A stone is heavy and the sand weighty,
but the provocation of a fool
is heavier than both of them.

Proverbs 27:3

The word ‘provocation’ in the Hebrew is a strong word. It carries meanings of intentional aggravation, provoking, indignation, vexation, resentment, frustration and grief. In modern jargon, we would say it is ‘needling’ which carries the idea of constant pestering and provoking. In social media terms, we call such a person a ‘troll’.

Needling or provocation can be defined as “to annoy someone, especially by repeated criticism. (Cambridge English Dictionary)

A troll is defined: a person who intentionally antagonizes others online by posting inflammatory, irrelevant or offensive comments or other disruptive content. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

“She kept needling her sister about her weight.” OR “The actress was trolled on Facebook about her new hairstyle.” OR “Her brother kept provoking her until she cried and ran to her room.”

The provocation or needling or trolling can be about trivial matters or very serious allocations and most often they are not true or barely half-truths. These can cause irreputable harm to the person being attacked and has even been known to lead to suicide and other harmful actions by the victim.

The picture given here in our key verse is not some little pebble or some small bucket of sand. But rather, it is a large stone/boulder too big and heavy to carry and sand as comparative to the “sand of the sea”.

Speaking of Job’s vexation about his situation, the Bible says:

Job 6:2-3

Oh, that my grief were actually weighed and laid in the balances together with my calamity! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas…

In other words, the provocation of fools is so heavy on the victim’s spirit that it is crushing like a super heavy boulder or the sands of the sea!

You may have been such a victim and empathize with this description and I am so sorry you’ve had to work through that and pray for God’s full healing of your broken spirit. Also, I pray none of us have been such a perpetrator and that if we have, that we have repented quickly and refused to ever be a bully like this every again. It truly is ugly and ungodly behavior that does not belong in any Follower of Jesus life box!

James 3:17

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.