ABSTRACT
It is curious and at the same time thought-provoking that in most translations of the Bible, whether in English or any other language, the nobility of the Sermon on the Mount is for modern readers lessened by the inclusion of the one word “meek” in the Beatitudes … “The meek shall inherit the earth.” This curious lessening of stature is probably accounted for by the fact that the word “meek” has in some ways lost its significance, its true meaning. In modern day parlance, the word “meek” carries with it the connotation of a trembling, fearful, self-effacing individual, yet an individual not all that innocent. As we make use of the word, it carries with it an image somehow related to the hand-twisting, bowing and scraping figure of Uriah Heep. Being “meek” is, in the modern awareness, the equivalent of being helpless or weak. There is one translation of the Bible, however, a French translation, which makes use of an entirely different image for the ultimate inheritor of the earth. The French say, in their usual precise and effective way, that, “The debonaire shall inherit the earth.” What a lovely idea lies beneath their use of that particular word. To be debonaire is to care-less! Just so, the inheritor of the earth in the French mind is one who simply could care less about himself, yielding up his body and spirit with absolute freedom, knowing full well that his mind, his body, his spirit, his soul, are safe in the hands of his Creator, thus making it a simple, obvious matter to offer his entire faith in his Creator, with no other thought than confidently giving himself in that faith.
