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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. Gen. 28: 18, 22; Gen. 31: 13, 45-52; Gen. 35: 14, 20; Ex. 24: 4; Isa. 19: 19. From Deut. 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 Sam. 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. Ex. 13: 21; Ex. 27: 10-17; 1 Kings 7: 2-42; Job 9: 6; Job 26: 11; Ps. 75: 3; Ezek. 40: 49; Ezek. 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. Gal. 2:
9. The church of God is "the pillar and ground of the truth" — the witness that maintains the truth on earth. 1 Tim. 3: 15. The word occurs also in Rev. 3: 12; Rev. 10: 1.