Moses was the Meekest of Men

Meek and humble are words that point at states, at different times sometimes very different states. What would it mean for Moses to simply be the most humble? What kinds of humble-adjacent states of being could be different from being humble, or definitely not humble? Can someone be humble but not meek, or meek but not humble?

Part of the work “humble” does is it’s ambiguous about whether or not you are physically poor or simply do not act like you are rich. I feel like “meek” does the same with physical weakness. In that sense Moses, possessed of incredible power through his spiritual gifts and possibly a strong body, was nothing like a bully with them, maybe with more potential to be meek than someone weaker than him could have.

If, as tradition has it, Moses himself wrote the Book of Numbers, the claim.is self-refuting.

Unless meekness and humility are not the same.

Those two words translate the same Hebrew in the KJV.

https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6035.htm

It seems at least from the Book of Mormon that they refer to different traits – there are multiple times when both humility and meekness are listed together as qualities to pursue (ex. Mosiah 3:19)

Elder Bednar defines the two this way:
“Whereas humility generally denotes dependence upon God and the constant need for His guidance and support, a distinguishing characteristic of meekness is a particular spiritual receptivity to learning both from the Holy Ghost and from people who may seem less capable, experienced, or educated, who may not hold important positions, or who otherwise may not appear to have much to contribute.”

In this post Mr. G talks about the vice pair of which the synthesis vice is damnation.
https://www.jrganymede.com/2026/02/09/a-vice-pair-for-damnation/

It seems to me that – at least by Elder Bednar’s definition here – that meekness is the opposite synthetic virtue, which makes sense for me of the statement in Moroni 7:44 that ‘none is acceptable before God save the meek and lowly in heart’

Elder Eyring also has some cool thoughts on meekness and humility in this BYU devotional, although it isn’t clear to me if he’s making a distinction between the two or not
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/henry-b-eyring/listen-together/

“Meek” is different in the NT

https://biblehub.com/greek/4239.htm

Apparently meaning something like ‘gentle, restrained’

Though the famous verse about ‘meek and lowly of heart,’ ‘lowly’ is apparently translated as ‘humble’ elsewhere in the NT

Thou wert the meekest man that ever ate in hall among ladies; and thou wert the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in the rest.