Who Inherits the Earth? Not Just the Meek!

I found this kind of interesting.   One of the common Scriptures we hear quoted, especially by the Kumbaya Jesus crowd, is that the meek shall inherit the earth.   And they seem to equate meek with wimpy.  I had never really noticed before but Scripture tells us that more than just the meek shall inherit the earth.  Before we look at that though, let's take a look at the definition of meek and see if it means what they think it means.

meek

1. humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others.

2. overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame.

3. Obsolete . gentle; kind.

Pasted from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/meek>

Now I'm not sure exactly which definition the Bible is referring to put I'm pretty sure it isn't definition 2.  I don't believe God calls us to be spiritless.  I think humbly patient is the best fit in my book. 

Now let's look at the Scriptures.

Psalms 25:12-13(NKJV)

12    Who is the man that fears the Lord?      Him shall £He teach in the way £He chooses.

13    He himself shall dwell in prosperity,     And his descendants shall inherit the earth.

Here it tells us that the descendants of a man that fears the Lord shall inherit the earth.

Psalms 37:9(NKJV)

9    For evildoers shall be cut off;      But those who wait on the Lord,     They shall inherit the earth.

Those who wait on the Lord shall inherit the earth.  Well if we use the humbly patient definition of meek that would fit.  Humbly patient sounds like waiting to me.

Psalms 37:11(NKJV)

11    But the meek shall inherit the earth,     And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

This is the one we are all familiar with.

Psalms 37:22(NKJV)

22    For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth,     But those cursed by Him shall be cut off.

Those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth.  Doesn't say anything about being meek does it?  There were many warriors throughout the Bible, King David comes to mind, who were blessed by God.  There was nothing meek about David if you equate meek with wimpy.  Even King David was meek however if you use the definition of humbly patient.  He was blessed by God and based on this Scripture it tells us that King David too, shall inherit the earth. 

Also note what it says about those cursed by God.  They shall be cut off.  Who does God curse?  His enemies.  Those who have rejected His son Jesus.

Matthew 5:5(NKJV)

5    Blessed are the meek,      For they shall inherit the earth.

And here we have it affirmed in the NT.

Gives it a bit of a different understanding doesn't it? 

Humbly patient, I like that!