Anaw (Humble)

(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) Numbers 12:3 NIV

עָנָו

aw-nawv'; or (by intermixture with H6041) עָנָיו ʻânâyv; from H6031; depressed (figuratively), in mind (gentle) or circumstances (needy, especially saintly):—humble, lowly, meek, poor. Compare H6041.

The root is ʿānâ, meaning, “afflict, oppressed, humble.” The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says this: “The primary meaning of ʿānâ is ‘to force,’ or ‘to try to force submission,’ and ‘to punish or inflict pain upon.’ The Wordbook also says “This adjective stresses the moral and spiritual condition of the godly as the goal of affliction implying that this state is joined with a suffering life rather than with one of worldly happiness and abundance.”

Can you see how this applies to Moses, who was tasked with leading the Israelites and those of the nations who joined with God into the Promised Land? Think of all Moses had to endure as the God-appointed mediator between God and mankind.

Bible scholar Skip Moen says ānāw 

"…is used of what one does to his enemy. It describes the discomfort Sarah inflicted upon Hagar (Gen 16:6) and what the lawless do to the defenseless (Ex 22:22. It speaks of the pain inflicted on Joseph’s ankles by the fetters (Ps 105:18). It sets forth what Egypt did to Israel (Ex 1:11–12: this was more than slavery). In Num 24:24 and Judges it describes the physical pain brought by war. It is used for what God does to his enemies (Deut 26:6)"

So was Moses the most humble man on earth? Or the most afflicted than any man on the face of the earth at the time of that being said of him? Does this give more insight into who the only other mediator between God and man is, the one of whom Moses said "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him." Do YOU know this mediator Moses spoke of????