Matthew 5:5 Explained

Matthew 5:5 is the fifth verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It is the third verse of the Sermon on the Mount, and also the third of what are known as the Beatitudes.

Content

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

The Novum Testamentum Graece text is:

Analysis

This well known verse is perhaps the most famous of the Beatitudes. Unlike the previous two, however, this one has no parallel in Luke's Sermon on the Plain. Luke's Sermon contains four Beatitudes and four Woes. There is considerable debate over whether this Beatitude was in Q, and Luke left it out, or if it is an original addition by the author of Matthew.[1] Gundry's theory is that the author of Matthew wanted to remove the woes for later use against the Pharisees in Matthew 23, however he wanted to keep the same eightfold structure and thus needed to create four new sayings. He sees this verse as essentially just a rephrasing of ; this same wording is also found at . Meek and poor, which can also be translated as humble or modest, mean essentially the same thing.[2] Schweizer feels "meek" should be understood as meaning powerless.[3]

Interpretation

The phrase "inherit the earth" is also similar to "theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" in . Schweizer notes that two terms reflect the two different views of the end times current when Matthew was writing. One view was that the end of the world would see all the believers brought up to join the Kingdom of Heaven. The other view was that the end times would have God come down to directly rule Earth, and the chosen people would then be given dominion over the entire world.[3] Hill does not see the two verses referring to different things. He does not feel that the word "earth" means the physical world. Rather he notes that 2 Deuteronomy and 2 Deuteronomy both use the word "inherit" to refer to the Israelites taking possession of the Holy Land. Hill feels that earth, which can also be translated as land, is an allusion to the new Holy Land, which might not be on Earth.[4] A refined meaning of this phrase has been seen to say that those that are quiet or nullified will one day inherit the world.

Meek in the Greek literature of the period most often meant gentle or soft. Nolland writes that a more accurate interpretation for this verse is powerless.[5] Clarke notes how important and revolutionary this elevation of meekness was in the Mediterranean societies of the time that placed enormous stock in honor and status.[6] Strong's entry for the Greek word praus lists it as "mild, gentle".[7]

This verse has been much praised, even by some non-Christians such as Mahatma Gandhi. Some have seen it less favorably. Baron d'Holbach felt that this verse, and those around it, reflected the interests of Christians when they were a small and powerless sect. He felt that whenever Christians gained power, these views were inevitably abandoned. Friedrich Nietzsche was harshly critical over this verse, which, to him, embodied the "slave morality" of Jesus. It has also been criticized by James Joyce, William Blake, and Theodore Dreiser, who all rejected a life without striving.[8]

Cultural uses

As one of the most famous of Beatitudes, the meek shall inherit the Earth has appeared many times in works of art and popular culture:

Commentary from the Church Fathers

Ambrose

When I have learned contentment in poverty, the next lesson is to govern my heart and temper. For what good is it to me to be without worldly things, unless I have besides a meek spirit? It suitably follows therefore, Blessed are the meek.

Augustine

The meek are they who resist not wrongs, and give way to evil; but overcome evil of good.

Ambrose

Soften therefore your temper that you be not angry, at least that you be angry, and sin not. It is a noble thing to govern passion by reason; nor is it a less virtue to check anger, than to be entirely without anger, since one is esteemed the sign of a weak, the other of a strong, mind.

Augustine

Let the unyielding then wrangle and quarrel about earthly and temporal things, the meek are blessed, for they shall inherit the earth, and not be rooted out of it; that earth of which it is said in the Psalms, Thy lot is in the land of the living, (Ps. 142:5.) meaning the fixedness of a perpetual inheritance, in which the soul that hath good dispositions rests as in its own place, as the body does in an earthly possession, it is fed by its own food, as the body by the earth; such is the rest and the life of the saints.

Pseudo-Chrysostom

This earth as some interpret, so long as it is in its present condition is the land of the dead, seeing it is subject to vanity; but when it is freed from corruption it becomes the land of the living, that the mortal may inherit an immortal country. I have read another exposition of it, as if the heaven in which the saints are to dwell is meant by the land of the living, because compared with the regions of death it is heaven, compared with the heaven above it is earth. Others again say, that this body as long as it is subject to death is the land of the dead, when it shall b made like unto Christ's glorious body, it will be the land of the living.

Hilary of Poitiers

Or, the Lord promises the inheritance of the earth to the meek, meaning of that Body, which Himself took on Him as His tabernacle; and as by the gentleness of our minds Christ dwells in us, we also shall be clothed with the glory of His renewed body.

Chrysostom

Otherwise; Christ here has mixed things sensible with things spiritual. Because it is commonly supposed that he who is meek loses all that he possesses, Christ here gives a contrary promise, that he who is not forward shall possess his own in security, but that he of a contrary disposition many times loses his soul and his paternal inheritance. But because the Prophet had said, The meek shall inherit the earth, (Ps. 36:11.) He used these well-known words in conveying His meaning.

Glossa Ordinaria

The meek, who have possessed themselves, shall possess hereafter the inheritance of the Father; to possess is more than to have, for we have many things which we lose immediately.[11]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Boring, Eugene "Gospel of Matthew." The New Interpreter's Bible, volume 8 Abingdon, 1995 pg. 176
  2. [Robert H. Gundry|Gundry, Robert H.]
  3. [Eduard Schweizer|Schweizer, Eduard]
  4. Hill, David. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981
  5. Nolland, John. The Gospel of Matthew: a commentary on the Greek text. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005 pg. 201
  6. Clarke, Howard W. The Gospel of Matthew and its Readers: A Historical Introduction to the First Gospel. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003.
  7. Web site: Strong's Concordance entry 4239 . Bible Hub . 8 October 2023.
  8. Davids, Peter H. "Meek Shall Inherit the Earth." A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature. David Lyle Jeffrey, general editor. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1992.
  9. Book: Robbins, Alexandra. 2012. The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive. Hachette. 9781401310776.
  10. Web site: Anon. Blessed are the geeks, for they shall inherit the Earth: Barack Obama is making good his promise to welcome scientists into his administration. theeconomist.com. The Economist. 2008.
  11. Web site: Catena Aurea: commentary on the four Gospels; collected out of the works of the Fathers. Oxford: Parker, 1874. Thomas Aquinas.

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