Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 2:8

"He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, And inherit the throne of glory: For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah`s, And he hath set the world upon them." — 1 Samuel 2:8 (ASV)

The pillars of the earth. And the gracious All-Ruler does these things, for He is at once Creator and Upholder of the universe. The words of these Divine songs that address cosmogony are such that they would be understood in the childhood of peoples. The quiet thinker, however, is tempted to ask whether, after 3,000 or 4,000 years, now, with the light of modern science shining around us, we have made much real progress in our knowledge of the genesis and government of the universe.

The pillars. Or columns—Jerome, in the Vulgate, translates this unusual word as “hinges”—cardines terrœ.

Gesenius prefers the rendering “foundations.” On the whole, the word used in the English Version, “pillars,” is the best.