The pillars of Heaven tremble - That is, the mountains, which seem to bear up the heavens. So, among the ancients. Mount Atlas was represented as one of the pillars of heaven. Virgil speaks of “Atlas whose brawny back supports the skies.” And Hesiod, ver. 785, advances the same notion:
“Atlas, so hard necessity ordains,
Great, the ponderous vault of stars sustains
Not far from the Hesperides he stands,
Nor from the load retracts his head or hands.”
The word “reproof” in this verse refers to the language of God, as if spoken in anger to rebuke the mountains or the earth. Perhaps the reference is to thunder, to storms, and to winds, which seem to be the voice of God; compare Psalms 29:3-8. Similar descriptions of the majesty and glory of God abound in the Scriptures, where he speaks to the earth, the mountains, the hills, and they tremble. Thus, in Psalms 104:32;
He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth;
He toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
So in Habakkuk 3:10 :
The mountains saw thee, and they trembled;
The overflowing of the water passed by;
The deep uttered his voice, and lift up his hands on high.
So in Nahum 1:5, “The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence.”