MEEKNESS, SEEMLY FORGOTTEN VIRTUE.

From what is popularly known as the sermon on the mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5. The word ‘meekness’ and its cognates occur about 31 times in the Scriptures. The fame Greek lexicographer W.E Vine commenting on the word meekness wrote:

“In its use in Scripture, in which it has a fuller, deeper significance than in non scriptural Greek writings, it consists not in a person’s outward behavior only; nor yet in his relations to his fellow-men; as little in his mere natural disposition. Rather it is an in wrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly toward God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealing with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting;”¹

The word “meekness” is used in reference to tamed animal. One writer said,

“The Greek word praus was used to define a horse trained for battle. Wild stallions were brought down from the mountains and broken for riding. Some were used to pull wagons, some were raced, and the best were trained for warfare. They retained their fierce spirit, courage, and power, but were disciplined to respond to the slightest nudge or pressure of the rider’s leg. They could gallop into battle at 35 miles per hour and come to a sliding stop at a word.”²

Consider a stallion with an average weight of 800 kg and have the potential of causing serious injury and even death to human. Yet when tamed, all that power is brought under the control of the riders. This does not suggest meekness to mean weakness, spinelessness, sentimental fondness nor passive ‘quietism’ as it might seem to those of the world. Meekness is power and strength brought under control.  Meekness is exemplified in Jesus Christ, when He said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11:29 (ASV, emphasis added). It is said of Jesus own disposition as the Messiah in the prophesy of Zechariah, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly [the word means meekness] and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zechariah 9:9 [emphasis added] cf. Matthew 21:5. Paul praised the “meekness and gentleness of Christ.” 2Corinthians 10:1. The Bible furnishes us ample evidences showing that Jesus Christ lived a life of meekness.

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus demonstrated meekness when Peter rose to defend him by cutting off the ear of Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” Matthew 26:52-53. Jesus had all the power of Heaven behind Him and could have stopped His arrest but submitted to the Jewish leaders. Moses stands tall above most of the characters of the Old Testament. Interesting, one of the traits of Moses that the Bible lauds him for is his meekness. In Number 12, when the Miriam and Aaron rose against Moses concerning his leadership over Israel, the Holy Spirit parenthetically said, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” Number 12:3 (emphasis added)

Such fruit of the Spirit is enjoined by the writers of the New Testament on all the Christians. We live in a culture that embraces “mee-ness” instead of “meek-ness” against which there is no law-Galatians 5:22-23. The fruit of the Spirit is the trademark of believers and the opposite of habitual anger.³ . In Ephesians 4:1-2, Paul told the Ephesians, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;” For the brethren in Colossae, Paul said, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;” Colossians 2:13. The Holy Spirit through the apostles commands the followers of Christ, to exhibit the quality of meekness.

In Ephesians 4:20, Paul said to the Ephesians, “But you have not so learned Christ,”. Jesus Christ “leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:” 1 Peter 2:21 Jesus was meek and we ought as His disciples to possess that virtue.

WORKS CITED

¹Vine, W., Unger, M., White, W. and Vine, W., 1985. Vine’s expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, p.1120.

²https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/31293/does-meek-in-matthew-55-refer-to-restraint-with-weapons