VI: The Prophets' Visions

Sand of the Sea

the bounded multitude without covenant standing

Root
Jer 5:22 · chol (H2344)
Old Testament chain
  1. Gen 22:17
  2. Josh 11:4
  3. Judg 7:12
  4. Job 38:10-11
  5. Jer 5:22
  6. Hos 1:10
  7. Rev 20:8
New Testament
Rev 12:17-13:1; Rev 13:1; Rev 20:8

Yahuah "placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it" (Jer 5:22). Sand is first a promise of number to Abraham (Gen 22:17), then the countless hosts arrayed against Israel at Merom and in the valley of Jezreel, "as the sand by the sea side for multitude" (Josh 11:4; Judg 7:12). The dragon stands on that shoreline (Rev 12:17-13:1), and Gog's host is numbered "as the sand of the sea" (Rev 20:8): mass humanity without a firm covenant foundation, a multitude that looks like a nation but has no standing before the Judge. Number never substitutes for covenant; only the sealed are counted by name.

From The Courtroom of Heaven, pp. 199, 250