HAMMER

A tool used for pounding and driving; a mallet. Hammers were employed for driving in nails (Jer. 10:4) and tent pins (Judg. 4:21), in the quarrying operation for splitting stones by repeated pounding, as well as in shaping and facing building stones (1 Ki. 6:7), and for shaping metal, as in the making of idols.—Isa. 41:7; 44:12.

The various materials used for making hammerheads included stone, metal and wood. Likely the hammer or mallet used by Jael to drive the tent pin into the temples of Sisera was made of wood.—Judg. 4:21; 5:26.

In a figurative sense the word of Jehovah’s judgment is compared to a forge hammer that smashes the crag. (Jer. 23:29) Also, in Jehovah’s hand, Babylon was like a forge hammer, breaking nations and kingdoms in pieces.—Jer. 50:23; compare Jeremiah 25:8, 9, 17-26.