Blessed are the meek

I ran into a new perspective that I hadn't heard before about the verse from Matthew 5:5, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." It got me to thinking a bit. Here are a few sentences from Inherit the Earth, by Gary North, it is found on page 27 in the chapter on Dominion by Subordination.

"God is the ruler over His creation. Men must answer to God and be responsible to Him. The basis of any man's rule over the creatures and the resources of the earth is his humility and his willing obedience to a sovereign and all-knowing God. This is what Jesus mean when he announced "Blessed are the meek..." He mean meek before God. He did not mean "wimps before men." He meant just the opposite. We need humility to take authority.

We generally think in terms of the meek being "wimps", or mild-mannered men and women. This idea from Gary North challenges this idea. In some ways this is more consistent with some other passages, for example the instance in Acts 4 where Peter and John had just been released by the Sanhedrin and chastised to not speak in this name again. First, John and Peter's answer did not show meekness before the Sanhedrin, they said in Acts 4:29, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God.". Later they gathered with the believers and prayed for boldness in Acts 4:29, "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness."