Inherit the earth. Is that a good thing?

⁵ “Blessed are the ^*gentle, for they shall inherit the earth."
(*or humble or meek)

I know that God is good.
I know that God is the Giver of good gifts.
 That is why this beatitude has always puzzled me.
That is why this promise never made sense to me.

As if the gentle, humble, meek don't already suffer enough,
their inheritance is the earth?

Think about it-
does inheriting this earth excite you?
Frankly, it is not much of a motivating force for me to be gentle or humble or meek if my "reward" is this earth!.

Recently I remembered something that changes the way I read this.
The people Jesus was teaching were of an oral tradition.
Stories, history, Scripture was passed from one generation to another orally.

The closest thing we have in our culture is a group of people who have a deep bond forged by a common interest or life event.
If it is movies, when one person begins to quote a line and everyone is in the same place as the quoter-no explanation is necessary. If the bond is based on a life event, one word can can transport the whole group back to a specific event or time. An outsider may not "get it" but an insider definitely does.

Reading Matthew 5:5 with this in mind changes everything.
When the people heard,
“Blessed are the ^*gentle, for they shall inherit the earth."
their minds would automatically connect this promise to other realted teachings and Scripture.
One that has been brought to my attention is Psalm 37.

Do not fret because of evildoers,
Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
² For they will wither quickly like the grass
And fade like the green herb.
³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and ^[a]cultivate faithfulness.
⁴ Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
⁵ Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.

⁷ Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
⁸ Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
⁹ For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
¹⁰ Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more;
And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.
¹¹ But the humble will inherit the land
And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

¹² The wicked plots against the righteous
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
¹³ The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees his day is coming.
¹⁴ The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow
To cast down the afflicted and the needy,
To slay those who are upright in conduct.
¹⁵ Their sword will enter their own heart,
And their bows will be broken.

¹⁶ Better is the little of the righteous
Than the abundance of many wicked.
¹⁷ For the arms of the wicked will be broken,
But the Lord sustains the righteous.
¹⁸ The Lord knows the days of the blameless,
And their inheritance will be forever.
¹⁹ They will not be ashamed in the time of evil,
And in the days of famine they will have abundance.
²⁰ But the wicked will perish;
And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures,
They vanish—like smoke they vanish away.
²¹ The wicked borrows and does not pay back,
But the righteous is gracious and gives.
²² For those blessed by Him will inherit the land,
But those cursed by Him will be cut off.

²³ The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
²⁴ When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.
²⁵ I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or his descendants begging bread.
²⁶ All day long he is gracious and lends,
And his descendants are a blessing.

²⁷ Depart from evil and do good,
So you will abide forever.
²⁸ For the Lord loves justice
And does not forsake His godly ones;
They are preserved forever,
But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.
²⁹ The righteous will inherit the land
And dwell in it forever.
³⁰ The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
And his tongue speaks justice.
³¹ The law of his God is in his heart;
His steps do not slip.
³² The wicked spies upon the righteous
And seeks to kill him.
³³ The Lord will not leave him in his hand
Or let him be condemned when he is judged.
³⁴ Wait for the Lord and keep His way,
And He will exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

³⁵ I have seen a wicked, violent man
Spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil.
³⁶ Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more;
I sought for him, but he could not be found.
³⁷ Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright;
For the man of peace will have a posterity.
³⁸ But transgressors will be altogether destroyed;
The posterity of the wicked will be cut off.
³⁹ But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
He is their strength in time of trouble.
⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and delivers them;
He delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
Because they take refuge in Him.

(Thank you biblegateway.com)

I am convinced that when those listening heard "inherit the earth" one of the places their minds went was to this Psalm. (Did you notice in verses 9-11 the reference to inheriting the land?)

Look at the teachings and encouragement in this Psalm.
Basically, evil doers will perish.
Those who obey God are helped and kept by Him.

Now when I read  “Blessed are the ^*gentle, for they shall inherit the earth."
I am no longer an "outsider", I am an "insider".

I am convinced that the reward is not the earth as much as it is the promise of being always in God's care. That is  high motivation to be gentle/humble/meek.