9406. 'And under His feet' means the lowest level of meaning, which is that of the letter itself. This is clear from the meaning of 'feet' as natural things, dealt with in 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, so that the soles under the feet are the lowest things in the natural order. The reason why the lowest level of meaning in the Word, which is the sense of the letter, is meant here by 'under the feet' is that these words refer to Divine Truth or the Word, which comes from the Lord and is the Lord, as may be recognized from what has come before. And the lowest level of God's truth or the Word is the Word as it exists in the sense of the letter, that is, the natural sense since it is intended for the natural man. The fact that the sense of the letter contains an internal sense, which in comparison is spiritual and heavenly, is clear from all those things which have been shown up to now regarding the Word. But the more worldly- and bodily-minded a person is, the less he understands this, because he does not allow himself to be raised into spiritual light and from there to see what the Word is like, namely that in the letter it is natural and in the internal sense is spiritual. For it is possible to see from the spiritual world or the light of heaven what lower things down to the lowest are like, but not from below upwards, 9401 (end), and so to see that the Word in the letter is as described above.

[2] Since the Word in the letter is natural, and natural things are meant by 'the feet', the lowest level of the Word, like the lowest of the Church, is called 'the place of Jehovah's feet', also 'His footstool', ¹ as well as 'clouds and darkness' in comparison, as in Isaiah,

They will keep Your gates open continually, to bring to You the army ² of the nations, and their kings in procession. ³ The glory of Lebanon will come to You, the fir, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. Isaiah 60:11, 13.

This refers to the Lord and to His kingdom and Church. 'The army of the nations' is used to mean those with whom forms of the good of faith exist, and 'kings' to mean those with whom the truths of faith are present. For the meaning of 'nations' as those with whom forms of the good of faith exist, see 1259, 1328, 1416, 1849, 4574, 6005, and for that of 'kings' as those with whom truths are present, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148. 'The glory of Lebanon', or the cedar, is spiritual good and truth; 'the fir, the pine, and the box tree' are corresponding, natural forms of good and truth; 'the place of the sanctuary' is heaven and the Church, and the Word as well; 'the place of the feet' is heaven, the Church, and the Word as well, on their lowest levels. The reason why the Word as well is meant is that heaven is heaven, and the Church likewise the Church, by virtue of Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and Divine Truth which makes the Church and heaven is the Word. This also explains why the inmost part of the tent in which the ark containing the law was is called 'the sanctuary'; for 'the law' is the Word, 6752. In the same prophet,

The heavens are My throne and the earth My footstool. Isaiah 66:1.

[3] In David,

Exalt Jehovah our God, and worship at His footstool. Holy is He! Moses and Aaron were among His priests; He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. Psalms 99:5-7.

'Jehovah's footstool' which they were to worship at is Divine Truth on its lowest levels, thus the Word. 'Moses and Aaron' in the representative sense are the Word, see 7089, 7382, 9373, 9374, and 'cloud' is the Word in the letter or Divine Truth on its lowest levels, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343 (end), 6752, 8106, 8781; and from all this it is evident what 'speaking in the pillar of cloud' means.

[4] In the same author,

We heard of Him in Ephrathah, we found Him in the fields of the wood. We will enter His dwelling-places, and we will bow down at His footstool. Psalms 132:6-7.

This refers to the Lord and the revelation of Himself in the Word. 'Finding Him in Ephrathah' means doing so in the spiritual-celestial sense of the Word, 4585, 4594, 'in the fields of the wood' in the natural or literal sense of the Word, 3220, 9011 (end). 'Footstool' stands for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, as it exists on the lowest levels of the Word.

[5] In the same author,

Jehovah bowed heaven, and thick darkness was under His feet. He made darkness His hiding-place - darkness of waters, clouds of the heavens. From the brightness before Him His clouds passed away. Psalms 18:9, 11-12.

This refers to the Lord's coming and presence in the Word. 'Thick darkness under His feet' stands for the sense of the letter of the Word, as does 'darkness of waters' and 'clouds of the heavens'. The fact that this very sense holds within itself Divine Truth as this exists in the heavens is meant by 'He made darkness His hiding-place'; and the fact that at the presence of the Lord the internal sense then appears, as it exists in heaven, and in its glory, is meant by 'from the brightness before Him His clouds pass away'. In Nahum,

The way of Jehovah is in storm and tempest, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. Nahum 1:3.

Here also 'the clouds' stands for the Word in the sense of the letter, which is also meant by 'storm and tempest', in which 'the way of Jehovah' lies.

[6] When God's truth as it is in heaven shines through for a person in the actual sense of the letter, this sense is then portrayed as 'the feet', which have a shine 'like that of burnished bronze', as also in Daniel,

I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a Man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz, and His body was like tarshish; ⁴ and His face was like the appearance ⁵ of lightning, and His eyes were like fiery torches; His arms and His feet were like the shine of burnished bronze, and the sound of His words like the sound of a crowd. Daniel 10:5-6.

Here 'a Man clothed in linen' is used to mean in the highest sense the Lord; and since the Lord is meant it is also used to mean Divine Truth emanating from Him. For Divine Truth that emanates from the Lord is the Lord Himself in heaven and in the Church. God's truth or the Lord on lowest levels is meant by 'arms and feet like the shine of burnished bronze', and also by 'the sound of His words like the sound of a crowd'; and something similar is meant in Ezekiel 1:7.

[7] The successive state of the Church on this planet so far as reception of God's truth emanating from the Lord is concerned is also meant by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar, in Daniel,

The head of the statue was gold, its breast and its arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron, its feet were partly iron and partly clay which did not cohere with each other. And the stone cut out of the rock smashed to pieces the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Daniel 2:32-35, 43, 45.

The first state of the Church so far as reception of God's truth emanating from the Lord is concerned is 'the gold', because 'gold' means celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 8932. The second state is meant by 'the silver', this being spiritual good, which is the good of faith in the Lord and of charity towards the neighbour, 1551, 2954, 5658, 7999. The third state is meant by 'the bronze', which is natural good, 425, 1551. And the fourth state is meant by 'the iron', which is natural truth, 425, 426. 'The clay' means falsity, which does not cohere with truth and good. The smashing to pieces of the iron, bronze, silver, and gold by the stone cut out of the rock means the destruction of the Church so far as reception of truth from the Word is concerned when the sense of the letter of the Word is used to reinforce falsity and evil. This happens when the Church is in its final state, at which time it is no longer governed by any heavenly love, only by worldly and bodily love. This was how it was with the Word so far as reception of it among the Jewish nation was concerned when the Lord came into the world. And it is how it is with the Word among the majority at the present day. They are not even aware that there is anything inwardly present in the Word; and if they were told that there is and what it is like they would not accept it. Yet in most ancient times, which are meant by 'the gold', people saw within the sense of the letter of the Word nothing apart from what was heavenly, almost independently of the letter.

From all this it may now be recognized that 'the God of Israel' and what was seen 'under His feet' means the Word on its lowest level of meaning, which is the sense of the letter.

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1748. 'That not a thread, nor even the latchet of a shoe' means all things, natural and bodily, that were unclean. This is clear from the meaning of 'the latchet of a shoe'. In the Word 'the sole of the foot, and the heel' means the lowest part of the natural, as shown already in 259. The shoe is that which covers the sole and the heel, and therefore 'a shoe' means something still more natural, thus the bodily itself. The exact meaning of a shoe depends on the actual subject. When it has reference to goods it is used in a good sense, but when it has reference to evils it is used in a bad sense, as it is here where the subject is the acquisitions of the king of Sodom, who means evil and falsity. 'The latchet of a shoe' therefore means things, natural and bodily, that are unclean. 'The thread of a shoe' means falsity, and 'the latchet of a shoe' evil, and because the expression denotes something very small the most degraded of all is meant.

[2] That these things are meant by a shoe is clear also from other places in the Word, such as when Jehovah appeared to Moses from the middle of the bush and said to Moses,

Do not come near here; put off your shoes from on your feet, for the place or which you are standing is holy ground. Exodus 3:5.

Similarly, in what the commander of Jehovah's army said to Joshua,

Put off your shoe from on your foot, for the place on which you are standing is holy. Joshua 5:15.

From this anyone may see that a shoe would not take away anything from the holiness provided the individual were holy in himself, but that this was said because 'a shoe' represented the lowest natural and bodily that was to be cast off.

[3] That it is the unclean natural and bodily is also clear in David,

Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I will cast My shoe. Psalms 60:8.

The commandment to the disciples embodies the same,

If anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, as you leave that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5.

Here 'dust of your feet' is similar in meaning to a shoe, for 'the sole of the foot' means the lowest natural, that is to say, uncleanness resulting from evil and falsity. They were commanded to do this because at that time they lived in an age of representatives, and imagined that heavenly arcana were stored away solely in these and not in naked truths.

[4] Because 'the shoe' meant the lowest natural, shedding, that is, 'taking off the shoe' meant that the lowest things of nature were to be shed, as in the case, mentioned in Moses, of any man who refused to fulfill the obligations of a brother-in-law,

He who refuses to fulfill the obligations of a brother-in-law - his sister-in-law shall go up to him in the sight of the elders, and she shall remove his shoe from upon his foot and spit in his face; ¹ and she shall answer and say, So will it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house. And his name will be called in Israel, The house of him who has his shoe taken off. Deuteronomy 25:5-10.

This stands for being devoid of all natural charity.

[5] That 'a shoe' means as well, in a good sense, the lowest natural is clear from the Word, as in Moses when referring to Asher,

Blessed above sons be Asher; let him be acceptable to his brothers, and dipping his foot in oil. Your ² shoe will be iron and bronze. Deuteronomy 33:24-25.

Here 'shoe' stands for the lowest natural - 'iron shoe' for natural truth, 'bronze shoe' for natural good - as is clear from the meaning of iron and bronze, 425, 426. And because the shoe meant the lowest natural and bodily part, it therefore became a figurative expression for the least and basest thing of all, for the lowest natural and bodily part is the basest of all in man; and this is what John the Baptist meant when he said,

There is coming one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to untie. Luke 3:16; Mark 1:7; John 1:27.

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