Scripture Patterns of Meekness.
By Matthew Henry
Good examples help very much to illustrate and enforce good rules, bringing them closer to particular cases, and showing them to be practicable. Precedents are of great use in law. If we would be found walking in the same spirit, and in the same steps with those who have gone before us, this is the spirit by which we must be actuated, and these the steps in which we must walk; this is the way of good men, for wise men to walk in. Let us go forth then “by the footsteps of the flock.” We are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses, who will bear their testimony to the comfort of meekness, and upon trial recommend it to us; but we shall only single out some few from the Scripture. Abraham was a pattern of meekness, and he was the “father of the faithful.” As he was famous for faith, so was he for meekness; for the more we have of faith toward God, the more we shall have of meekness toward men. How meek was he, when there was a strife betwixt his herdsmen and Lot’s, which, had it proceeded, might have been of ill consequence, for “the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land;” but it was reasonably overruled by the prudence of Abraham. “Let there be no strife, I pray thee;” though he might command peace, yet for love’s sake he beseeches. Every word has an air of meekness, and a tendency to peace. And when the expedient for the prevention of strife was their parting from each other, though Lot was the junior, yet Abraham for peace’ sake, quitted his right, and gave Lot the choice; and the gracious visit which God gave him thereupon, was an abundant recompense for his mildness and condescension. Another instance of Abraham’s meekness we have when Sarah quarrelled with him so unreasonably about her maid, angry at that which she herself had done. “My wrong be upon thee; the Lord judge between thee and me.” Abraham might have replied, “You may thank yourself, it was your own contrivance;” but laying aside the present provocation, he replies, “Behold thy maid is in thy hand.” He did not answer passion with passion, that would have put all into a flame; but he answered passion with meekness, so all was quiet. Another instance of Abraham’s meekness we have in the transactions between him and Abimelech, his neighbor. He first enters into a covenant of friendship with him, which was confirmed by an oath, and then [not reproaches him, but] reproves him for a wrong his servants had done him about a well of water; which gives us this rule of meekness, “Not to break friendship for a small matter of difference;” such occasions there are, which they that are disposed to it might quarrel about; but “what is that between me and thee?” If meekness rule, matters at variance may be fairly reasoned and adjusted, without violation or infringement of friendship. This is the example of that great patriarch. Moses was a pattern of meekness, it was his master grace, that in which, more than in any other, he excelled. This testimony the Holy Spirit gives to him that “the man Moses was very meek, ABOVE ALL THE MEN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH.” This character is given of him upon occasion of an affront he received from those of his own house; which intimates that his quiet and patient hearing it, was the greatest proof and instance of his meekness. Those can bear any provocations, that can bear it from their own relations. The meekness of Moses, as the patience of Job, was tried on all hands. Armor of proof is sure to be shot at. It would seem that his wife was none of the best humored women; for what a passion was she in about the circumcising of her son, when she reproached him as a “bloody husband;” and we do not read of one word that he replied, but let her have her saying. When God was angry, and Zipporah angry, it was best for him to be quiet. The lot of his public work was cast “in the provocation, in the day of temptation, in the wilderness,” but as if all the mutinies of murmuring Israel were too little to try the meekness of Moses, his own brother and sister, those of no less figure than Miriam the prophetess, and Aaron the saint of the Lord, quarrel with him, speak against him, envy his honor, reproach his marriage, and are ready to head a rebellion against him. God heard this and was displeased; Num. xii, 2, 9; but we do not find that he was moved by it, made any complaint to God, or answer to them, nor a word he said, till we find him praying heartily for his provoking sister, who was then under the tokens of God’s displeasure for the affront she gave him. The less a man strives for himself, the more is God engaged in honor and faithfulness to appear for him. When Christ said, “I seek not my own glory,” he presently added, “but there is one that seeketh and judgeth.” And it was upon this occasion that Moses obtained this good report, “He was the meekest of all the men on the earth.” “No man,” says Bishop Hall, “could have given greater proof of courage than Moses. He confronted Pharaoh in his own court, not fearing the wrath of the king; he durst look God in the face amidst the terrors of mount Sinai, and draw near to the thick darkness where God was; and yet that Spirit that made and knew his heart, said he was the meekest, mildest man upon the earth. Mildness and fortitude may well lodge together in one breast, which corrects the mistake of those that will allow none valiant but the fierce.” The meekness of Moses qualified him to be a magistrate, especially among a people so very provoking, that they gave him occasion to use all the meekness he had, and all little enough to bear their “manners” in the wilderness. When they murmured against him, arrayed his authority, and were ready to stone him, he resented these provocations with very little of personal application or concern; but instead of using his interest in Heaven to summon plagues upon them, he made it his business to stand in the “gap,” and by his intercessions for them, to turn away the wrath of God from them. And yet we must observe that, though Moses was the meekest man in the world, yet, when God’s honor and glory were concerned, no one was more warm and zealous; witness his resentment of the golden calf, when, in a holy indignation at that abominable iniquity, he broke the tables of stone. And when Korah and his crew invaded the priest’s office, he said unto the Lord, “Respect not thou their offering.” He that was a lamb in his own cause, was a lion in the cause of God. Displeasure at sin, as sin, is very well consistent with reigning meekness. Nor can it be forgotten, that though Moses was eminent for meekness, yet he once transgressed the laws of it; when he was old, and his spirit was provoked, he “spake unadvisedly with his lips, and it went ill with him for it;” Ps. cvi, 33; which is written for our admonition; not to justify our rash anger, but to engage us to stand upon our guard at all times against it, that he who thinks he stands may take heed lest he fall, and that he who has thus fallen may not wonder if he come under the rebukes of Divine Providence for it in this world, as Moses did, and yet may not despair of being pardoned upon repentance. [Matthew Henry.