3 ¶ A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.
A stone can be so heavy that it takes many strong arms to move it.
Genesis 39:1 ¶ Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. 2 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well’s mouth. 3 And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well’s mouth in his place.
Or an appearance (which is what an angel is Isaiah 63:9; Judges 2:1) of God.
Matthew 28:2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
Sand, and particularly wet sand, is also very heavy and weighty (notice how heavy and weighty are synonyms based on the way they are used in context in our Proverb.)
Job 6:3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.
So, the fool’s wrath weighs him down and destroys him and sometimes those around him.
Job 5:2 For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
In the Middle Ages there was a torture and execution method known as peine forte et dure where a person was crushed slowly under a great weight. Christian martyrs were sometimes pressed to death in this way as related in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. In some Muslim countries today homosexuals are crushed to death.
A fool’s abiding wrath is heavier than the stones that killed prisoners in olden days and now. It weighs heavy in his heart like Nabal’s and will result in his death (1 Samuel 25:3, 37.) A fool has a hot temper, gets angry quickly, and has trouble controlling his wrath. Remember, that wrath is anger when it has boiled into action.
Genesis 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
Hosea 13:11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.
Although, like fierce and cruel, wrath and anger are fairly synonymous.
Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Who of you boasts of having a short fuse, a hot temper? “Oh, I’m quick to get angry but also quick to forgive and forget,” you say? You are a fool.
Proverbs 12:16 A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.
Get on your face before Almighty God and plead with Him to deliver you from such foolishness and evil. Curb your wrath, learn to turn it over to God. Read the Bible and pray for God to change you with it. God is not pleased with your wrath, fool. Must He deal with you now and chastise you for your evil ways?
James 1:19 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
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