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Bible Dictionaries
Pillar
Morrish Bible Dictionary
or There are several Hebrew words translated 'pillar': the principal are
1. matstsebah, from 'to set, put, place;' and hence anything that is set up. It is used for the stone that Jacob had had for a pillow, which he set up, and on which he poured oil and made his vow. Also for the heap of stones he raised when Laban and he parted. Genesis 28:18,22; Genesis 31:13,45-52; Genesis 35:14,20; Exodus 24:4; Isaiah 19:19 . From Deuteronomy 12:3 it would appear that pillars of some sort were also connected with idolatry. These may resemble the cairns often found in what were idolatrous lands. Absalom raised up for himself a pillar to keep his name in remembrance because he had no son. 2 Samuel 18:18 .
2. The word ammud occurs many times for the pillars of the tabernacle and the temple. It is also used for the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire; also symbolically for the pillars of the heavens and the pillars of the earth. Exodus 13:21; Exodus 27:10-17; 1 Kings 7:2-42; Job 9:6; Job 26:11; Psalm 75:3; Ezekiel 40:49; Ezekiel 42:6 .
In the N.T. the word is στύλος, 'a pillar or column.' James, Cephas and John seemed to be 'pillars' in the church at Jerusalem — those to whom matters were referred, as they were afterwards to Paul. Galatians 2:9 . The church of God is "the pillar and ground of the truth" — the witness that maintains the truth on earth. 1 Timothy 3:15 . The word occurs also in Revelation 3:12; Revelation 10:1 .
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Morrish, George. Entry for 'Pillar'. Morrish Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/mbd/p/pillar.html. 1897.
