1748. The fact that from the string of a shoe even to its strap symbolizes everything that was unclean on the earthly and bodily levels can be seen from the symbolism of a shoestrap.

In the Word, the foot and heel symbolize the periphery of the earthly level, as shown before, in §259. A shoe is what covers the foot and heel, so it symbolizes an even more peripheral part of the earthly level, which is to say the actual level of the body. A shoe's symbolism depends on the topic at hand. When mentioned in connection with something good, it is taken in a positive sense; when mentioned in connection with something bad, it is taken in a negative sense. The latter is how it is taken here, where the subject is the property of Sodom's king, symbolizing evil and falsity. So the shoestrap symbolizes what is unclean on the earthly and bodily levels. A shoestring symbolizes falsity, and a shoestrap, evil. Because it is so small, it symbolizes what is lowliest of all.

[2] This symbolism of a shoe can also be seen from other places in the Word. When Jehovah appeared to Moses in the middle of the bramble, for instance, he said to Moses:

You are not to come near here; strip your shoes off your feet, because the place on which you are standing is holy land. (Exodus 3:5)

The leader of Jehovah's army said the same thing to Joshua:

Strip your shoe off your foot, because the place on which you are standing is holiness. (Joshua 5:15)

Anyone can see here that a shoe would not detract from the holiness in any way, provided the individual were intrinsically holy. The order is given because the shoe was representing the earthly, bodily periphery, which needs to be shed.

[3] The fact that earthly and bodily things are unclean can be seen in David:

Moab is my wash basin. On Edom I will set my shoe. (Psalms 60:8)

Something similar is involved in the command to the disciples:

If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, coming out of that house or city shake off the dust of your feet. (Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5)

The dust of the feet symbolizes the same thing as a shoe — namely, something made unclean by evil and falsity — because the bottom of the foot means the outer limit of the earthly level. In those days people were engrossed in representation and believed that representation alone, rather than the naked truth, held secrets of heaven within it. That is why they were commanded to shake the dust off.

[4] Since a shoe symbolized the periphery of the earthly level, having a shoe taken off meant being stripped of the outermost dimensions of the earthly plane. As an example, take a man who refused to perform the levirate, ¹ spoken of in Moses:

If a man does not wish to perform the levirate, his sister-in-law shall come up to him in the eyes of the elders and draw his shoe off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, "This is what shall be done to the man who does not build up the house of his brother." And his name in Israel will be called the house of one stripped of his shoe. (Deuteronomy 25:5-10)

This stands for a complete lack of earthly charity.

[5] A shoe symbolizes the outer limit of the earthly level in a good sense too, as can also be seen in the Word. Moses, for instance, says of Asher:

A blessing on Asher because of his sons! Let him be acceptable to his brothers and dip his foot in oil; iron and bronze is his shoe. (Deuteronomy 33:24-25)

The shoe stands for the periphery of the earthly level. A shoe of iron stands for earthly truth; a shoe of bronze, for earthly good. This is indicated by the symbolism of iron and bronze (§§425, 426). Because a shoe symbolized the earthly, bodily periphery, it gave rise to this figure of speech ["from the string of a shoe even to its strap"] that meant the least important, lowliest things of all. The outermost part of our earthly, bodily dimension is the lowliest of everything we have in us, which is what John the Baptist meant when he said,

One mightier than I is coming, and I am not worthy to undo the strap of his shoes. (Luke 3:16; Mark 1:7; John 1:27)

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259. The meaning of the heel as what is bottommost on the earthly level, or the bodily dimension, cannot be known without information on the way the earliest people viewed the various levels inside us. They connected heavenly and spiritual qualities in us with the head and face. They connected the effects of those qualities — charity and mercy, for instance — with the chest. Things on the earthly level they connected with the lower leg. Those that rank fairly low they associated with the foot, and the very lowest earthly and bodily concerns, with the heel. In addition, not only did they connect such attributes with those body parts, they even called them by those names.

The heel also means the bottommost things in the rational mind, which are the facts we know. They are involved in Jacob's prophecy concerning Dan:

Dan will be a snake on the path, an asp on the track, biting the horse's heels, and its rider falls off behind. (Genesis 49:17)

They are also meant in David:

The wickedness at my heels has surrounded me. (Psalms 49:5)

Genesis 25:26 says that when Jacob came out of the womb, he was grasping Esau's heel (which is why he was called Jacob) and the meaning here is the same. The name Jacob comes from [the Hebrew word for] "heel" because the Jewish church, symbolized by Jacob, was to wound the heel. ¹

[2] Snakes are able to hurt only the lowest things on the earthly plane. Unless they are a species of viper, they cannot harm the more interior things we have on the earthly plane, still less those on the spiritual plane, least of all those on the heavenly plane. All these things the Lord protects, and he stores them away without our awareness. (What the Lord stores away is called "a remnant" [or "survivors"] in the Word.) ²

The pages to come, though, by the Lord's divine mercy, will reveal how the snake destroyed those lowest things in pre-Flood people through a focus on the senses and through self-love. ³ They will show how the snake destroyed them among Jews through a concern with sensory experiences, tradition, and trivialities, and through self-love and materialism. ⁴ Then they will show how the snake has destroyed and is destroying people at the present day through sensory, scientific, and philosophical matters, and once more through self-love and materialism. ⁵

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