This one is also kind of funny since it's often
claimed that God said the earth stands on pillars...
God never said it.
To begin with, pillars are mentioned 89 times in the
bible. There are pillars of the court, pillars in the
temple, pillars at the gate, pillars used in lots of
types of buildings and construction.
There's also pillars of the altar:
Ex 24:4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD.
And he rose up early in the morning, and
built an altar at the foot of the mountain,
and twelve pillars, according to the twelve
tribes of Israel.
Where confusion often occurs is when someone reads
the following two verses, but also reads into said
verses an understanding that many back then thought
the earth was set up on pillars... when it isn't.
Here's the first of the two confusing verses:
Job 9:6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place,
and the pillars thereof tremble.
Notice that the "earth" can be read as the LOCAL land,
and as was pointed out above, there are pillars
everywhere in that local land as part of the various
buildings and such. So there is no problem with this
verse since earthquakes will in fact shake the pillars
of the buildings all over the local land.
Now for the second confusing verse:
Job 26:11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are
astonished at his reproof.
There are two ways to read this verse and still
match what's known:
1. This verse can actually be taken as given since
there really are "pillars of smoke" in heaven,
photos taken by Hubble Space Telescope show said
pillars. And pillars of smoke in the heavens were
described in Joel.
In the original scriptures, the pillars in heaven
(or pillars of smoke seen in the heavens) move
(which they do) and are wondrous at his rebuke
(God formed them in the heavens)... so the verses
do match what's seen in deep space.
2. Both this verse and the previous one were said by
Job directly, so either of these or both could be
wrong due to God saying later in Job that Elihu
didn't understand... and since Job didn't answer
(even when God DEMANDED Job answer, Job remained
silent), Job may not have known the answers either.
In essence, both verses above can either be taken
as given and still be correct, or they can be ignored
since God said they didn't understand in Job.
Lastly, there's this verse set that is often taken
out of context:
1Sa 2:7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he
bringeth low, and lifteth up.
8 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.
The translation for "earth" in the last verse does
allow the term to discuss the people of the land or
the local society, rather than the actual land. So
when re-translated for this, the verses read much like
they would today:
1Sa 2:7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he
bringeth low, and lifteth up.
2:8 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 society are the LORD'S, and he hath set
society upon them.
And in all the other mentions of "pillars" in the bible,
there are NO statements made by God, saying that the
planet earth is set on pillars.
God made it all, Jesus died for our sins.
Note: The above information was written by John P. Boatwright and is freely given. The information is simply my opinion based on how I perceive the content discussed. Anyone reading such should use their own judgement as to whether or not the information has any value to them. You may copy portions of the above opinions as long as a reference to this page is included and no text within said portion is altered. If copied to another medium other than the internet, include the entire text. The above content may change over time.
Best wishes.