Meek

The stallion was originally wild. But with proper submission to training, the horse becomes useful to it's master. It gave up it's own will to the will of the master. A poor analogy, but one that is somewhat close in some ways. The flesh shrinks from such a description, but isn't that what Jesus meant when He told us to die to self so we can live as unto God.

A common "street-level" understanding of meek is a weak and timid person. Common usage of those who do not refer to a dictionary of proper use can often be heard to describe a weak, fearful, head-hung-down person as meek. No , that is a fearful and weak person. Scripture tells us to hold fast the form of sound words. 2nd Timothy 1:13 How can we do that unless we study the word, it's history, and it's true application by those who are learned.

Jesus describes himself as being meek in Matthew 11:29 See also Matthew 21:5 "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, mee, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

1 Peter 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

meek, obedient, well trained, ????? lowly, humble, In psalm 25:9 the meek will he guide in judgment this gives emphasis to the humble side of the word

not too proud to learn

KJV says for Num 12:3 (Now the man Moses [was] very meek, above all the men which [were] upon the face of the earth.) the entire verse is inside parenthesis.

The word H6035 in Strong's Concordance is anav pronounced aw-nawv first appears in Num 12:3 Anav is a variant on H6031 and 6041 H6031, anah pronounced aw-naw is used as early as Gen 15:13 and a total of 80 times in scripture of the KJV according to Strong H6031 is translated prior to Numbers 12:3 as afflict, dealing hard, submit oneself under,afflict, defiled as in raped, afflicted, Deu 8:2 uses H6031 saying God led thee these forty yers in the wilderness to humble thee

Deu 8:3 And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna...; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

H6031, anah, is also used in Exodus 10:3 in the context of God saying through Moses and Aaron to the Pharaoh, "How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before ME? Another words, giving up your will to submit to God's will is the context, along with a sense of turning from pride doing your own thing contrary to God.

So when this third variant H6035 anav is used, it takes on the story of the life of Moses. The events and circumstances that happened in his life. What the Pharaoh was commanded to do and refused, to submit and do God's will, using the word H6031, anah, where the word is translated HUMBLE thyself before GOD. Pharaoh refused to anav himself. This third word being a variant of two previously used and similar words, takes on a new meaning based upon his story. This new meaning includes the previous two and strengthens those parts concident with his life story, of willingly being abased by others so he can follow and do the will of God. This word develops just as Agape does for divine love, and the word womb for mercy providing a total forgiveness and provision for all necessities of life.

So this word does not mean "intimidated", nor weakling, nor fearful, as in one who is unconfident or walking in fear of man; rather this word, is used to describe one who though he has been put down by others still has the courage and confidence to walk with faith toward GOD and to seek to do God's will. The world tries to tie meek with cowed, tail between legs, shoulders pulled in together, and fearful,and weak. Rediscover how Jesus and Paul and Moses were meek. That is the sense of such verses as Ps 9:18 the expectation of the Moses-style-meek shall not perish forever Ps 22:26 the Moses-style-meek shall eat and be satisfied, they shall praise the LORD that seek Him, your heart shall live forever. Ps 25:9 the Moses-style-meek will He guide in judgment: and the Moses-style-meek will He teach His way Ps 37:11 the Moses-style-meek shall inherit the earth and delight themselves in the abundance of peace Ps 76:9 , 147:6, Proverb 14:21 happy is he that has mercy on the Moses-style-meek
Yes, the meek-Moses-style may often be also poor, but that is only the trial of their meekness-Moses-style who gave up the throne of Egypt, and of Christ who gave up the throne of heaven to come down to earth as a man.

Not all the poor are Moses-style-meek, and not all the Moses-style-meek are poor; and those who may be are not necessarily always poor.

The anav (Moses-style-meek) also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Isa 66:2 "...but to this man will I look, to him that is Moses-style-meek and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Amo 2:7, 8:4

Zep 2:3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye anav of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD's anger. So the meek are instructed to seek righteousness and also meekness more. To increase in meekness.

Jesus teaches us that to be ashamed of Him and/or His word is to put ourselves in position for God being ashamed of us. What if Moses had taken on the shame which the Pharaoh had tried to put on him? Then he may have stayed in the palace so he could keep Pharaoh's favorable opinion of him, instead of seeking God's good opinion of him. We must endure the shame of the world when called to do it, if we are to be meek in the sight of God. We must endure loss of this present world if we are to be meek unto God when He calls us to a different path.

H6041, aniy pronounced aw-nee, is first used in Exodus 22:25 with the sense of poor as in money poor and needy.

Drawing from the story of what happened to Moses, and using the story of his life to interpret the word "anav" which first appears in Numbers 12:3, this is the picture shown: He was attacked and some sought even to kill him.

He accepted humiliation and shame for the sake of his God.

He obeyed God and sought God and served God, regardless of the cost to himself, which was great in earthly terms.

But as Paul wrote in Philipians 3:7 Those things which were gain in worldly terms, he counted as loss for Christ.

So the meekest man seeks to serve and obey God even at the cost of great personal put-down, even at being scorned by others.

This fits Jesus, the apostle Paul, and Moses.

The Hebrew language of scripture has few words compared to English.

Those words take on various meanings according to context.

Numbers 12:3 I know this is rough and imperfect. I see as through a glass darkly. This given above is what I now see.
Hopefully it helps some. This should help see a difference between scripture using the three different forms, variations of Hebrew words which can all be translated in English as meek or some other word which people also get confused.

(Question for the day: Why do kings build castles with walls ? To protect their peace of their family and things they love most. So we don't really need a ton of money, when what we want is peace to enjoy what we love the most.... so having sufficient, let us therewith be content for contentment is a word dispised mostly in western cultures but of great value to those who are wise, and in all the ancient writings, contentment with godliness is great gain but to seek after riches is to bring problems....

there is a difference between doing good things that result in good results and just plain seeking after increase of money to the end of having it burst out the barns