The meek will inherit the earth, or what is left of it. Not sure if it was meant as a promise or an encouragement, but Matthew's 'book' was the first in the New Testament, which sang praise of Jesus as the fulfilment of the Jewish prophesy, according to scholars. It also inspired an 'English Version' of the Bible in the Sixteenth century. Generations came and went, but the meek were often the first to be slaughtered. So I don't know which timeframe Matthew had in mind? But at the time of writing various 'not-so-meek' people are busy provoking a nuclear Holocaust.
Being born and raised in a secular, classic-liberal family, I cannot speak for those who have Faith. But will you please ask Matthew in your prayers to hurry if you think he was talking about a peaceful world? Peace was concluded between Israel and Hamas, and within hours Israel was bombing Gaza again according to reports. Moreover, various 'observers' feel it is just a matter of months, at most, before Israel and the US will attack Iran again. But first they need to regime-change Venezuela by military means, with a bogus excuse of going after drugs-traffickers, putting in place a lady which won no elections, except that of the Nobel Peace Prize college, which previously selected Obama, the man who started more wars than any other American president up till now. Bombing the Hell out of China will have to wait, because NATO is stuck in Ukraine. But don't worry, with new long-range Tomahawk missiles provided and operated by the US and European allies, the prediction is that Russia *will* experience a revolt of the people who want peace. (Or Odessa will become Russian too, and announced asymmetric Russian responses will hurt the US as well).
Peace?
Ever since the Second World War ended, we've grown accustomed to talking about peace as our *own* country not being confronted by the enemy in our own neighbourhood. Odd though it may sound, the NATO-war in Yugoslavia, meant to fracture and subdue that country to NATO's wishes, seems to have been forgotten entirely by those who claim that Europe had decades of peace until Russia decided to launch it's 'Special Military Operation', modelled on that example of NATO's war in Yugoslavia, which pretended to be a 'peace mission', since the people of certain regions of Yugoslavia were suppressed. Which is why NATO brought Bin Laden and his crew to Bosnia. No finer example of a meek fellow we could trust with our lives.
The concept of peace is different for different people. Take Donald Tusk, according to Wiki he is a liberal like me, but he came out in favour of blowing up the Northstream pipeline, a terrorist act which ended affordable gas for the European industry, without a declared war. Now, any liberal like me takes offence, since trade is known to be the bedrock of peace, while terrorisme is the shortest route to serious trouble. The pipeline itself was legal, there cannot be any debate about that. Nor is there any discussion about the fact that it provided Europe with much needed energy for it's dwindling industry. Dwindling, but until three years ago still producing stuff which was in demand around the world because of it's high quality, and therefore essential to keep the largely import-dependent European Union afloat.
The meek are stepped upon by people who will have them for breakfast, but if you want someone to promote re-introducing the wolves, or sing the praise of terrorists, don't look any further than the meek. According to my on-line dictionary meek may go beyond 'mild mannered' to mean 'cowed submissiveness'. They sign up as 'followers', relieving them from the obligation to *think* for themselves. Make no mistake. Someone may look and sound like a leader, but when shit comes to shove, they lack a spine. No way you will find them biting the dust in the trenches under fire in the wars they helped to bring about. Sheep, all of them. Advocating for war because it is expected of them.
Will they inherit the earth?
As what? As last weasel standing after they've thrown everybody else under the bus? It is possible. If that was Matthew's message from God as he interpreted it, our Lord and Master is a cynic. In which case it is fitting that the British version of that Holy Script is called the 'Matthew Bible', because they are always pushing for more war in remote places to enlarge their Empire from the safety of their palaces and bunkers. Although that also forgotten war on European soil in Northern Ireland, geographically obviously not part of the UK, did scare them a bit, I'd say. I'm not talking about the average British Joe or Jane here. Meek is not a fitting description for those hooligans travelling with their soccer clubs, and you don't want to walk in their shoes. They are surveilled, pushed around, and being arrested and sentenced whenever they revolt. I saw a clip of a small frightened Britsh boy, age ten perhaps, who was arrested by the police for fishing in the river Thames. And recently a bunch of people who blew their lid on social media after a 'coloured man' raped a girl were sentenced to three years in the slammer, which was more than the rapist got. Which is not to say I want to judge anyone involved on the basis of some social media post, but the UK isn't exactly my inspiration when it comes to picking an inherently peaceful society. Just saying.
And here I should be saying: 'I don't want to alarm you', but in fact I do. I do not know who is actually steering this ship, but with every new day this experience is moving closer to a rather dark comedy which released during the Covid pandemic, receiving the 'Palme d'Or' in Cannes. 'Triangle of Sadness'. This shit-show is going to end one way or the other, and if we refuse to come to our senses, because we are having so much fun, it is going to end badly. I am under no obligation to say 'Yes!' to Donald Tusk, Keir Starmer, Emanuel Macron, Mark Rutte or Ursula von der Leyen, because I'm not crew on board their Titanic. And even if I were, then this is the moment to refuse politely to do their bidding, and stop drinking the Kool Aid.
Postscript:
Non of this is intended to offend religious readers. All I ever want my readers to do, is to *think* before they sign away their lives.