Reference: Pillars
Fausets
ammud. A chief feature in Eastern building, the flat roofs being supported by pillars. The tent fashion remained even in permanent structures. Open Persian halls have the fronts supported by pillars and shaded by curtains fastened to the ground by pegs or to trees in the court (Es 1:6). The heaven is compared to a canopy supported by pillars (Ps 104:2; Isa 40:22). In Ps 75:3, "the earth ... dissolved, I bear up the pillars of it," literally," I have weighed," i.e. consolidated by exact weight the pillars. I who at creation brought the world from chaos into beautiful order will restore it from its present disorganization. In 1Sa 15:12, "Saul set him up a (not 'place' but) monument," literally, hand, probably a pillar (Ge 28:18; 35:14). The 12 pillars ranged as boundary stones round the consecrated enclosure represented the 12 tribes, as the "altar" represented Jehovah making covenant with them (Ex 24:4; Isa 19:19). In 1Ki 10:12 mis'ad means "a flight of steps" with "rails" or banisters, Matsebah often means a "statue" or "idolatrous image" as well as "pillar" (De 7:5; 2Ch 14:3; Ho 3:4).
Boaz and Jachin were the two great pillars of the temple (1Ki 7:21). In Song 3:10 the pillars support the canopy over the chariot at the four corners. Pillars with silver sockets supported the veil that enclosed the holy of holies. The 'amud on which king Joash stood (2Ki 11:14) was not a "pillar", but a "raised platform" at the E. gate of the inner court (compare Eze 46:2) for the king's use on festive occasions 2Ki 23:3), the brazen scaffold of Solomon (2Ch 6:13; Keil). Pillar is the image of solid firm uprightness, the church's support (Ga 2:9; 1Ti 3:15). The church is "the pillar of the truth," as the continuance of the truth (historically) rests on it. The church rests on the truth as it is in Jesus, not the truth on the church. The truth donkey it is in itself needs no prop. The truth as it is acknowledged in the world needs the church as its human upholder under God.
The pillar is the intermediate, the "ground" (basis) the ultimate, stay of the building (2Ti 2:19). Translated as Greek "the firm foundation of (laid by) God (namely, the word of truth 2Ti 2:15,18, contrasted with Hymenseus' word eating as a canker) standeth" fast; the church being the house (2Ti 2:20) cannot be also the foundation, which would make the house to be founded on the house! The believer shall at last be a pillar immovably firm (unlike earthquake-shaken Philadelphia) and "never more at all go out" (Greek Re 3:12), being under "the blessed necessity of goodness." In Jg 9:6 Abimelech is crowned "by the oak ('elown, not "plain") of the pillar (or memorial) at Shechem," in the same spot where Joshua held the last national assembly and renewed. Israel's covenant with Jehovah (Jos 24:1-26), where also probably Jacob had buried the idol trinkets of his household (Ge 35:4).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone he had put under his head, and he set it up for a pillar (a monument to the vision in his dream), and he poured oil on its top [in dedication].
So they [both young men and women] gave to Jacob all the strange gods they had and their earrings which were [worn as charms against evil] in their ears; and Jacob buried and hid them under the oak near Shechem.
And Jacob set up a pillar (monument) in the place where he talked with [God], a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it and he poured oil on it.
Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. He rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve pillars representing Israel's twelve tribes.
But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and hew down their Asherim [symbols of the goddess Asherah] and burn their graven images with fire.
Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders of Israel and their heads, their judges, and their officers; they presented themselves before God. Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt in olden times beyond the Euphrates River, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, and they served other gods. read more. And I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates River and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his offspring. I gave him Isaac, And I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau. And I gave to Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it; and afterward I brought you out. I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. When they cried to the Lord, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time [forty years]. I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land, and I destroyed them before you. Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam son of Beor to curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you; so I delivered you out of Balak's hand. You went over the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the men of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I gave them into your hands. I sent the hornet [that is, the terror of you] before you, which drove the two kings of the Amorites out before you; but it was not by your sword or by your bow. I have given you a land for which you did not labor and cities you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat from vineyards and olive yards you did not plant. Now therefore, [reverently] fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. The people answered, Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods; For it is the Lord our God Who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, Who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out before us all the people, the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for He is our God. And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good. And the people said to Joshua, No; but we will serve the Lord. Then Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve Him. And they said, We are witnesses. Then put away, said he, the foreign gods that are among you and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel. The people said to Joshua, The Lord our God we will serve; His voice we will obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God; and he took a great stone and set it up there under an oak that was in [the court of] the sanctuary of the Lord.
And all the men of Shechem gathered together and all of Beth-millo, and they went and made Abimelech king by the oak (terebinth) of the pillar at Shechem.
When Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, he was told, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up for himself a monument or trophy [of his victory] and passed on and went down to Gilgal.
Hiram set up the pillars of the porch of the temple; he set up the right pillar and called its name Jachin [he will establish], and he set up the left pillar and called its name Boaz [in strength].
Of the almug wood the king made pillars for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, and lyres also and harps for the singers. No such almug wood came again or has been seen to this day.
When she looked, there stood the king [on the platform] by the pillar, as was customary [on such occasions], and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, with all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. And Athaliah rent her clothes and cried, Treason! Treason!
The king stood [on the platform] by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord -- "to walk after the Lord and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all his heart and soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to join in the covenant.
For he had made a bronze scaffold, five cubits square and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; upon it he stood, and he knelt upon his knees before all the assembly of Israel and spread forth his hands toward heaven,
There were hangings of fine white cloth, of green and of blue [cotton], fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings or rods and marble pillars. The couches of gold and silver rested on a [mosaic] pavement of porphyry, white marble, mother-of-pearl, and [precious] colored stones.
When the earth totters, and all the inhabitants of it, it is I Who will poise and keep steady its pillars. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
[You are the One] Who covers Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain or a tent,
He made its posts of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple, the inside of it lovingly and intricately wrought in needlework by the daughters of Jerusalem.
In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border.
It is God Who sits above the circle (the horizon) of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; it is He Who stretches out the heavens like [gauze] curtains and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
And the prince shall enter by the porch or vestibule of the gate from without and shall stand by the sidepost of the gate. The priests shall prepare and offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening.
For the children of Israel shall dwell and sit deprived many days, without king or prince, without sacrifice or [idolatrous] pillar, and without ephod [a garment worn by priests when seeking divine counsel] or teraphim (household gods).
And when they knew (perceived, recognized, understood, and acknowledged) the grace (God's unmerited favor and spiritual blessing) that had been bestowed upon me, James and Cephas (Peter) and John, who were reputed to be pillars of the Jerusalem church, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, with the understanding that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised (Jews).
Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.
Who have missed the mark and swerved from the truth by arguing that the resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the faith of some. But the firm foundation of (laid by) God stands, sure and unshaken, bearing this seal (inscription): The Lord knows those who are His, and, Let everyone who names [himself by] the name of the Lord give up all iniquity and stand aloof from it. read more. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also [utensils] of wood and earthenware, and some for honorable and noble [use] and some for menial and ignoble [use].
All who are with me wish to be remembered to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace (God's favor and blessing) be with you all. Amen (so be it).
He who overcomes (is victorious), I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God; he shall never be put out of it or go out of it, and I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which descends from My God out of heaven, and My own new name.