Origen
Patristic
c. A.D. 184–253
“How, he says, "was the hammer of the whole earth broken and crushed? How was Babylon brought to destruction?" One needs to enquire here who is the "hammer of all the earth" or in what way its brokenness is prophesied, since it was "broken" before it was "crushed," so that after bringing together what has been written elsewhere about the "hammer," when we find its name, we will also investigate the meaning of the name from these examples that we have brought forth.At one time there was constructed a "house of God," according to the third book of Kings, and it was Solomon who built and erected it; and it was said here, as if in praise, about the "house of God," that "hammer and axe were not heard in the house of God." Therefore as the "hammer is not heard in the house of God," since the "house of God" is the church, so the "hammer is not heard" in the church. Who is this "hammer" who wants to obstruct, insofar as he can, the stones for building the temple, so that, "broken," they are not suited for its foundations? See with me if the devil is not the "hammer of the whole earth."”