The stone Ezel (1 Sam. xx, 19) was probably a ter- minal stone or a waymark. See Ebenezkk.
The " place" set up by Saul (1 Sam. xv, 12) is ex- plained by St. Jerome to be a trophy, V ulg.' fornicem triumphalem (Jerome, Qucest. Ilebr. in lib. i, Reg. iii, 1339). The word used is the same as that for Absa- lom's pillar, V>, gad (lit. a hand), called by Josephus X^pa (Ant. vii, 10, 3), which was clearly of a monumen- tal or memorial character, but not necessarily carrying any representation of a hand in its structure, as has been supposed to be the case. So also Jacob set up a pillar over Rachel's grave (Gen. xxxv, 20 ; and Robinson, i, 218). The monolithic tombs and obelisks of Petra are instances of similar usage (Burckhardt, Sgria, p. 422 ; Roberts, Sketches, p. 105; Irby and Mangles, Travels, p. 125). See Absalom's Tomb.
2. Architectural.— Fillers form an important feature in Oriental architecture, partly perhaps as a reminis- cence of the tent with its supporting poles, and partly also from the use of flat roofs, in consequence of which the chambers were either narrower or divided into por- tions by columns (Judg. xvi, 25). The tent-principle is exemplified in the open halls of Persian and other Eastern buildings, of which the fronts, supported by pil- lars, are shaded by curtains or awnings fast- ened to the ground outside by pegs, or to trees in the garden-court (Esth. i, 6 ; Chardin, Vog. vii, 387 ; ix, 469, 470, and plates 39, 81 ; Lay- ard, Nin. and Bab. p. 530, 648 ; Burckhardt, Notes on Bed. i, 37). Thus Moses was com- manded to spread the veil of the tabernacle on four pillars (Exod. xxvi, 32, etc.). Thus also a figurative mode of describing heaven is as a tent or canopy supported by pillars (Psa. civ, 2; Isa. xl, 22), and the earth as a flat surface resting on pillars (1 Sam. ii, 8 ; Psa. lxxv, 3). See Tent.
It has already been remarked that the word "place," in 1 Sam. xv, 12, is in Hebrew " hand." In the Arab tent two of the posts are called ged or " hand" (Burckhardt, Bed. i, 37). See Hand.
The general practice in Oriental buildings of supporting flat roofs by pillars, or of cov- ering open spaces by awnings stretched from pillars, led to an extensive use of them in con- struction. In Indian architecture an enormous number of pillars, sometimes amounting to 1000, is found. A similar principle appears to have been carried out at Persepolis. At Nineveh the pillars were probably of wood [see Cedar], and it is very likely that the same construction prevailed in the " house of the forest of Lebanon," with its hall and porch of pillars (1 Kings vii, 2, 6). The " chapi- ters" of the two pillars Jachin (q.v.) and Boaz resembled the tall capitals of the Persepolitau columns (Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 252, 650 ; Nineveh, ii, 274; Fergusson, Handb. p. 8, 174, 178, 188, 190, 196,198, 231-233; Roberts,
PILLAK
210
PILLAR
Sketches. No. 182, 184, 190, 198; Euseb. Yit. ron.it. iii. 34, 38; Burckhardt. Trav. in Arabia, i. 244, 245). See
HOI BE.
:;. Idolatrous. — The word Matstsebah, "pillar." i.- generally rendered "statue" or "image" (e. g. Dent. vii. 5; xii. 3; wi. 22; Lev. xxvi. L; Exod. xxiii, 24; xxxiv. 13 -. 2 < Shron. xiv, 3 : xxxi, 1 ; Jer. xliii, L3; Hos. iii. 1: \. l : Mic. v, 13). This agrees with the usage of heathen nations, practiced, as we have seen, by the patriarch Jacob, of erecting blocks or piles of wood <>r stone, which in later times grew into orna ntal pil- lars in honor of the deity (Clem. Alex. Coh. '"I Gent. civ; Strom, i, 24). Instances of this are seen in the Attic Hernia; (Pausan. iv, 33, 4), seven pillars signifi- cant of the planets (iii, 21, '.': also vii, 17. 1. and 22, 2; viii, 37); and Arnobius mentions the practice of pour- ing Libations of oil upon them, which again recall- the case "i Jacob I idv. <■'»/. i, :;;ij, ed. Gauthier). See
- X — 1 r I l: Ul ; I'll. VI. IAS.
The termini or boundary-marks were originally, per- haps always, rough stones or posts "t w I. which re- ceived divine honors (Ovid, Fast. ii. '''11. 684). See [doi .
But other circumstances contributed to make stones
an object of worship. Such pheni ma as the rocking
stones worshipped by the I!riii~h Druids would natu- rally excite the astonishment of an ignorant people, and many commentators are of opinion that the "~X r~~'L'". iliin jnashjcitn, image of stone, which the .lews wi re forbidden to erect (Lev. xxvi. I), was one of those bowing or rocking stones, especially as the phrase is used in opposition to "U":. matstsebah, which siuuiii. - "a standing pillar." Those rare phenomena, aeroliths, still more easily became objects of idolatry; they were generally of a similar kind to that mentioned by llero- dian, as being consecrated to the sun under his name of Elaiagabalos, and preserved in his magnificent tem- ple in Syria; "in which," says the historian, "there Btands not any image made with hands, as among the Greeks and Romans, to represent the god. but there i> a very large stone, round at the bottom, and terminat- ing in a point of a conical form, and a black color. which they say I'll down from Jupiter." See DlOPE- : -red pillars or stones were indeed frequently worshipped instead of statues by idolatrous nations, and traces otthis preposterous veneration may still be found in various countries. See DlANA. The erection of monoliths or monumental pillars was forbidden to the