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My God and My Neighbor is a “Bible talk show” that looks at religious issues, Christian living and world events in light of the Word of God to give hope. This podcast is a ministry of Tennessee Bible College. TBC offers a bachelor's in Bible studies, a master of theology, and a doctorate of theology in apologetics and Christian evidences. TBC also provides Christian books, audio recordings on the Bible, and free Bible courses in English and Spanish. Tune in to My God and My Neighbor to experience the educational content that TBC has been delivering for nearly five decades!
Kerry Duke: Hi, I'm Kerry Duke, host of My God and My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. Join us in a study of the inspired Word to strengthen your faith and to share what you've learned with others.
We're looking at the Sermon on the Mount at a section called the Beatitudes. And today we come to Matthew chapter five, verse five, which says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Oftentimes, when people read the Bible, they make up their own definitions of Bible words. So if you ask someone—“What is a meek person?”, “What does the Bible mean when it says meek?”—you’ll find that even preachers sometimes say, “Well, my definition of it is this.”
Well, in order to really understand the Bible, we need to let the Bible define for us what these words mean. And so I'm going to look at two examples of meekness in the Bible. Let's look at two people in the Bible that were said to be meek, and let's learn what this word means from them. So the first one is in the Old Testament, and the second one will be in the New Testament. And some of you that have read the Bible carefully probably know who these two people are already.
Moses is the first one. In Numbers chapter 12, verse 3, the Bible says, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.”
Now, what did that involve? What did that include? What does it mean when the Bible says that Moses was a meek man? Well, one of the things that you're going to see right away when you read the Old Testament is that it does not mean that he was weak. Sometimes I think that people interpret it that way.
They look at the word meek and they think of weakness. But Moses was anything but a weak man. As a matter of fact, in Exodus chapter 2, Moses was defending a Hebrew slave because one of the Egyptians was beating him, and the Bible says he defended him to the point of taking that man's life. He killed that Egyptian. Now, whether he was justified in doing that or not is not my point here. I'm simply saying that he was not a weak, cowardly individual. And in that same chapter, Exodus chapter 2, we find that Moses fled from Egypt. He came to a place of water and there were women that were there to get water. There were some people that were mistreating those women and the Bible says that Moses stood up for them. Now, he didn't know who they were, but that didn't matter. They were being mistreated and Moses wouldn't sit by and just watch that happen.
Later, in Exodus chapter 32, We have the story of the Israelites making an idol and worshiping that false god. When Moses and Joshua came down from the mount, the Bible says that Moses was angry. He broke the tablets, he ground them into powder, and made those guilty people drink it.
Now, that's not the sign of a weak man. The Bible says in Numbers chapter 16 that he stood up against over 250 influential men that were causing trouble in the congregation of the Israelites. In Numbers chapter 20, he went out to the disobedient Jews and said, “Here now, you rebels, must we fetch water out of this rock for you?” Now, he went too far in that. He said something that he paid for for the rest of his life. So I'm not trying to justify him in that. We're talking about Numbers chapter 20 here. But at the same time, it does show that he was just not such a weak man and such a mild man that he wouldn't confront people and he would never disagree with people.
That's not what the word meek means. In Numbers chapter 25, we find that he had the guilty people executed who were committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab. In Numbers chapter 31, verses 15 through 17, he had other people executed there. So, when we say that Moses was a meek man, when we read that he was a very meek man, what does that mean?
When you look at these passages, you find that that does not mean that he was weak in any way. He was meek in the sense that he was modest, sometimes to the point even of being hesitant. In Exodus chapter 3 and 4, although he was a highly educated man in Egypt, he hesitated about being the spokesman for God to these Israelite people.
He didn't care about money. He didn't care about power. He didn't care about fame. He gave all that up when he left Egypt. He was humble. He was willing to sacrifice. Hebrews 11, 24 through 26 says that he was willing to be identified with a bunch of slaves. He did that of his own free will. Who else in all history would have made a decision like that?
Here's a man who led the Israelite people into Canaan with all of their arguing, with all their complaining. He led them into Canaan even though he knew that he wouldn't go in himself. Moses was not egotistical. It wasn't about himself. It was about other people. He was neither too harsh nor too easy with people.
He also took correction and took advice from other people well. In Exodus chapter 18, Moses was trying to settle all the disputes of the Israelite people. He was doing that from morning until evening. His father in law came to him and said: Moses, the thing that you're doing is not good. You're going to wear yourself out, and this is not good for you or the people.
So Jethro, his father-in-law, advised him to put some men under him, and those men under him would hear the lesser cases. And then Moses would hear the harder cases. And Moses listened to his father in law. He didn't get mad and say, “Well, you just need to mind your own business.” He didn't resent the correction that his father-in-law gave. And because of that, things went better in the nation of Israel.
You also read in Exodus chapter 32 about an offer that God made to him to test Moses. God knew what he was going to do. Sometimes the Bible shows that God and Jesus tested people by some of the things that they said. It looks on the surface like that maybe God didn't know what was coming or Jesus didn't know what was coming, but they did.
They said it for the person's sake or for the people's sake. So in Exodus chapter 32, for instance, when the people had sinned with this golden calf, God said to Moses, just get out of the way, and I'm going to consume these people. In other words, I'm going to destroy these people, and I will make of you a great nation.
So the promise had been to Abraham and his descendants that his seed, Abraham's descendants, would become a great nation. God said to Moses, if you get out of the way, I'll destroy these people and I will give you that promise. Your descendants, your children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and so forth will become the most powerful, the most famous nation on earth.
But Moses turned the offer down, because he was meek, he was humble. An egotistical man, a selfish, prideful man would have said yes, but not Moses. So as you study the Sermon on the Mount, and you look at these Beatitudes, if you can look at some examples in the Bible like Moses, where the Bible describes the person as being a very meek man, and then it gives you examples of his character, then you've got a good study and a good idea of what this word means.
But let's go to the New Testament. The greatest example of meekness in the Bible, of course, is Jesus. In Matthew chapter 11, beginning in verse 28, Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls.
Jesus was the Messiah. He was the King of kings and the Lord of lords. But he was not high and mighty. He was not arrogant. He was not harsh and overbearing. And that should make it easy to come to him. You see, He says here: Come to me because I am meek and lowly in heart. And we see this gentleness of Jesus in different ways in the Bible.
For instance, when he dealt with little children, you find this gentleness or this meekness of Jesus in Matthew chapter 18, for instance. The disciples wanted to know who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And the Bible says that Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them.
In Matthew chapter 19, verse 13, the Bible says, “Then they were brought to him, little children, that he should put his hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer”—that is, allow, permit—"little children, and forbid them not to come to me. For of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
If you're going to go to heaven, if you're going to get into the church, then you have to have that same kind of humble heart and that same kind of humility. So the Bible says that Jesus was gentle with little children. He was also gentle with women, even women that had a bad reputation. You find that in Luke chapter 7. He was merciful to her. You find that in John chapter 8 in the case of the woman taken in adultery, He was gracious and He was merciful to her. You find this in John chapter 4. It's interesting that Jesus didn't talk to the woman at the well who was living with a man outside of wedlock the way that he talked to the scribes and Pharisees.
He told the scribes and the Pharisees that they were hypocrites. He told them that they were fools, that they were blind guides in Matthew chapter 23. So he was stern with them. But when you look at him talking with the woman at the well in John chapter 4, although she's living in sin, you find the gentle side of Jesus. You find that he's using meekness with her.
Now, at the same time, we also see in the New Testament that Jesus was not soft and weak. So the word meekness does not mean that a man is a coward. It doesn't mean that a man won't stand up. And we find many times that although the Bible describes Jesus as a meek man, and Jesus himself said that he was meek, we find the strength of Jesus coming out.
For instance, he was not afraid to disagree with and rebuke and debate the religious leaders of his day. We find that in Matthew chapter 12, Matthew chapter 15, Matthew chapter 19, especially in Matthew chapter 22. We find that especially in the book of John. It's almost like that there's one disagreement or one argument right after the other.
So Jesus was not afraid. Jesus was not a weak man. He rebuked people when they needed it. We see that in Matthew chapter 23. We find that many times in the Bible. As a matter of fact, the Bible even shows that sometimes Jesus used physical force. In John chapter 2 and in Matthew chapter 21, there were Jews who were greedy and taking advantage of people when they came to offer their sacrifices at the temple.
The Bible says that he made a whip of small cords. He turned over the money changers tables, and he drove them out with that whip, and also drove the animals out of the temple area. Now, that's not the sign, that's not a characteristic of a coward or a weak man.
Now listen to this verse as well. Revelation chapter 3, verse 19. Jesus told the church at Laodicea, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent.” So these verses and many other passages correct the idea that is so common today, and that is, that Jesus just agreed with everybody, that He wouldn't hurt anybody's feelings, that He was tolerant of people regardless of what they did.
That is entirely unbiblical. That's the kind of Jesus that people want, but that's not the kind of Jesus that the Bible says that He is. Jesus was meek. Yes, there's no question about that. But that doesn't mean that Jesus tolerated and approved of everything. So, those are just a few points about what the word meek does not mean.
But let's get back to Matthew chapter 5 verse 5 and look a little closer at what meekness is. And I want to challenge you again and ask you to look at yourself and use this list called the Beatitudes as kind of a personal checklist. Look at each one of these and ask yourself the question, Is that me?
So when the Bible says blessed are the poor in spirit, ask yourself, does that describe me? When the Bible says blessed are they that mourn, ask yourself if you mourn in the right, biblical way. When the Bible says blessed are the meek, ask yourself if that describes you. Now, what does it mean to be meek?
If you have to define that word biblically, when you look at the original word, what does it mean? The word gentleness is the best word that I know of in the original that describes what that word means. It means to be gentle with people. There's a little bit of a difference between being poor in spirit and being meek.
The idea of being poor in spirit has to do with your attitude toward yourself. The idea of being meek has to do with how you treat and how you deal with other people, how you show that humility toward other people.
Now, when you think about being meek, you might ask the question, Well, does this mean that I have to be a quiet person, person that doesn't talk very much? Not necessarily. You know, there are some people who are quiet. There are some people that don't say very much that are very arrogant. They're very selfish. So, just being a quiet person is not being meek.
You say, well, does it mean that you don't ever get mad? That you never raise your voice? Well, Jesus became angry on occasion, didn't He? He was meek, and yet the Bible says in Mark chapter 3, verse 5, that Jesus “looked round about upon them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.” Does it mean that you just allow people to treat you any way, and take advantage of you, and do you wrong, but you don't even stand up for yourself?
Not even Jesus did that. Lord willing, we're going to look later at what Jesus says about turning the other cheek and what he did not mean by that and what he does mean by that. That's later in Matthew chapter 5.
But in John chapter 18, you'll remember the story where Jesus was before the high priest, and he commanded one of them that stood by to smite or to strike Jesus on the mouth. And Jesus stood up to that man and he said: Look, if I've said something wrong, if I've done wrong, then bear witness to it. But if I've not done anything wrong, then why are you striking me? In other words, Jesus is standing up for himself here.
Being meek means that you are gentle in dealing with others as a rule. That you're not harsh. You're not sarcastic. You're considerate, not selfish. You're patient with other people, not quick to judge people. You're glad for others and not jealous of them. And you're open to correction, not resentful of it.
Now here are some verses that talk about how we're to apply that meekness in the Christian life. In Galatians 6 verse 1, the Bible talks about restoring someone who has erred from the truth—somebody that is a backslidden Christian. Paul said, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, You which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.” So while you're teaching someone else about how to live his life, and especially while you're correcting someone, while you're trying to turn someone around and bring that person to repentance, you look at yourself. You consider yourself so that you're not tempted.
You do that in a spirit that is with an attitude of meekness. Not haughtiness, not pride, but with a humble spirit. In Ephesians chapter 4, the Bible tells us to have this kind of attitude toward each other in the church. In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 2, the Bible says that we need to walk with “all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering forbearing one another in love.”
Now that's the key, in a lot of cases, to church unity. He says to have all lowliness. That is, have a lowly attitude. Have a humble attitude, not a haughty, high-minded view. Have meekness, that is gentleness. Be longsuffering with other people. If you want other people to be long suffering with you and patient with you, be long suffering toward them and forbear one another. Forbear one another in love.
Now you also find in the book of 2nd Timothy a very interesting passage here that talks about how we're to teach and approach other people. Second Timothy, chapter 2, and I want you to notice what the Bible says in in verse 24 and 25. Now look at what he says here about how we instruct and teach other people, and notice the word meekness. Second Timothy 2, verse 24 and 25: “And the servant of the Lord must not strive”—that is, he must not quarrel—"but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves: if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” So he says that the servant of the Lord is not to quarrel. That doesn't say that we're not to disagree. That doesn't say that we're to compromise. It simply says that, as a general rule, that you're not to strive, that is, to quarrel with people unnecessarily. You're to take the gentle approach. If you're teaching somebody and that person has a good heart, there's no need to quarrel with that person.
So, that is to be the general demeanor that we're supposed to have. There are going to be exceptions to that, especially in the sinful age, I believe, in which we live. You're going to have people that disagree and they're not teachable. They're not going to accept the Word of God. You don't just lower your voice and say, well, “I'm sorry you feel that way and I'm sorry for offending you and I just wanted to share with you something here and maybe you're right about that. Maybe I'm wrong and sharing what the Bible says here.”
We're not to do that. That's not being meek. That's compromising. So second Timothy chapter 2 does tell us that the general demeanor that we're supposed to have when we teach other people is one of gentleness and meekness. Now the Bible also says in James chapter 1 verse 21 that we are to receive with meekness the engrafted word. When we ourselves are taught the Word of God, when somebody is preaching, when somebody is teaching, or when we just read the word of God, the Bible says we are to receive it with meekness. Not with a hard heart, not with a stubborn attitude, not with a preconceived idea, but receive it with meekness.
When we convert people by our example, we can do that by having what the Bible says, and what the Bible calls in 1 Peter 3, 1-4, a “meek and quiet spirit.”
And, also, when we answer people and defend the Bible, we still have to have a meek spirit. Now, you can be strong, you can be uncompromising, but still the Bible says that we need to do this with this kind of attitude. First Peter 3, verse 15. The Bible says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts always and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and with fear.”
So defend the Bible. Defend the faith. Be ready always to do that. And do that with an attitude of meekness and with fear. Now there's something about Matthew chapter 5 verse 5 that I do want to notice here and that's the last part. With each one of these Beatitudes, Jesus gives a blessing. So the blessing in Matthew chapter 5 verse 5 is simply this, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Now there are some people that think that that means that saved people will inherit or own or live on the earth forever. They'll inherit the earth in that way. Sometimes people will point to Ecclesiastes chapter 1, verse 4, where the Bible says “the earth abides forever.” So let me start with that passage of Scripture in Ecclesiastes 1, verse 4, and then we'll work our way back to Matthew chapter 5, verse 5.
In the Old Testament, sometimes the word forever is used for a limited amount of time which seems to be a long period of time. For instance, In Jonah chapter 2 verse 6, Jonah said that he was in the belly of the whale forever. It uses that word. Now we know that Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights.
So sometimes it's used in that poetic sense. And when you read the book of Ecclesiastes, you're in a book of Hebrew poetry, which means that you can't take everything in such a literal way that you try to put a timetable on it. The word forever sometimes is used in that kind of limited sense. Now, when you get to the New Testament and the Bible talks about the meek inheriting the earth, that doesn't mean that we're going to live on the earth forever because the Bible says that this earth is going to be burned up when Jesus comes again.
Second Peter chapter 3 verse 10 says it this way: “But the day of the Lord”--that's the second coming of Christ—"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” In other words, he will come unexpectedly. He will not give any signs or signals contrary to what a lot of people today believe and what a lot of preachers preach.
There will be no signs that will signal that Jesus is coming when He comes again. This passage says that He will come as a thief in the night, because a thief in the night doesn't announce when He's coming. He doesn't tell you when He's going to strike. That's the kind of way that Jesus will come again.
The Bible says when that happens. The Scriptures say in that day, the Lord will come as a thief in the night “in the witch the heavens shall pass away with a great noise.” Now, “the heavens” here doesn't refer to where God is, obviously. The heavens, in this passage, refers to the sun, the moon, the stars above us.
As vast as this universe is, the Bible says it's all going to be destroyed, and when that happens, there will be a great noise. Now, you've heard some loud sounds before in your life, and if you just go back and try to remember what was the loudest thing that you've ever heard in your life that just startled or shocked you, that won't be anything compared to what is going to happen when Jesus comes again.
The heavens, Peter says, shall pass away with a great noise. And the elements, that is the elements of this universe, the elements of the physical creation, shall “melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” So the entire physical creation, the entire universe, will be incinerated when Jesus comes again.
So, when Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,”He's not saying that they will inherit the earth as a dwelling place, a place that they will own as their inheritance like you would inherit a piece of land. We'll talk about that more in just a few minutes. But here the Bible is talking about what will happen to the world, that is, the physical creation.
You see, that's the context. There were people who were saying that Jesus is not coming again in 2 Peter chapter 3. The Bible says in verse 3 that there would come scoffers walking after their own lust and saying in these last days, “Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
These people that Peter's talking about were saying, “Where is Jesus? We've heard that He's coming. What about that promise? He's not here yet. Everything is going on just like it has been since the beginning of the creation.” And Peter said, well, in the first place, you're “willingly ignorant” about that. In verse 5, he said, “For this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished.”
So he says, you're ignoring the fact, and you're deliberately ignoring it, that God sent the flood the first time. All things have not continued like they did from the beginning of the creation, because the flood interrupted those natural processes. But, he says in verse 7, “The heavens and the earth”—that’s the entire creation, which are now, which exist right now at this point, by the same word, the Word of God, “are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
And here's another passage on this point: Hebrews chapter 1 beginning in verse 10. Now this is a quotation from Psalm 102 verses 25 through 27. And Psalm 102 is talking about the literal earth and the literal heavens. That is, the physical earth and the physical heavens. So, I wanted to say that first of all, because this is literally talking about what's going to happen when Jesus comes again, just like 2 Peter 3, verse 10.
Hebrews 1, verse 10 says, “And you, Lord, in the beginning” [now that's the beginning talked about in Genesis 1, verse 1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth]. In the beginning you have “laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but you remain, and they shall all wax old, as does a garment. And as a vesture you shall fold them up, and they shall be changed, but you are the same, and your years shall not fail.”
So the Bible plainly says that the earth that we stand on, the earth that we live on, will be burned up. It will be destroyed. So what does Jesus mean when he says that the meek will inherit the earth?
Well, he means that they will inherit a good life on earth. That they will inherit the blessings of the earth. This is very similar to what we find back in the Old Testament. Listen to Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 40. God told the Israelites, “You will keep, therefore, His statutes and His commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days upon the earth, which the Lord your God gives you forever.”
Well, there we find the word forever, but those Jews are dead. You see, this is a promise of a good life on earth. It means that if we keep God's law, if we respect God's teaching, then we will have a better life and we will have a longer life here on the earth. You find that God says this many times to the people of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy, for instance, in one of the Ten Commandments.
In Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 16, God said, “Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you in the land which the Lord your God gives you.”
Now here's one other passage that I believe is a good commentary on Jesus words that the meek will inherit the earth. Ephesians 6, beginning in verse 1: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.” Paul says if you want things to go well with you in life, and if you want to live a longer life, then respect your parents. Obey your parents. Because if you learn to respect authority in the home, you'll respect authority and you will respect other people in life in general. You will avoid danger, and maybe even an early death, because you've learned to respect other people. You've learned to respect authority.
Now, of course, this is a general promise here. They're young people that die. Paul is not trying to cover all the bases here. He's saying, as a general rule, if you listen to those who are in authority, starting with parents in the home, then you're going to live a longer and a better life. So, in that sense, the meek also will inherit the earth.
Thank you for listening to My God and My Neighbor. Stay connected with our podcast on our website and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. Tennessee Bible College, providing Christian education since 1975 in Cookeville, Tennessee, offers undergraduate and graduate programs.
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