Amós 7

Amós 7:7

I will also proclaim confidently that there is someone who cannot be affected very much by the "hammer of the whole earth." And since the example was offered of a perceptible "hammer," I will seek a material stronger than the "hammer" which does not feel the blows from it. In searching for it I find it too in what was written: "Behold a man standing above the adamant walls, and in his adamant." History records about "adamant" that it is stronger than every "hammer" striking it, remaining unbroken and unyielding. Even if the "hammer," the devil, stands above, and the serpent, who "as an indomitable anvil," may position himself below, still "adamant" endures nothing when it is resting "in the hand of the Lord" and in his regard. Thus the two opposites to this "adamant" are the "hammer" and the immovable "anvil." Yet there is indeed among the nations a much-used proverb in the common language concerning those who are pressed by anxieties and extremely bad situations; they say, "They are 'between a hammer and an anvil.' " Still you can say that this refers to the devil and the serpent, who are always signified by names of this sort in the Scriptures for a variety of purposes. And you can say that the holy person, who is an "adamant wall" or is "adamant in the hand of the Lord," is not affected either by the "hammer" or by the "anvil," but the more one is struck, the brighter will his virtue shine. — HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 27:3