Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 9:6
Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
6. The reference is probably to earthquakes. The earth is conceived as a structure supported on pillars, ch. Job 38:6; Psa 75:3. The conception was poetical; if the pillars were supposed anything actual, they were probably the roots of the great mountains which extended downwards and bore up the earth, as the part of them above the earth supported the heavens.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Which shaketh the earth out of her place – This evidently refers to violent convulsions of nature, as if the earth were to be taken away. Objects on the earths surface become displaced, and convulsion seems to seize the world. The Septuagint renders this, who shaketh that which is under the heavens from its foundations – ek themelion. The change in the Hebrew would be very slight to authorize this rendering.
And the pillars thereof tremble – In this place the earth is represented as sustained like a building by pillars or columns. Whether this is a mere poetic representation, or whether it describes the actual belief of the speaker in regard to the structure of the earth, it is not easy to determine. I am inclined to think it is the former, because in another place where he is speaking of the earth, he presents his views in another form, and more in acoordance with the truth (see the notes at Job 26:7): and because here the illustration is evidently taken from the obvious and perceived effects of an earthquake. It would convulse and agitate the pillars of the most substantial edifice, and so it seemed to shake the earth, as if its very supports would fall.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. The pillars thereof tremble.] This also refers to an earthquake, and to that tremulous motion which sometimes gives warning of the approaching catastrophe, and from which this violent convulsion of nature has received its name. Earthquakes, in Scripture language, signify also violent commotions and disturbances in states; mountains often signify rulers; sun, empires; stars, petty states. But it is most likely that the expressions here are to be understood literally.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The earth, i.e. great portions of it, by earthquakes, or by removing islands, which sometimes hath been done.
The pillars thereof, i.e. the strength or the strongest parts of it, the mountains, yea, the deep and inward parts of it, which, like pillars, supported those parts which appear to our view, and yet have been discovered and overturned by earthquakes.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. The earth is regarded,poetically, as resting on pillars, which tremble in an earthquake(Psa 75:3; Isa 24:20).The literal truth as to the earth is given (Job26:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Which shaketh the earth out of her place,…. Can do it, and will do it at the last day, when it shall be utterly broken down, clean dissolved, and reel to and fro like a drunkard, and be removed as a cottage, and which John in a vision saw flee away from the presence of him that sat upon the throne, Isa 24:19; for this cannot be understood of earthquakes in common, which are only partial, and do not remove the earth out of its place, only shake some parts of it; and this may also refer to the time of the flood, when the earth received some change and alteration in its situation, as Mr. Burnet in his Theory of the Earth observes; and the Apostle Peter suggests something of this kind, when he distinguishes the present earth from the former, which he says stood out of the water and in it, but the present earth not so, but is reserved for fire, 2Pe 3:5;
and the pillars thereof tremble; the centre or lower parts of it, see
Ps 75:3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. Pillars thereof Job speaks after the popular notion of the day, of the earth as resting on pillars, as we still speak of the rising of the sun. That he had a correct knowledge of the spherical form of the earth, is evident from Job 26:7, where see note. Dillmann explains the pillars, by the roots of the mountains, which sustained the earth as their summits did the heavens: Jerome, that they figuratively represent its stability.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 9:6. And the pillars thereof tremble The image is taken from a man in so great fear, that all his limbs tremble and shake like a leaf.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 9:6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
Ver. 6. Which shaketh the earth out of her place ] By mighty earthquakes, dislocating the earth, some part of it; for the whole was never removed, though God can take up the whole globe as a man would do a ball, tossing the very centre itself whereon it is established, 2Sa 22:8 , &c. There is a twofold power of God; 1. Absolute. 2. Actual. By the former he can do more than he doth: by the latter, whatsoever he willeth, that without impediment he effecteth. As for the earth, as God upholdeth it by the word of his power, Heb 1:3 , so he hath poised it merely by its own weight, that it should not be removed for ever, Psa 104:5 . For if you imagine that the earth could be removed out of its natural place, which way soever it be removed, it shall move towards heaven, and so shall naturally ascend; but to do so is utterly repugnant to the nature of the earth, which is to bear downward. All which, notwithstanding, the God of nature, as he is in the heaven, so he doth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
shaketh: Isa 2:19, Isa 2:21, Isa 13:13, Isa 13:14, Isa 24:1, Isa 24:19, Isa 24:20, Hag 2:6, Hag 2:21, Heb 12:26, Rev 20:11
the pillars: Job 26:11, Job 38:4-7, 1Sa 2:8, Psa 75:3, Psa 114:7, Jer 4:24, Joe 2:10
Reciprocal: Deu 32:22 – foundations Jdg 5:4 – the earth Psa 29:8 – shaketh Psa 46:3 – mountains Psa 60:2 – made Psa 97:4 – the earth Jer 10:10 – at
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9:6 Which {c} shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
(c) He declares the infirmity of man, by the mighty and incomprehensible power that is in God, showing what he could do if he would set forth his power.