Sand
Sand (חוֹל, chol, from its tendency to slide or roll; ἄμμος). A similitude taken from the aggregate sand of the sea is often used to express a very great multitude or a very great weight; or from a single sand, something very mean and trifling. God promises Abraham and Jacob to multiply their posterity as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the sea (Ge 22:17; Ge 32:12). Job (6:3) compares the weight of his misfortunes to that of the sand of the sea. Solomon says (Pr 27:3) that though sand and gravel are very heavy things, yet the anger of a fool is much heavier. Ecclesiasticus says that a fool is more insupportable than the weight of sand, lead, or iron (Ecclus. 22:15). The prophets magnify the omnipotence of God, who has fixed the sand of the shore for the boundaries of the sea, and has said to it, "Hitherto shalt thou come; but here thou shalt break thy foaming waves, and shalt pass no farther" (Jer 5:22). Our Savior tells us (Mt 7:26) that a fool lays the foundation of his house on the sand; whereas a wise man founds his house on a rock. Ecclesiasticus says (18:8) that the years of the longest life of man are but as a drop of water or as a grain of sand. Wisdom says (7:9) that all the gold in the world, compared to wisdom, is but as the smallest grain of sand. SEE DUST.
