of anger at the proper time: Jesus could have called down the hosts of heaven or fire to destroy them all where they stood in disarray in the Temple courts, but it was not the right time nor the right execution of righteous anger to do so …

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives

Luke 22:39 On going out, He proceeded as usual to the Mount of Olives, and His disciples followed Him. 40 But when He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not come into temptation.” 41 But He Himself withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed repeatedly, saying, 42 “Father, if it be Thy will, take this cup away from me; yet not my will but Thine be done!” 43 And there appeared to Him an angel from Heaven, strengthening Him; 44 while He—an agony of distress having come upon Him—prayed all the more with intense earnestness, and His sweat became like clots of blood dropping on the ground. 45 When He rose from his prayer and came to His disciples, He found them sleeping for sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” He said; “stand up; and pray that you may not come into temptation.”

World English Bible

Think on this — the righteous will of God, and consideration for others came first: Jesus is truly God, and had the power to execute the will of the Jesus who was truly man, – and NO man would want to suffer what Jesus KNEW was his coming fate if He served the will of the Father — willfully subverting his human desires, for others (us) and the desire of the Father, cost Jesus greatly: Few of us can comprehend being in such mental distress as to cause blood vessels to rupture into our sweat glands and literally “sweat blood”. This is “meekness”: power, desire, and love under perfect control to best serve others, and serve the will of God.

Paul captures the concept in — Philippians 2

Philippians 2:1 If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, 2 make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; 3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; 4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

World English Bible

AND Peter – in 1 Peter 2 (Christ’s Example of Suffering)

1 Peter 2:21 And it is to this you were called; because Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you an example so that you should follow in His steps. 22 He never sinned, and no deceitful language was ever heard from His mouth. 23 When He was reviled, He did not answer with reviling; when He suffered He uttered no threats, but left His wrongs in the hands of the righteous Judge. 24 The burden of our sins He Himself carried in His own body to the Cross and bore it there, so that we, having died so far as our sins are concerned, may live righteous lives. By His wounds yours have been healed. 25 For you were straying like lost sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Protector of your souls.

World English Bible

Biblical Meekness concept to ponder — Control of the power one has at a level that bests serves others and the will of God.

Jesus, the Son of God, had the power, at any time, to call upon all the power in existence – Jesus could have came down off of that cross and commanded fire from heaven to consume everyone who offended him. Jesus did not do so, for that would not have served the will of the Father, nor the lives of those Jesus loves.

Jesus, the most powerful individual to ever walk this earth as a man: The MEEK one was always the “Most Dangerous Person in the Room” no matter where he went. Kind of gives one a different vision of “meekness”