Matthew 5:5 part 1 of 2

Matthew 5:5 part 1 of 2 Rabbi Michael Weiner

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

What’s this? The meek shall “shout out with delight (Ashre)?” Doesn’t sound like meekness to me. The Greek word is transliterated Praus, meaning “mild or gentle.” The Hebrew word chosen by Delitzsch is HaAnavim, meaning “the humble.” The transliteration looks like the Hebrew word for “grape,” Anavim. What we don’t see in the transliteration is the exchange of the vav for the bet (two sound alike letters) which changes the meaning completely. The vav goes with the “humble” meaning, while the bet goes with the “grape” meaning.

These first 3 beatitudes form a sandwich of sorts. The top “piece of bread” (Matthew 5:3) is made of the spiritually humble who will inherit heaven. The bottom “piece of bread” (Matthew 5:5) is made of the meek (who are also humble). These humble people will inherit the earth. And what is the middle (meat filling) of this “heaven and earth” sandwich? It is made up of those who are disgusted enough with sin to repent. These people, who hate sin enough to mourn over the fact they were even involved in it, shall be comforted.

I may be jumping forward too fast, but the victory of Yeshua is all over this. Two scriptures come to mind (actually many do, but I’m going to stick with these two) …

1 Corinthians 15:23-25 But each in its own order: Messiah the firstfruits; then, at His coming, those who belong to Messiah; then the end, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

Daniel 7:27 Then the kingdom, power, and greatness of the kingdoms under all heaven will be given to the people of the kedoshim of the Most High. Their kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey him.

We must remember, Yeshua was speaking to multitudes and disciples at the same time. To the wise, He is speaking life changing wisdom. To everyone else, He is just speaking nice words. The same is true today. I pray the Lord will bless you with wisdom.