@ 2021--11-23: ARE "HUMILITY" AND "MEEKNESS" THE SAME?

(By way of introduction: For roughly the past 20 years, I assisted the Editorial and Personal Correspondence Depts. of the LCG. I often researched questions of biblical background such as this one, just as I did since my graduation from Ambassador College Pasadena in 1981.)

Brethren, are humility and meekness the same? What difference does it make in our daily Christian lives if they are not the same? Can the difference help us to “hear (part of) what the Spirit says to the churches” which are addressed prophetically in Revelation 2-3?

Our common English dictionaries use the words “humble” and “meek” as synonyms. So do Bible dictionaries such as Strong’s Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary.[1] Bible lexicons do also—including the best Hebrew Bible lexicons, the BDBG and the HALOT. (Of course, we hear Mr. Jason Fritts “the Younger” use the words “humble and meek” together all the time—and I’m sure he will read or hear this essay!)

Bible versions confuse the reader even further. Turn to Psalms 25:9 for an example. In the KJV we read, “The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.” (The plural Hebrew word involved—actually, a participle used as a noun—is `anawim (עֲנָוִים).) The NKJV and most if not all other versions substitute “humble” for “meek”. On the other hand, the KJV, the NKJV, and most other versions translate the same Hebrew word—`anawim (עֲנָוִים)—as “meek” in Psalms 37:9. There are many other such examples. No wonder we readers of vernacular Bibles are confused!

In Hebrew Scripture, two words having very similar spellings and related meanings derive from the same verb root: `anah (עָנָה) One is `aniy (עָנִי), which literally should be translated as “poor”. The other word is `anaw (עָנָו) or (עָנָיו), which literally should be translated as “afflicted”. Translators are confused on this point because the two words can be used interchangeably in idiomatic phrases. For example, [`aniy w^e’evyon (עני ואביון), “poor and needy”] and [`anaw w^e’evyon (ענו ואביון), “afflicted and needy”] can be used interchangeably. In some cases, even the Masoretic scribes (in the margin of their Hebrew text) questioned whether “poor” had been confused with “afflicted” or vice versa, sometime in the past, due to similar spellings and uses in context.

But Jesus Christ knew the difference between “poor” and “afflicted” in Hebrew! He demonstrated that knowledge in the Beatitudes, and all translators of the Greek New Testament into Classical and Modern Hebrew—without exception—understand the distinction also. Their knowledge can teach us something important!

Jesus gave Nine Beatitudes, not Eight as many infer. He gave the whole Sermon on the Mount not in Greek, but either in His vernacular Jewish Aramaic, or else (quite possibly, given His grammar and idiom) in Biblical and Classical Hebrew. Many Jewish teachers of His time and afterward would have done the same thing. Either way, Matthew’s Common Greek reflects Jesus’s original grammar, syntax, and meaning. (Why this is so, and how one may prove the point, goes far beyond this essay!)

Now, here is biblical truth you may not have heard before. The Beatitudes, along with Jesus Christ’s teachings on “you are the salt of the earth” and “you are the light of the world”, comprise His God-inspired key to understanding the workings of the converted human mind, as led by the Holy Spirit.

Psychology has been a “dirty word” in the Church of God for far too long. If “the Word of God is the foundation of knowledge”—and it is—then there is such a thing as biblically based “normal” psychology. Now notice this: Jesus Christ gave that key before He stated one word about the enduring validity of His Father’s spiritual law! Put another way, He taught that unless one is both spiritually converted and humanly sound-minded, there is no way one can either understand or apply the rest of the Sermon on the Mount properly!

What then do the Beatitudes imply about the way Christians think? The First Beatitude describes how the Spirit of God relates to the “spirit in man” in the converted human mind. The next eight Beatitudes describe how the human brain perceives and makes decisions, in eight different ways—and how these aspects of human personality develop basic virtues of divine character, again as led by God’s Spirit.

But the Beatitudes also give the key to understanding the Seven Church Eras and the two periods of persecution which shall follow them. This is a vital reason why understanding the difference between humility and meekness is so important! While all Christians must develop all Nine Beatitudes as virtues, each Christian has different strengths and weaknesses in them. The same is true of the “seven Church eras” and the two periods of persecution that shall follow them (Revelation 2-3; 12:13-17; etc.).

“Blessed are the poor in spirit”—the humble—is the Ephesian Beatitude, for that era is stronger in that Beatitude than in the other Beatitudes. “Blessed are the meek”—by contrast—is the Pergamosian Beatitude. In like manner, “blessed are the merciful (i.e., the compassionate)” is the Sardian Beatitude. “Blessed are the pure in heart” is the Philadelphian Beatitude. “Blessed are the peacemakers” is the Laodicean Beatitude—and so on. Understanding this helps us understand (for example) that just as Philadelphia really does have weaknesses, Sardis and Laodicea really do have strengths!

This whole subject deserves its own special treatment, and the proofs that it requires. For now, let us return to what Jesus originally sought to convey in the Beatitudes, either in Hebrew or in its Jewish Aramaic equivalent. Here, we will render the First and Third Beatitudes in Hebrew rather than Aramaic.

The First Beatitude, translated into Classical Hebrew, reads ‘ashrey `aniyyey ha-ruah (עֲנִיֵּי הָרוּחַ), “Blessed are the poor in spirit”. The Greek text has the plural of ptōchos (πτωχός), which means “poor, destitute”—as a beggar might be. The Third Beatitude, translated into Classical Hebrew, reads ‘ashrey ha-`anawim (אַשְׁרֵי הָעֲנָוִים), “Blessed are the meek”. The Greek text has the plural of praus (πραΰ́ς), which means “mild, gentle”. Yet the Hebrew behind the Greek means “afflicted”, as if through the five senses. “Mild” or “gentle” is to be understood as the right result of “affliction”.

How did the two original, closely related Hebrew words arise from one verb root? Being a “beggar in spirit” (if you will) teaches us to rely on God for everything—and to compare ourselves to God and no one else. Doing this is the essence of “humility”! If we can do this, then “affliction” through the five senses can teach us “gentleness”—that is, “meekness”. Humility gives a sense of spiritual poverty; meekness gives a sense of physical poverty. Most likely, this is the original connection between the two Hebrew words. But there is no guarantee that apart from humility being present first, affliction through the five senses will do anything but make us complain—even turn bitter. Consider how Job eventually reacted to his afflictions, before Elihu and the Eternal taught him humility!

Turn now to Isaiah 66:2, in the NKJV. “But on this one will I look: on him who is poor [`aniy (עָנִי)] and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.” Jesus Christ referred to this verse above all, in the First Beatitude. Many references in the Psalms of David also lie behind the First Beatitude in principle.

What about “afflicted”—that is, “gentle” or “meek”? Consider Moses’ example, now in the KJV (Numbers 12:3): “Now the man Moses was very meek [`anaw m^e’od (עָנָיו מְאֹד)], above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” No doubt forty years’ experience as a poor shepherd, plus hard experience with the Israelites, taught Moses his “meekness”—in addition to his natural capacity to exercise this virtue, as led by God’s Spirit.

In Numbers 12:1-2, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses concerning a brief marriage of convenience he had while he was a general in Egypt. (Josephus gives details about that marriage, in his Antiquities of the Jews.) No doubt Moses’ feelings were hurt by his siblings’ words. Yet Moses was gentle—he would have let his siblings’ accusations go by unchallenged. But the Eternal had other ideas (verses 4-16)!

As David and Jesus both said much later, “The meek—the gentle—shall inherit the earth” (Psalms 37:11; Matthew 5:5)! Our fleshly afflictions, as perceived through the five senses, are meant to teach us meekness or gentleness. But they cannot unless we learn humility first! We must learn—as Job had to learn—what we are, what the Eternal God is, and the vast difference between the two!

This is the most important reason why we must distinguish between humility and meekness. But the other reason is that the distinction is part of the key to understanding what Revelation 2-3, and what the rest of Revelation says about the coming times of persecution for God’s people, is meant to teach us!

In future blogs (and any sermonettes or split sermons that may arise from them), I will explain more about how the Nine Beatitudes, “You are the salt of the earth”, and “You are the light of the world” comprise Jesus’ key to the relationship between human personality and divine character.

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[1] Strong's H6041

 - Lexical: עָנִי

- Transliteration: ani

- Part of Speech: Adjective

- Phonetic Spelling: aw-nee'

- Definition: poor, afflicted, humble.

- Origin: From anah; depressed, in mind or circumstances (practically the same as anav, although the margin constantly disputes this, making anav subjective and aniy objective).

- Usage: afflicted, humble, lowly, needy, poor.

- Translated as (count): the poor (20), poor (12), of the poor (8), of the afflicted (5), and the poor (3), For the poor (3), humble (2), the humble (2), Afflicted (1), and afflicted (1), and on His afflicted (1), and Yes the poor (1), and Your poor (1), but to the humble (1), from the poor (1), Lowly (1), meek (1), of the land (1), of Your poor (1), or the poor (1), poor man (1), the afflicted (1), the lowly (1), the poor man (1), to the afflicted (1), to the oppressed (1), to the poor (1), to your poor (1), you afflicted (1), You afflicted one (1).

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 Strong's H6035

 - Lexical: עָנָו

- Transliteration: anav

- Part of Speech: Noun Masculine

- Phonetic Spelling: aw-nawv'

- Definition: poor, afflicted, humble, meek.

- Origin: Or (by intermixture with aniy) anayv {aw-nawv'}; from anah; depressed (figuratively), in mind (gentle) or circumstances (needy, especially saintly).

- Usage: humble, lowly, meek, poor. Compare aniy.

- Translated as (count): the humble (7), the poor (5), of the humble (2), But the meek (1), for the meek (1), humble (1), the oppressed (1), to the poor (1), you meek (1).