SEV Biblia, Chapter 5:5
Bienaventurados los mansos; porque ellos recibirn la tierra por heredad.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Matthew 5:5
Verse 5. Blessed are the meek] Happy, oi praeiv, from raov, easy, those who are of a quiet, gentle spirit, in opposition to the proud and supercilious Scribes and Pharisees and their disciples. We have a compound word in English, which once fully expressed the meaning of the original, viz. gentleman; but it has now almost wholly lost its original signification. Our word meek comes from the old Anglo-saxon meca, or meccea, a companion or equal, because he who is of a meek or gentle spirit, is ever ready to associate with the meanest of those who fear God, feeling himself superior to none; and well knowing that he has nothing of spiritual or temporal good but what he has received from the mere bounty of God, having never deserved any favour from his hand. For they shall inherit the earth.] Or, thn ghn, the land. Under this expression, which was commonly used by the prophets to signify the land of Canaan, in which all temporal good abounded, Judges xviii. 9, 10, Jesus Christ points out that abundance of spiritual good, which was provided for men in the Gospel. Besides, Canaan was a type of the kingdom of God; and who is so likely to inherit glory as the man in whom the meekness and gentleness of Jesus dwell? In some good MSS. and several ancient versions, the fourth and fifth verses are transposed: see the authorities in the various readings in Professor Griesbach's edition. The present arrangement certainly is most natural: 1. Poverty, to which the promise of the kingdom is made. 2. Mourning or distress, on account of this impoverished state, to which consolation is promised. And 3. Meekness established in the heart by the consolations received.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. Blessed are the meek , etc.] Who are not easily provoked to anger; who patiently bear, and put up with injuries and affronts; carry themselves courteously, and affably to all; have the meanest thoughts of themselves, and the best of others; do not envy the gifts and graces of other men; are willing to be instructed and admonished, by the meanest of the saints; quietly submit to the will of God, in adverse dispensations of providence; and ascribe all they have, and are, to the grace of God. Meekness, or humility, is very valuable and commendable. The Jews, though a proud, haughty, and wrathful people, cannot but speak in its praise: Wisdom, fear, and meekness, say they, are of high esteem; but hwn[ , meekness, is greater than them all.
They had two very considerable doctors in the time of Christ, Hillell and Shammai; the one was of a meek, the other of an angry disposition: hence, say they f244 , Let a man be always meek as Hillell, and let him not be angry as Shammai.
Here meekness is to be considered, not as a moral virtue, but as a Christian grace, a fruit of the Spirit of God; which was eminently in Christ, and is very ornamental to believers; and of great advantage and use to them, in hearing and receiving the word; in giving an account of the reason of the hope that is in them; in instructing and restoring such, who have backslidden, either in principle or practice; and in the whole of their lives and conversations; and serves greatly to recommend religion to others: such who are possessed of it, and exercise it, are well pleasing to God; when disconsolate, he comforts them; when hungry, he satisfies them; when they want direction, he gives it to them; when wronged, he will do them right; he gives them more grace here, and glory hereafter. The blessing instanced, in which they shall partake of, is, they shall inherit the earth ; not the land of Canaan, though that may be alluded to; nor this world, at least in its present situation; for this is not the saints rest and inheritance: but rather, the new earth, which will be after this is burnt up; in which only such persons as are here described shall dwell; and who shall inherit it, by virtue of their being heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; whose is the earth, and the fulness thereof. Though some think heaven is here designed, and is so called, partly for the sake of variety of expression, from ( Matthew 5:3) and partly in allusion to the land of Canaan, a type of it; and may be called an earth, or country, that is an heavenly one, in opposition to this earthly one; as the heavenly Jerusalem is opposed to the earthly one, and which will be a glorious inheritance. The passage, referred to is ( Psalm 37:11).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 3-12 - Our Saviour here gives eight characters of blessed people, whic represent to us the principal graces of a Christian. 1. The poor in spirit are happy. These bring their minds to their condition, when it is a low condition. They are humble and lowly in their own eyes. The see their want, bewail their guilt, and thirst after a Redeemer. The kingdom of grace is of such; the kingdom of glory is for them. 2. Thos that mourn are happy. That godly sorrow which worketh true repentance watchfulness, a humble mind, and continual dependence for acceptance of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, with constant seeking the Holy Spirit, to cleanse away the remaining evil, seems here to be intended Heaven is the joy of our Lord; a mountain of joy, to which our way is through a vale of tears. Such mourners shall be comforted by their God 3. The meek are happy. The meek are those who quietly submit to God who can bear insult; are silent, or return a soft answer; who, in their patience, keep possession of their own souls, when they can scarcel keep possession of anything else. These meek ones are happy, even in this world. Meekness promotes wealth, comfort, and safety, even in thi world. 4. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are happy Righteousness is here put for all spiritual blessings. These ar purchased for us by the righteousness of Christ, confirmed by the faithfulness of God. Our desires of spiritual blessings must be earnest. Though all desires for grace are not grace, yet such a desir as this, is a desire of God's own raising, and he will not forsake the work of his own hands. 5. The merciful are happy. We must not only bea our own afflictions patiently, but we must do all we can to help thos who are in misery. We must have compassion on the souls of others, an help them; pity those who are in sin, and seek to snatch them as brand out of the burning. 6. The pure in heart are happy; for they shall se God. Here holiness and happiness are fully described and put together The heart must be purified by faith, and kept for God. Create in m such a clean heart, Of God. None but the pure are capable of seeing God nor would heaven be happiness to the impure. As God cannot endure to look upon their iniquity, so they cannot look upon his purity. 7. The peace-makers are happy. They love, and desire, and delight in peace and study to be quiet. They keep the peace that it be not broken, an recover it when it is broken. If the peace-makers are blessed, woe to the peace-breakers! 8. Those who are persecuted for righteousness' sak are happy. This saying is peculiar to Christianity; and it is mor largely insisted upon than any of the rest. Yet there is nothing in ou sufferings that can merit of God; but God will provide that those wh lose for him, though life itself, shall not lose by him in the end Blessed Jesus! how different are thy maxims from those of men of thi world! They call the proud happy, and admire the gay, the rich, the powerful, and the victorious. May we find mercy from the Lord; may we be owned as his children, and inherit his kingdom. With thes enjoyments and hopes, we may cheerfully welcome low or painfu circumstances.
Greek Textus Receptus
μακαριοι 3107 A-NPM οι 3588 T-NPM πραεις 4239 A-NPM οτι 3754 CONJ αυτοι 846 P-NPM κληρονομησουσιν 2816 5692 V-FAI-3P την 3588 T-ASF γην 1093 N-ASF
Vincent's NT Word Studies
5. The meek (oi praeiv). Another word which, though never used in a bad sense, Christianity has lifted to a higher plane, and made the symbol of a higher good. Its primary meaning is mild, gentle. It was applied to inanimate things, as light, wind, sound, sickness. It was used of a horse; gentle.As a human attribute, Aristotle defines it as the mean between stubborn anger and that negativeness of character which is incapable of even righteous indignation: according to which it is tantamount to equanimity. Plato opposes it to fierceness or cruelty, and uses it of humanity to the condemned; but also of the conciliatory demeanor of a demagogue seeking popularity and power. Pindar applies it to a king, mild or kind to the citizens, and Herodotus uses it as opposed to anger.
These pre-Christian meanings of the word exhibit two general characteristics.
1. They express outward conduct merely.
2. They contemplate relations to men only. The Christian word, on the contrary, describes an inward quality, and that as related primarily to God.
The equanimity, mildness, kindness, represented by the classical word, are founded in self-control or in natural disposition. The Christian meekness is based on humility, which is not a natural quality but an outgrowth of a renewed nature. To the pagan the word often implied condescension, to the Christian it implies submission. The Christian quality, in its manifestation, reveals all that was best in the heathen virtue - mildness, gentleness, equanimity - but these manifestations toward men are emphasized as outgrowths of a spiritual relation to God. The mildness or kindness of Plato or Pindar imply no sense of inferiority in those who exhibit them; sometimes the contrary. Plato's demagogue is kindly from self-interest and as a means to tyranny. Pindar's king is condescendingly kind. The meekness of the Christian springs from a sense of the inferiority of the creature to the Creator, and especially of the sinful creature to the holy God. While, therefore, the pagan quality is redolent of self-assertion, the Christian quality carries the flavor of self-abasement. As toward God, therefore, meekness accepts his dealings without murmur or resistance as absolutely good and wise. As toward man, it accepts opposition, insult, and provocation, as God's permitted ministers of a chastening demanded by the infirmity and corruption of sin; while, under this sense of his own sinfulness, the meek bears patiently "the contradiction of sinners against himself," forgiving and restoring the erring in a spirit of meekness, considering himself, lest he also be tempted (see Gal. vi. 1-5). The ideas of forgiveness and restoration nowhere attach to the classical word. They belong exclusively to Christian meekness, which thus shows itself allied to love. As ascribed by our Lord to himself, see on Matt. xi. 29. Wyc. renders "Blessed be mild men."
Robertson's NT Word Studies
5:5 {The meek} (hoi praeis). Wycliff has it "Blessed be mild men." The ancients used the word for outward conduct and towards men. They did not rank it as a virtue anyhow. It was a mild equanimity that was sometimes negative and sometimes positively kind. But Jesus lifted the word to a nobility never attained before. In fact, the Beatitudes assume a new heart, for the natural man does not find in happiness the qualities mentioned here by Christ. The English word "meek" has largely lost the fine blend of spiritual poise and strength meant by the Master. He calls himself "meek and lowly in heart" (#Mt 11:29) and Moses is also called meek. It is the gentleness of strength, not mere effeminacy. By "the earth" (tn gn) Jesus seems to mean the Land of Promise (#Ps 37:11) though Bruce thinks that it is the whole earth. Can it be the solid earth as opposed to the sea or the air?
