Meaning
Hammer (1.) Heb. pattish, used by gold-beaters (Isa 41:7) and by quarry-men (Jer 23:29). Metaphorically of Babylon (Jer 50:23) or Nebuchadnezzar.
(2.) Heb. makabah, a stone-cutter's mallet (1Kings 6:7), or of any workman (Judg 4:21; Isa 44:12).
(3.) Heb. halmuth, a poetical word for a workman's hammer, found only in Judg 5:26, where it denotes the mallet with which the pins of the tent of the nomad are driven into the ground.
(4.) Heb. mappets, rendered "battle-axe" in Jer 51:20. This was properly a "mace," which is thus described by Rawlinson: "The Assyrian mace was a short, thin weapon, and must either have been made of a very tough wood or (and this is more probable) of metal. It had an ornamented head, which was sometimes very beautifully modelled, and generally a strap or string at the lower end by which it could be grasped with greater firmness."
