Blessed Are The Gentle

What It Does Mean. So what does PRAUS mean? The ancients would use PRAUS to refer to a fever being reduced. It was used to refer to Xerxes “calming” his troops. It was also used to refer to leniency for the guilty, to a soft voice, to be easygoing, to not be easily offended and to be considerate. The best sense of PRAUS is illustrated for us by a trained dog, tamed horse, or a tamed lion - animals which were once wild.

When I was in my twenties, I remember discovering a stray, or wild cat in an old building. I attempted to capture the cat and all that I received for my efforts was an arm full of scratches. That cat was wild. It was not tame. It was unfriendly and a fighter. It was not PRAUS. PRAUS has the idea of yielding like a domesticated animal. This third beatitude could read as, “Happy are those who lovingly defer or yield to others.” Is that you? Most of us want others to lovingly defer to us but not the reverse.

PRAUS does not have the idea of weakness. A horse or lion that has been tamed is not weak. The animal has learned to yield and to control its natural instincts. Over the centuries of time, many lion tamers have been mauled, chewed on, and hospitalized by a trained lion because they abused the animal in some way.

Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth. (NASB) Num. 12:3

This Old Testament passage was written in Hebrew. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, it was also translated into Greek - the Septuagint. This Greek translation uses PRAUS for the word we read as “humble” in Numbers 12:3. Moses was PRAUS. He was “tamed power.” Moses had killed an Egyptian solder. He had stood before the Pharaoh of Egypt and declared that God wanted His people to be released from bondage. God had performed miracles through him. He had crossed the Red Sea, visited God on a mountain, and smashed the Ten Commandments in anger when he saw the Israelites worshipping another god. Moses was not weak. He had power, boldness, and discipline. Yet, he was PRAUS. He was calm, not easily offended, and yielded to others.

In Numbers 12:1-13 we read that Miriam and Aaron had spoken against Moses because he had married a Cushite woman. So God came to his rescue and rebuked both of them,

He said, “Hear now My words: if there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. “Not so, with My servant Moses, he is faithful in all My household; with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?” (NASB) Num. 12:6-8

An Example - Jesus Christ. Jesus is a great example for us. In Matthew 21 we are told that Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Then the Holy Spirit reminds us that this was a fulfillment of the prophecy recorded in Zechariah 9:9.

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, ‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.’” (NASB) Matt. 21:4-5

The prophecy was correct. Jesus did ride on a donkey when he came into Jerusalem. If you had a choice between riding on a donkey or a horse which would you choose? Which would you prefer?

The Talmud quotes King Sapores, who after reading the prophecy in Zechariah, said, “You say your Messiah will come on an ass, I will send him a brave horse.” In ancient times kings, generals, and noble men rode horses and not donkeys. Jesus did not come on a “brave horse” but on a poor animal of low regard. The God of the universe could have come on a “brave horse” to impress, to honor Himself, to obtain their submission, and to receive their adoration. But he did not. One who is PRAUS does not have an “I” problem. Jesus was tamed power.