Visual Midrash is Split Rock Thinking

First the source: “Is not my word like a fire?” saith the Lord, “and like a hammer that splits the rock into pieces!” (Jeremiah 23:29)

Then the Midrash: “In R. Ishmael’s school it was taught: “And like a hammer that splits the rock into pieces” i.e. just as the rock is split into many splinters, so also may one biblical verse convey many teachings.”

A variation of R. Tam reads: “Just as the hammer when it smites an extraordinary hard object, may itself be split, so may the biblical verse, when subject to the scrutiny of a very keen intellect, split up into different meanings.  
(Talmud – Sanhedrin section of Nezikin – Page 34A)