Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Is not my word like as a fire? - as the "fire" consumes the "chaff," so "my word" will consume the false prophets (Matthew 3:12; Hebrews 4:12). "My word," which is "wheat" - i:e., food-to the true prophet and his hearers, is a consuming "fire" and a crushing "hammer" to false prophets and their followers (Matthew 21:44, "On whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder"). On this two-fold a power of the Gospel-word, "a savour of life" to believers, "a savour of death" to unbelievers, see 2 Corinthians 2:16. The word of the false prophets may be known by its promising men peace in sin. "My word," on the contrary, burns and breaks the hard-hearted (Jeremiah 20:9). The "hammer" symbolizes destructive power, (Jeremiah 50:23; Nahum 2:1, margin)