The Pillars of the Earth

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, and he hath set the world upon them.

(1 Samuel 2:8)

The Hebrew word tebel (world) may be used to refer to part of the Earth (erets). The world has been set upon the pillars of the earth. We’ve deduced that in this instance world refers to the crust and mantle.

Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

(Job 9:6) KJV

If the pillars of the earth (erets) are in the region we are calling the great gulf, and the world (tebel) refers to the crust and mantle, then the passage above from 1 Samuel is literal, not poetic. The mantle rests upon the pillars of the Earth which are like spokes connecting it to the core.

Removing mountains and overturning them is a description of tectonic activity. There’s widespread evidence of this kind of upheaval. It would most certainly cause the pillars of the earth in our model to shake.

The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.

(Psalms 75:3) KJV

Nothing in either of these two passages poses a problem for the way we are accounting for the pillars of the earth. The ancient Hebrews didn’t believe that the earth was flat. They had, as we are clearly seeing, an extensively developed spherical earth concept.

Synonyms for the Pillars of the Earth

	Synonym	Scripture
1	The beams of his chambers	Psalms 104:3
2	The earth with her bars	Jonah 2:6
3	The bars of the pit	Job 17:16
4	The pillars of the earth	1 Samuel 2:8