A Humble Man

Recently, I was reading the Book of Numbers, which I have read many times before. When I reached Chapter 12, I completely stopped. It was as if the verse was a new insertion I had not read before: “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any person who was on the face of the earth.” The Amplified Bible expands the translation of humble to include “gentle, kind, [and] devoid of self-righteousness.”

For those unfamiliar with the Bible, Moses is as highly regarded as it gets. In the Old Testament, Moses led his people out of Egypt to freedom and regularly communed with God. In the New Testament, centuries after Moses’s death, he is mentioned 93 times. Often, these references are descriptions of the laws that Moses gave to Israel, which speaks to how Moses was the benchmark by which all others were judged. This greatness raises an interesting juxtaposition: Moses characterized humility, yet he was great. For Americans, these terms seem nearly contradictory.

When I gave a sermon on pride a few years ago, I described the shortcoming as follows: “It is easy to see the stark effects of pride with kings, political leaders, or celebrities, but pride is an invasive sickness that sneaks, deceives, and can ambush us all.”

In Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, he addressed the subject with a bit more of a wink. “[T]here is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive…even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.”

The subject of pride has been on my mind as I have exchanged correspondence with my friend, Jay Hall. Jay recently wrote about the subject of humility as it relates to individuals and the larger context of leaders and lawmakers (County Comment – Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 on Intellectual Humility). Here is a key excerpt:

Intellectual humility is best described as a way of thinking, or a way of decision-making. It starts with the premise that you may not be right and, rather than rejecting challenges, you seek out dissent and new information as a way of challenging your own conclusions.

Jay continued to discuss how a mindset of intellectual humility is essential for sound decision-making and leadership. While this trait may be a subset of humility’s broader definition, it is insightful how being humble is also part of living a great life.

Despite the seeming tension between humility and greatness, it makes sense when you look at the larger scope of human development. It is a common experience for adults to look back and admire how much their parents knew. As Mark Twain put it, “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” If our learning and improvement stopped at 14 or 21 or beyond, how ignorant would we be as the decades pass? My hope is that I continue the Socratic ideal that “what I do not know, I [will] not think I know.”

Proverbs 9:7-8 puts it more starkly:

Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults;
whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.

Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you;
rebuke the wise and they will love you.

The modern English translation for verse seven reads like this: “Correct a worthless bragger, and all you will get are insults and injuries.” While it is easy to identify politicians who respond to opposing ideas with insults and abuse, not one of us is immune from it. If we instead “seek out dissent and new information as a way of challenging your own conclusions,” there is an opportunity to grow in wisdom instead of succumbing to foolishness.

The virtues that our culture celebrates strike me as a contributing factor to intellectual pride, and it makes me think of a comment from Commodus to his father, Marcus Aurelius in the movie, Gladiator:

You wrote to me once, listing the four chief virtues: Wisdom, justice, fortitude and temperance. As I read the list, I knew I had none of them. But I have other virtues, father. Ambition. That can be a virtue when it drives us to excel. Resourcefulness, courage, perhaps not on the battlefield, but...there are many forms of courage. Devotion, to my family and to you. But none of my virtues were on your list.

Commodus’s resentful response led to his downfall, but he missed a key point from his father’s message: those virtues of wisdom, justice, fortitude, and temperance can all be added by following the path of humility. None of us should reach a point where we conclude, “whelp, I’ve reached the pinnacle. I’m as good as I can be.” Such resignation is in itself pride. Humility is the cure.

Despite this, it seems unlikely that many will aspire to be more humble “than any person…on the face of the earth.” Yet we may all want to reconsider pursuing this underrated trait. Many desire for greatness, while few desire to be humble. Moses and others suggest that living humbly is the best starting point—and perhaps the essential virtue—to be great.