Zipporah
took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses'
feet with it, and said, "Truly you are a bridegroom of blood to
me!" [Exodus 4:25]
“When he
lies down, observe the place where he lies; then, go and uncover his
feet and lie down; and he will tell you what to do." Ruth
said to Naomi, "All that you tell me I will do." So she went down to
the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had instructed
her. When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and he was in a contented mood,
he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came
stealthily and uncovered his feet, and lay down.—margelah
[Ruth 3:4-7]
In the
year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high
and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were
in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered
their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with
two they flew. [Isaiah 6:1-2]
On that
day the Lord will shave with a razor hired beyond the River—with the
king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it
will take off the beard as well. [Isaiah 7:20]
Thou hast
built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy
beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one
that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. [Ezekiel 16:25, King
James Version]
In both the primary
biblical languages, feet appear in a metaphor indicating conquest of
subjugation. Both use the image of the defeated being under the
feet of the victor. The metaphor may have evolved from a ritual of
surrender in which the conqueror put his feet on the necks of the
vanquished as sin the Joshua passage below. Or it may have been the
other way around: the metaphor may have preceded the use of the
surrender ritual. In the Greek version of the metaphor, the word
for feet is podes, from which we get our English words
podiatry and pedal.
feet in
metaphors of domination
When they
brought the kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the Israelites,
and said to the chiefs of the warriors who had gone with him, "Come
near, put your feet on the necks of these kings." Then they
came near and put their feet on their necks. [Joshua 10:24]
You know
that my father David could not build a house for the name of the
Lord
his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded
him, until the
Lord
put them under the soles of his feet. [I Kings 5:3]
For the
Lord,
the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth. He
subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. [Psalm
47:2-3]
You shall
tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of
your feet, on the day when I act, says the
Lord
of
hosts. [Malachi 4:3]
The Lord
said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies
under your feet." [Matthew 22:44]
Their
feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery are in their
paths, and the way of peace they have not known. [Romans 3:15-17]
The God
of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. [Romans 16:20]
Someone
has testified somewhere, "What are human beings that you are mindful
of them, or mortals, that you care for them? You have made them for
a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with
glory and honor, subjecting all things under their feet."
[Hebrews 2:6-8, from Psalm 8:4-6]
Similarly, in the
Hebrew Scriptures, the word for feet was also used in figures of
speech for trouble or distress.
feet in
metaphors of distress
For the
lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than
oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged
sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path
to Sheol. [Proverbs 5:3-5]
Give
glory to the
Lord
your God before he brings darkness, and before your feet
stumble on the mountains at twilight; while you look for light, he
turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness. [Jeremiah 13:16]
May a cry
be heard from their houses, when you bring the marauder suddenly
upon them! For they have dug a pit to catch me, and laid snares for
my feet. [Jeremiah 18:22]
Your
trusted friends have seduced you and have overcome you; Now that
your feet are stuck in the mud, they desert you. [Jeremiah
38:22]
Feet in both Hebrew
and Greek could be used in metaphors with connotations that are the
opposite of domination and trouble. These figures of speech may
suggest divine support: guidance, steadiness, or even salvation.1
Or they may suggest a way of life that opens a person to such
support.
feet in
metaphors of support
You have
made me stride freely, and my feet do not slip. II Samuel
22:37]
You have
delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling, so
that I may walk before God in the light of life. [Psalm 56:13]
Your word
is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. [Psalm 119:105]
Keep
straight the path of your feet, and all your ways will be
sure. [Proverbs 4:26]
By the
tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of
death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. [Luke
1:78-79]
Then he
poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet
and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to
Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my
feet?" Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but
later you will understand. "Peter said to him, "You will never wash
my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no
share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet
only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "One who
has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is
entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." [John
13:5-10]
Therefore
lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make
straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be
put out of joint, but rather be healed. [Hebrews 12:12-13]
In the specifically
Christian portions of the Bible, feet appear in two contexts that
have no antecedents in the Hebrew Scriptures: sitting at the feet of
someone and shaking the dust off one’s feet. At one time these
phrases may have described physical gestures. A person of inferior
status, such as a student, may well have sat on the floor while the
teacher sat in a chair.2 Disgusted or disappointed
people may have actually made a ceremonial gesture showing that they
did not want to take with them even a particle of dust from the
place that had refused them hospitality. In time, however, these
two expressions became primarily metaphors that brought to mind the
original, literal meaning.
Feet in
metaphors of status
Then
people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to
Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at
the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. [Luke
8:35]
I am a
Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the
feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our
ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today.
[Acts 22:3]
For if a
person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly,
and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take
notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat
here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there,"
or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among
yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? [James 2:2-4]
dust of the feet
If anyone
will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust
from your feet as you leave that house or town. [Matthew
10:14]
If any
place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you
leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony
against them. [Mark 6:11]
Whenever
you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its
streets and say, "Even the dust of your town that clings to our
feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the
kingdom of God has come near." [Luke 10:11]
The Jews
incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the
city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and
drove them out of their region. So they shook the dust off their
feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium. [Acts
13:50-51]
Of all the body
parts, feet appear to have been the most versatile in the making of
biblical metaphors. From the low comedy of King Eglon’s death to
the lofty expressions of faith in the Psalms, the figures of speech
involving feet helped the authors of scripture say what they wanted
to convey.
────────────
1. For salvation, see From
Literal to Literary, p.217-219.
2. For chair, see
throne