He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he hath set the world upon them.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill. This alludes to a form of wretchedness known in the East, and indicating the lowest degree of poverty and humiliation. The dunghill-a pile of horse, cow, or camel offal, heaped up to dry in the sun, and serve as fuel-was and is piled up in the huts of the poor; and sometimes, from necessity, is the haunt of wandering mendicants, who, finding it in some outhouse out of the city, lodge there for want of better accommodation: so that the change that had been made in the social position of Hannah appeared to her grateful heart as auspicious and as great as the elevation of a poor despised beggar to the highest and most dignified rank (see Harmer, 1:, p. 515).
Inherit the throne of glory - i:e., possess seats of honour.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's - i:e., the princes or governors (cf. 14:38; Judges 20:2; Zephaniah 3:6, where they are called corner-stones: also Jeremiah 1:18; Revelation 3:12).
And he hath set the world upon them, х teebeel (H8398)]. This is a poetic word, used to denote the habitable world, or, as some think, the globe. "He hath set the world upon them" would thus mean that the visible world, in its globular form, was built upon or over the earth. We are inclined to take "the world" as used here synonymously with "the earth" in the preceding parallelism, and the import of the whole verse to be this: "The pillars of the earth are the Lord's" - the rulers of the earth are the Lord's, because He not only created and preserves them, but in His providence raised them to their places of dignity and influence; "and He hath set the world upon them" - i:e., He laid the government of the world-kingdoms upon their shoulders.