Matthew 5:5


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:
For a collection of other versions see .

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. 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. Schweizer feels "meek" should be understood as meaning powerless.
The 19th century theologian James Strong argued in his Strong's Concordance that the Greek word praus means mild or gentle, but it is not suggesting weakness but instead the way power is handled. It is "strength under control". It is demonstrating power without undue harshness. The English language does not have a word that translates conveying both gentleness and power together. But perhaps the word "mercy" or "merciful" comes close to describing the exercise of power that is "strength under control".

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. Hill does not see the two verses referring to different things. He does not feel that word "earth" means the physical world. Rather he notes that and 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. 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. Clarke notes how important and revolutionary this elevation of meekness was in the Mediterranean's societies of the time that placed enormous stock in honour and status. This verse has been much praised, even by some non-Christians such as Mahatma Gandhi. Some have seen it less favourably. 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.
Other writers have pointed out that 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. They were not frightened by arrows, spears, or torches. Then they were said to be meeked.
To be meeked was to be taken from a state of wild rebellion and made completely loyal to, and dependent upon, one’s master. It is also to be taken from an atmosphere of fearfulness and made unflinching in the presence of danger. Some war horses dove from ravines into rivers in pursuit of their quarry. Some charged into the face of exploding cannons as Lord Tennyson expressed in his poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” These stallions became submissive, but certainly not spineless. They embodied power under control, strength with forbearance.

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: