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We must not miss the essential meaning of this phrase in the literal
rendering, for the parable of Luke 13:24 -30 makes the people say:
'Thou hast taught in our streets',
and the larger part of the Lord's public ministry was carried out in the open
air.
We
must read Matthew 12:19 in the light of Matthew 6:5 where we learn
that the
hypocrite loved to pray 'in the corners of the streets', and in the
light of
Matthew 12:15: 'When Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself', or in the
light of
Matthew 8:4 'Tell no man', or of Matthew 17:9 'Tell the vision to no
man'.
Pride is a usual characteristic of the earthly conqueror, meekness,
however, is the distinctive mark of the heavenly Victor:
'Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most mighty, with Thy glory and Thy
majesty. And in Thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and
meekness and righteousness; and Thy right hand shall teach Thee
terrible things' (Psa. 45:3,4).
It is not natural to associate might, majesty and meekness, but it is
supernatural and spiritual:
'Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the
face of the earth' (Num. 12:3).
The man who could lead out an enslaved people, give them the law, mould them
as a nation, endure the rigours of forty years wandering, and die at the age
of one hundred and twenty years with eye undimmed and with natural force
unabated, is not the world's idea of meekness, but it was God's nevertheless.
What is the attitude of the worldly conqueror to those who can be
likened to 'the bruised reed'? It is that of ruthless removal from his path
and service. He has no room for weaklings. What is his attitude to fainting
hearts and ebbing valour, that flagging of the energy and enthusiasm which
can be likened to 'smoking flax'? It is that of the extinguisher. Yet what
do we read in Matthew 12 concerning heaven's Conqueror and such weaklings?
'A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not
quench' (Matt. 12:20).
When the Saviour would suggest the stern strength of John the Baptist He
said,
'What went ye out into the wilderness to see?
A reed shaken with the
wind?' (Matt. 11:7).
When the Roman soldiers would mock His claim to kingship they substituted the
mean and common reed for the sceptre.
Isaiah said of Israel: