sand

A collection of fine particles of stone, particularly siliceous stone. The vast deserts of the biblical lands as well as the long stretch of sandy coastal land along the Mediterranean Sea are the source of powerful metaphors, including the inestimable number of grains of sand (Gen 32:12; Gen 41:49; Job 29:18; Rom 9:27; Heb 11:12), sand’s heaviness (Prov 27:3), and burial in sand as a means of concealment (Exod 2:12; Deut 33:19). In the NT, the shifting, unstable qualities of sand provide an image for one of Jesus’s parables (Matt 7:26).