MATTHEW 5:5

Q:  Based on good hermeneutics, how would Jesus’ disciples have understood this verse? (Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.) Our Sunday School quarterly says it mean “new heavens and new earth” but I doubt they would they have thought that’s what Jesus meant? I think the Greek word means “land.” YLT translates it “land.” One commentator says it means: They shall have all things really necessary for life and godliness.

The Greek word in this verse is ge. Vine's Word Studies says that it can have a variety of possible meanings including: arable land, the whole world in contrast to the heavens, the inhabited earth, a country or territory, or land.

Other Greek words for earth (Dictionary of New Testament Theology) include:

kosmos – world order or system

oikoumene – the inhabited earth

agros – cultivated land or field

chous – dust or dirt

The word ge is also the same one used in Revelation to refer to the New Heaven and New Earth. So that is a possible usage here in Matthew 5:5 as well. Much depends on the context in which the word occurs.

This saying of Jesus happens to be a direct quote from Psalm 37:11 so that is the context we need to start with. In that original setting, it undoubtedly refers to living in the land of Palestine immediately, not particularly at some future date. This is the feeling of an historical premillennialist (J. Barton Payne, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, p. 112), an amillennialist (Anthony A. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future, p. 281), and A. A. Anderson (Psalms 1-72). Therefore some say that “land,” meaning the Promised Land, may perhaps be the simple meaning of ge in the Beatitudes. (New Bible Commentary)

However, as R. T. France points out, there is a general tendency of the New Testament to treat Old Testament promises of land in “non-territorial ways.” (The Gospel of Matthew) Thus, “land” may equal the new promised land. (David Hill, The Gospel of Matthew) Or, as Craig L. Blomberg puts it, “land” is generalized to mean reigning with Christ over the whole world and ultimately in the re-created heaven and earth. (Matthew) Hoekema agrees with this conclusion.

There is one other argument pointing to this same conclusion. Considering the New Testament context of this verse, several commentators treat this beatitude as virtually equivalent to the first beatitude promising the Kingdom of Heaven to the poor in spirit. (W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, Matthew)

In conclusion, it is best to take this passage as having two aspects, present and future. The meek are promised general blessings in this life coupled with complete fulfillment in the New Heaven and New Earth. (William Hendricksen, The Gospel of Matthew; James Montgomery Boice, The Sermon on the Mount)