Who Wants to Inherit the Earth When You Can See God?

The meek shall inherit the earth while it's the pure in heart that shall see God. So, I'll forget about meekness for now and work on my pureness of heart.

There was a time I might have thought along these lines. A time when I thought the Beatitudes were literal statements of cause and effect. A time before I was aware of the nature of Hebrew poetry. A hallmark of it, Hebrew poetry, is parallelism, that is, saying basically the same thing twice (or more) using different words. David, for one, wrote this way a lot, including Psalm 51, his prayer of repentance. Verses 2-7 provide a good example.

Ps 51:2-7
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
KJV

A New Testament example could be this verse from Paul's letter to Titus.

Titus 2:13
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
KJV

Look at the Beatitudes now. Do these look like parallelism? Eight or nine lines of it? Is Jesus waxing poetic here, maybe listing traits of his followers and the benefits that follow? I think so.

Matt 5:2-12
2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
KJV

We are (or will be) humble (poor in spirit), people who can mourn, meek, people that do hunger and thirst after righteousness( actually salvation would be a better translation), merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted for righteousness' sake, reviled for Christ's sake.

But our rewards are great. Now or in the future, we will be in the kingdom of heaven, be comforted, inherit the earth, be filled, obtain mercy, see God, be called the children of God.