Sand is formed chiefly by the grinding action of waves and is common along shores and dunes. In Scripture it symbolizes an innumerable multitude, great weight, or instability, depending on the context.
Definition
Sand is chiefly produced by the grinding action of waves, together with chemical changes that remove more soluble materials. It commonly contains silica or quartz, while the sands of Palestine are unusually calcareous because much of the country consists of limestone.
Biblical Usage
Sand commonly symbolizes an innumerable multitude, especially the children of Israel, but also enemies and other great gatherings. It can represent great weight and, in Jesus’ teaching, instability. It is also used for the abundance of grain, wisdom, days, quails, and God’s thoughts.
Historical Background
Along the Palestinian coast, sand contains substantial calcium carbonate. This may dissolve and be redeposited as cement between grains, forming porous sandstone that was easily worked and widely used in building.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>(chol; ammos; a variant of the more usual psammos; compare amathos, psamathos): Sand is principally produced by the grinding action of waves. This is accompanied by chemical solution, with the result that the more soluble constituents of the rock diminish in amount or disappear and the sands tend to become more or less purely silicious, silica or quartz being a common constituent of rocks and very Insoluble. The rocks of Palestine are so largely composed of limestone that the shore and dune sands are unusually calcareous, containing from 10 to 20 per cent of calcium carbonate. This is subject to solution and redeposition as a cement between the sand grains, binding them together to form the porous sandstone of the seashore, which is easily worked and is much used in building.</p><p>See Rock, III, (2).</p><p>Figurative:</p><p>(1) Used most often as a symbol of countless multitude; especially of the children of Israel (Ge 22:17; 32:12; 2Sa 17:11; 1Ki 4:20; Isa 10:22; 48:19; Jer 33:22; Ho 1:10; Ro 9:27; Heb 11:12); also of the enemies of Israel (Jos 11:4; Jud 7:12; 1Sa 13:5; compare Re 20:8). Joseph laid up gram as the sand of the sea (Ge 41:49); God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding and largeness of heart as the sand that is on the seashore (1Ki 4:29); Job says "I shall multiply my days as the sand" (Job 29:18); the multitude of quails provided for the Israelites in the desert is compared to the sand (Ps 78:27); the Psalmist says of the thoughts of God, "They are more in number than the sand" (Ps 139:18); Jeremiah, speaking of the desolation of Jerusalem, says that the number of widows is as the sand (Jer 15:8).</p><p>(2) Sand is also a symbol of weight (Job 6:3; Pr 27:3), and</p><p>(3) of instability (Mt 7:26).</p><p>It is a question what is meant by "the hidden treasures of the sand" in De 33:19.</p><p>Alfred Ely Day</p>
