Supports or decorations in buildings and free-standing memorial monuments. The word is also used figuratively, with reference to strength and beauty.
Pillars in the temple
Thus he set up the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jachin, and the pillar to the north he named Boaz.
Pillars erected as memorials
Genesis 28:18–22 See also Genesis 31:45–53, Genesis 35:14–15, Genesis 35:19–20; Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 27:2–6; Joshua 4:1–9; 2 Samuel 18:18
Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it, and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear, so that I may return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God. And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.”
The pillar of cloud and fire
Exodus 13:21–22 See also Exodus 33:9; Nehemiah 9:12
And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place before the people.
The figurative use of pillars
Jeremiah 1:18 See also Job 9:6, Job 26:11; Psalm 75:3, Psalm 144:12; Song of Solomon 5:15; Galatians 2:9; Revelation 3:12, Revelation 10:1
Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land— against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.
Kings were sometimes crowned beside a pillar
Judges 9:6 See also 2 Kings 11:12–14 parallel 2 Chronicles 23:11–13
Then all the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo gathered beside the oak at the pillar in Shechem and proceeded to make Abimelech their king.
Other notable incidents connected with pillars
Lot's wife and the pillar of salt
Samson's destruction of a temple
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.