Our feet are the lowest and most utilitarian parts of our bodies, and in the Bible, according to Swedenborg, they represent the lowest and most utilitarian part of our spiritual selves. Called the “natural” level, this is the everyday aspect of life, involved with routine tasks and demands and the thoughts associated with them. It’s not terribly deep or introspective or thoughtful, but it is useful – just like feet.
Swedenborg says this correspondence is true of the Lord and true of church communities as well as of individuals. The Lord has a natural level, with relatively simple rules to guide us through obedience, and communities have a natural level on which they serve their communities in simple but tangible ways.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2162
2162. ‘Wash your feet’ means that they were to take on something natural so that during the state He was then passing through His perception might be improved. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘feet’ as natural things, and also in a like manner from the train of thought. That arcana lie concealed here becomes clear to a certain extent from the fact that Abraham besought the three men to take a little water and wash their feet, and to relax under a tree, even though he knew that it was the Lord or Jehovah; also from the fact that if it was not so such details would not have been mentioned.
[2] That ‘feet’ means natural things becomes clear from the representatives in the next life, and consequently from representatives derived from these that existed among the most ancient people and so occur in the Word. Celestial and spiritual things are represented by ‘the head’ and the parts of the head; by ‘the breast’ and the parts of the breast are represented rational concepts and aspects of these; by ‘the feet and the parts of the feet are represented natural things and the different kinds of these. Consequently ‘the sole’ and ‘the heel’ of the foot mean the lowest natural things, regarding which see 259, while ‘a shoe’ means the lowest things of all, which are filthy, regarding which see 1748.
[3] Similar things are meant by the representations in the dreams and visions in the Prophets, such as the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar, the head of which was fine gold, the breast and arms were silver, the belly and thighs were bronze, the legs were iron, and the feet were partly iron and partly clay, Dan 2:32, 33. In this case ‘the head’ means celestial things, which are inmost and are ‘gold’, as shown in 113, 1551, 1552; ‘the breast and arms’ spiritual or rational things, which are ‘silver’, as shown in 1551; but ‘the feet’ means lower things, which are natural, the truths of which are meant by ‘iron’ and the goods by ‘clay’ or mud. As regards ‘iron’ meaning truth, see 425, 426, and ‘clay’ good, 1300, both of which in the present case are natural. These things come in the same order in the Lord’s kingdom in heaven, and in the Church which is the Lord’s kingdom on earth, and also in every individual who is a kingdom of the Lord.
[4] It is similar with the vision which Daniel himself saw, of which the following is said,
I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz and whose body was like tarshish,* and whose face was like the appearance of lightning, and whose eyes were like fiery torches, and whose arms and feet like the shine of burnished bronze. Dan. 10:5, 6.
Specifically these words mean the interiors of the Word as to goods and truths. ‘The arms and feet’ are its interiors, which constitute the sense of the letter, for natural things occur there, since natural things are the source from which the exteriors of the Word are drawn. What further is meant by each of these parts, namely the loins, body, face, eyes, and many others in man, becomes clear from the representatives in the next life, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be spoken of when the Grand Man – which is the Lord’s heaven – and the representatives that originate in heaven but occur in the world of spirits are dealt with.
[5] That which one reads about Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders seeing the God of Israel, under whose feet there was so to speak a paved work of sapphire stone, like the substance of the sky for pureness, Exod. 24:9, 10, means that they saw, represented in natural things, merely the external features of the Church, and also the literal sense of the Word, in which too, as has been stated, external things are represented by natural things. And these external things are ‘the feet’ under which there is so to speak ‘a paved work of sapphire stone, like the substance of the sky itself’. It is clear that it was the Lord whom they saw, though only in those lower or natural things, since He is called ‘the God of Israel’, whom all things of the Church represented and whom all things of the Word in the internal sense meant. For the Lord is presented visually in accordance with the things that are meant at the time. When, for example, in John, He was seen as a Man on a white horse, the Word was in this case meant by Him, as is explicitly stated in Rev. 19:11, 13.
[6] The living creatures seen by Ezekiel, which were cherubs, are described as regards celestial and spiritual things by their faces and wings, and also many other things. But as regards natural things they are described as follows, by their feet, a straight foot, and the soles of their feet being like the sole of a calf’s foot, and sparkling like the shine of burnished bronze, Ezek. 1:7. The reason their feet, that is, natural things, are said to have sparkled like burnished bronze is that ‘bronze’ means natural good, dealt with in 425, 1551. It was similar when the Lord appeared to John as the Son of Man: His eyes were like a flame of fire and His feet were like burnished bronze, Rev. 1:14, 15; 2:18.
[7] That ‘feet’ means natural things is further evident from the following places: In John, who saw,
A mighty angel coming down out of heaven, wrapped in a cloud, and a rainbow around his head, his face was like the sun and his feet like pillars of fire. In his hand he had a little book opened, and he set his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. Rev. 10:1, 2.
This angel in a similar way means the Word. The nature of the Word in the internal sense is meant by ‘the rainbow around his head’ and by ‘his face being like the sun’; but the external sense, or sense of the letter, is meant by his ‘feet’. ‘The sea’ is natural truths, ‘the land’ natural goods, from which it is clear what is meant by his setting his right foot on the sea and his left on the land.
[8] Reference is made in various places in the Word to ‘a footstool’, but no one knows what is meant by this in the internal sense; as in Isaiah,
Jehovah said, The heavens are My throne and the earth My footstool. Where is this house which you are going to build for Me and where is this place of My rest? Isa. 66:1.
‘The heavens’ means the celestial and spiritual things, and so the inmost things, both of the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and of the Lord’s kingdom on earth, which is the Church. Also meant by ‘the heavens’ are those same things as they exist with every individual who is a kingdom of the Lord or a Church. Thus ‘the heavens’ also means the celestial and spiritual things regarded in themselves which are matters of love and charity and of faith that springs from these, and so means all things that belong to internal worship and similarly all things that belong to the internal sense of the Word. These things are meant by ‘the heavens’ and are called ‘the Lord’s throne’, but by ‘the earth’ are meant all lower things corresponding to those meant by ‘the heavens’. By ‘the earth’ lower rational and natural things are meant, which from correspondence are likewise referred to as celestial and spiritual things, such as those that exist in the lower heavens and also in the Church, and those things which belong to external worship and also those present in the literal sense of the Word. In short, all things that stem from internal things and manifest themselves in external are, being natural things, called ‘the earth’ and ‘the Lord’s footstool’. What heaven and earth mean in the internal sense of the Word, see also 82, 1733. What the new heaven and new earth mean, see 2117, 2118 (end). And that man is a miniature heaven, see 911, 978, 1900.
[9] Similarly in Jeremiah,
In His anger the Lord covers the daughter of Zion with a cloud, He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendour of Israel, and has not remembered His footstool on the day of His anger. Lam. 2:1.
Also in David,
Exalt Jehovah our God, and bow down at His footstool. Holy is He! Ps. 99:5.
Elsewhere in the same author,
We will enter His dwelling-places, we will bow down at His footstool. Ps. 132:7.
People in the representative Church – and thus the Jews – imagined that God’s house and the temple were His footstool. They did not know that by the Lord’s house and the temple was meant external representative worship. What the internal features of the Church were, meant by ‘heaven’ or God’s throne, they had no knowledge at all.
[10] In the same author,
Jehovah said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand till I make your enemies a stool for your feet. Ps. 110:1; Matt. 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42, 43.
Here ‘footstool’ in a similar way means natural things – both sensory impressions and factual knowledge, and man’s rational ideas formed from these – which are called ‘enemies’ when worship is perverted by them (which is done from the literal sense of the Word). As a result worship exists solely in things that are external, and no internal worship – or rather only internal worship that is defiled – exists, concerning which see 1094, 1175, 1182. When these have became perverted and defiled in this manner they are called ‘enemies’; but because, regarded in themselves, they have reference to internal worship, when this is restored, they become – both the things that belong to external worship and those that belong to the sense of the letter of the Word – ‘a footstool’, as stated already.
[11] In Isaiah,
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. Isa. 60:13.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom and Church, the celestial-spiritual things of which are meant by ‘the glory of Lebanon’, that is, cedar trees, but the celestial-natural things of it by ‘the fir, the pine, and the box’, as also in other places in the Word. Thus it is the external aspects of worship that are referred to when it is said that ‘I will make the place of My feet glorious’; and this cannot he made glorious by the fir, the pine, and the box, but by the things meant by these.
[12] That ‘feet’ means these things is also clear from the representatives in the Jewish Church, for example, by the requirement that Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and feet before entering the tabernacle, Exod. 30:19, 20; 40:31, 32. No one is able to see that arcana were represented by this, for what is such washing of the hands and feet but some external act which does not do anything at all if the internal is not pure and clean? Nor can the internal be made pure and clean by such a washing. But because all the forms of ritual of that Church meant internal things that are celestial and spiritual, so it was with this form; that is to say, it meant the cleanliness of external worship, which is clean when internal worship is present within it. This explains why their lavers were made of bronze, and also the large laver which was called ‘the bronze sea’, together with the ten smaller ones made of bronze around Solomon’s temple, 1 Kings 7:23, 38. They were made of bronze because ‘bronze’ represented good present in external worship, which is the same as natural good. Regarding this meaning of bronze, see 425, 1551.
[13] Similarly representative was the prohibition that no man among Aaron’s descendants who had a broken foot or a broken hand should draw near to offer fire-offerings to Jehovah, Lev. 21:19, 21. ‘Broken feet and hands’ represented those people whose external worship was perverted.
[14] That ‘feet’ means natural things is also evident from various other places in the Prophets, as in these prophetical utterances in Moses,
Blessed above sons be Asher; let him be acceptable among his brothers, and dipping his foot in oil. Your shoes will be iron and bronze. Deut. 33:24, 25.
These words will not be understood by anybody unless he knows what the meaning of oil, foot, iron, bronze, and shoe are in the internal sense. ‘Foot’ is the natural; ‘shoe’ the still lower natural, such as that which is connected with the senses and the body, see 1748; ‘oil’ is the celestial, 886; ‘iron’ natural truth, 425, 426; and ‘bronze’ natural good, 425, 1551. From these places it is evident what these words embody.
[15] In Nahum,
The way of Jehovah is in storm and tempest, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. Nahum 1:3.
Here ‘the dust of the feet’ means the natural and bodily things with man which give rise to clouds. The same is also meant by these words in David,
Jehovah bowed the heavens and came down, and thick darkness was under His feet. Ps. 18:9.
[16] When goods and truths of faith are perverted by natural light, as people call it, it is described in the Word as the feet and hoofs of a beast which trouble waters and trample on food, as in Ezekiel,
You have come forth into the rivers, and have troubled the waters with your feet and trampled their rivers. I will destroy all its beasts from over many waters, and the foot of man will not trouble them any longer, nor will the hoofs of beast. Ezek. 32:2, 13.
This refers to Egypt, which meant forms of knowledge, as shown in 1164, 1165, 1462. Thus by ‘feet and hoofs which trouble the rivers and water’ are meant facts gained from sensory and from natural things, on the basis of which people reason about the arcana of faith and do not believe anything until they grasp it by this method. This amounts to not believing at all, for the more such people go on reasoning, the less believing they are; see what is said in 128-130, 215, 232, 233, 1072, 1385. From all these quotations it is now evident that ‘feet’ in the Word means natural things. But what further meaning ‘feet’ may have is evident from the context in which the expression occurs.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3147
3147. ‘And water to wash his feet’ means purification there. This is clear from the meaning of ‘water to wash’ or ‘washing with water’ as purifying, dealt with below, and from the meaning of ‘feet’ as natural things, or what amounts to the same, those things that are in the natural man, dealt with in 2162. In the representative Church washing feet with water was a ceremonial act which meant washing away the filth of the natural man. The filth of the natural man is composed of all the things that belong to self-love and love of the world, and when such filth has been washed away goods and truths flow in, for that filth alone is what hinders the influx of good and truth from the Lord.
[2] For good is flowing in constantly from the Lord, but when by way of the internal or spiritual man it reaches the external or natural man it is either perverted there, or turned away, or stifled. But when indeed the things that belong to self-love and love of the world are removed, good is received there, and bears fruit there, since the person now performs the works of charity. This may become clear from many considerations, such as this: When the things that belong to the external or natural man are quiescent – as they are in times of ill- fortune, wretchedness, and sickness – a person instantly starts to become spiritually-minded and to will what is good, and also to perform acts of devotion insofar as he is able. But when that state alters, these things are altered too.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3761
3761. ‘Jacob lifted up his feet’ means a raising up of the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘lifting up’ as a raising up, and from the meaning of ‘the feet’ as the natural, dealt with below. The raising up meant here is the subject of the chapter itself, namely a raising up from external truth towards internal good. In the highest sense the subject is how the Lord according to order raised His Natural even up to the Divine, rising up step by step from external truth towards internal good. In the representative sense it is how the Lord according to a similar order makes man’s natural new when regenerating him. The fact that a person who is being regenerated in adult life progresses according to the order described in the internal sense of this chapter and of those that follow is known to few. This fact is known to few because few stop to reflect on the matter and also because few at the present day are able to be regenerated; for the last days of the Church have arrived when no charity exists any longer, nor consequently any faith. This being so, people do not even know what faith is, even though the assertion ‘men is saved by faith’ is on everyone’s lips; and not knowing this they therefore have even less knowledge of what charity is. And since they know no more than the terms faith and charity and have no knowledge of what these are essentially, it has therefore been stated that few are able to reflect on the order in accordance with which a person is made new or regenerated, and also that few are able to be regenerated.
[2] Because the subject here is the natural, and the latter is represented by ‘Jacob’, it is not said that he rose up and went to the land of the sons of the east but that ‘he lifted up his feet’. Both these expressions mean a raising up. As regards ‘rising up’ haying this meaning, see 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171; and as regards the expression ‘lifting up the feet’ which occurs here, this is used in reference to the natural – ‘the feet’ meaning the natural, see 2162, 3147. ‘The feet’ means the natural or natural things because of their correspondence with the Grand Man – currently the subject at the ends of chapters. In the Grand Man those belonging to the province of the feet are those who dwell in natural light and little spiritual light. This also is why the parts beneath the foot – the sole and the heel – mean the lowest natural things, see 259, and why ‘a shoe’, which is also mentioned several times in the Word, means the bodily-natural, which is the lowest part of all, 1748.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4302
[6] The Lord’s words in Mark have a similar meaning,
If your foot causes you to stumble cut it off, it is better for you to enter into life lame than having two feet to be cast into the Gehenna of fire, into the unquenchable fire. Mark 9:45; Matt. 18:8.
A foot which has to be cut off if it causes stumbling means the natural which constantly sets itself against the spiritual and has to be destroyed if it is trying to crush truths, and so means that because of the disagreement and contrary-mindedness of the natural man it is preferable to be governed by simple good even though there is a denial of truth. This is what ‘entering into life lame’ means. As regards ‘the foot’ meaning the natural, see 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6844
6844. Take off your shoes from upon your feet’ means that the powers of the senses, which form the external levels of the natural, should be removed. This is clear from the meaning of ‘shoes’ as the powers of the senses forming the external levels of the natural, dealt with in 1748; and from the meaning of ‘feet’ as the natural, dealt with in 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952. ‘Taking off’ plainly means removing since one is talking about the powers of the senses. Particular expressions have to be used in application to the actual matter to which they refer; thus ‘being taken off’ is applied to shoes, and ‘being removed’ to the powers of the senses. The implications of all this need to be stated. Anyone can see that here ‘shoes’ represent something that does not accord with Him who is holy and Divine, so that ‘taking off one’s shoes’ was representative of the removal of things like that. Without this representation what would it matter to the Divine whether a person drew near in shoes or in bare feet, provided that inwardly he is the kind of person who can draw near the Divine in faith and love? Therefore the powers of the senses are meant by ‘shoes’, and those powers, which form the external levels of the natural, are by nature such that they cannot remain when one thinks with reverence about the Divine. Consequently because it was a time when representatives had to be observed, Moses was not allowed to draw near with his shoes on.
[2] The reason why the powers of the senses that form the external levels of the natural are by nature such that they cannot receive the Divine is that they are steeped in ideas of worldly, bodily, and also earthly things because they are the first to receive them. Therefore sensory impressions contained in the memory as a result of the activity of the senses draw their nature from the light and heat of the world, and hardly at all from the light and heat of heaven. As a consequence they are the last things that can be regenerated, that is, receive something of the light of heaven. This explains why, when a person is ruled by his senses and sensory impressions control his thinking, he inevitably thinks of the Divine as he does of earthly things. If also he is ruled by evil those impressions make him think in ways altogether contrary to the Divine. When therefore a person thinks about the kinds of things that have to do with faith and love to God he is raised, if he is governed by good, from the powers of the senses which form the external levels of the natural to more internal levels, consequently from earthly and worldly things nearer to celestial and spiritual ones.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9406
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’,* as well as ‘clouds and darkness’ in comparison, as in Isaiah,
They will keep Your gates open continually, to bring to You the army** of the nations, and their kings in procession.*** 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. Isa. 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. Isa. 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. Ps. 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. Ps. 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. Ps. 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;**** and His face was like the appearance***** 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. Dan. 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. Dan. 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.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10087
10087. ‘And you shall take the breast’ means the Divine Spiritual in the heavens, which those in heaven make their own. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the breast’ as the good of charity, and in the highest sense as the Divine Spiritual, dealt with below. The reason why its being made their own by those in the heavens is meant is that the subject in what follows next is the flesh from the ram and the bread from the basket which were not burned on the altar but were left as a portion for and were eaten by Moses, Aaron, and his sons. By this is meant making it their own, the process of which is described in what follows next. The origin of the meaning of ‘the breast’ as the good of charity, and in the highest sense as the Divine Spiritual, lies in correspondence. For the human head corresponds to the good of love to the Lord, which is the good of the inmost heaven and is called the Divine Celestial, whereas the breast corresponds to the good of charity, which is the good of the middle or second heaven and is called the Divine Spiritual; and the feet correspond to the good of faith, thus to the good of obedience, which is the good of the lowest heaven and is called the Divine Natural. Regarding this correspondence, see what has been shown above in 10030.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 49
49.His feet were like fine brass, as though fired in a furnace. (1:15) This symbolizes natural Divine good.
The Lord’s feet symbolize His natural Divinity. Fire or being fired symbolizes goodness. And fine brass symbolizes the natural goodness of truth. Consequently the feet of the Son of Man like fine brass, as though fired in a furnace, symbolize natural Divine good.
His feet have this symbolic meaning because of their correspondence.
Present in the Lord, and so emanating from the Lord, are a celestial Divinity, a spiritual Divinity, anda natural Divinity. His celestial Divinity is meant by the head of the Son of Man; His spiritual Divinity by His eyes and by His breast girded with a golden girdle; and His natural Divinity by His feet.
[2] Because these three elements are present in the Lord, therefore the same three are also present in the angelic heaven. The third or highest heaven exists on the celestial Divine level, the second or middle heaven on the spiritual Divine level, and the first or lowest heaven on the natural Divine level. The like is the case with the church on earth. For the whole of heaven is, in the Lord’s sight, like a single person, in which those who are governed by the Lord’s celestial Divinity form the head,and those who are governed by His spiritual Divinity form the trunk, while those who are governed by His natural Divinity form the feet.
For this reason, too, every person, having been created in the image of God, has in him the same three degrees, and as they are opened he becomes an angel either of the third heaven, or of the second, or of the last.
It is owing to this also that the Word contains three levels of meaning-a celestial one, a spiritual one, and a natural one.
The reality of this may be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, particularly in Part Three, in which we discussed these three degrees.
To be shown that feet, the soles of the feet, and heels correspond to natural attributes in people, andthat in the Word, therefore, they symbolize natural attributes, see in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London, nos. 2162 and 49384952.
[3] Natural Divine good is also symbolically meant by feet in the following passages. In Daniel:
I lifted my eyes and looked; behold, a…man clothed in linen garments, whose loins were girded with the gold of Uphaz! And his body was like beryl, and…his eyes like torches of fire, his arms andhis feet like the sheen of burnished bronze. (Daniel 10:5, 6)
In the book of Revelation:
I saw…an angel coming down from heaven, …his feet like pillars of fire. (Revelation 10:1)
And in Ezekiel:
(The feet of the cherubim) sparkled like the sheen of burnished bronze. (Ezekiel 1:7)
Angels and cherubim so appeared for the reason that the Lord’s Divinity was represented in them.
[4] Since the Lord’s church exists below the heavens, thus under the Lord’s feet, it is therefore called His footstool in the following places:
The glory of Lebanon shall come to you…, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; …I will make the place of My feet honorable. And…they shall bow themselves at the soles of your feet. (Isaiah 60:13, 14)
Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. (Isaiah 66:1)
(God) does not remember His footstool in the day of His anger. (Lamentations 2:1)
…worship (Jehovah) in the direction of His footstool. (Psalm 99:5)
Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah (Bethlehem)…. We will go into His dwelling places, we will bow ourselves at His footstool. (Psalm 132:6, 7)
That is why worshipers fell at the Lord’s feet (Matthew 28:9, Mark 5:22, Luke 8:41, John 11:32),and why they kissed His feet and wiped them with their hair (Luke 7:37, 38, 4446, John 11:2, 12:3).
[5] Because feet symbolize the natural self, therefore the Lord said to Peter, when He washed Peter’s feet,
He who is washed needs only to have his feet washed, and he is completely clean. (John 13:10)
To wash the feet is to purify the natural self. When it has been purified, the whole self also is purified, as we showed many times in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), and in The Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.* The natural self, which is also the outer self, is purified when it refrains from the evils which the spiritual or inner self sees to be evils and ones to be shunned.
[6] Now because the feet mean the natural component of a person, and this perverts everything if it is not washed or purified, therefore the Lord says,
If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than to have two feet and be cast into hell, into the unquenchable fire…. (Mark 9:45)
The foot here does not mean the foot, but the natural self.
The like is meant by treading down the good pasture with the feet and troubling waters with the feet (Ezekiel 32:2, 34:18, 19, Daniel 7:7, 19, and elsewhere).
[7] Since the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word, it is apparent that His feet mean the Word in its natural sense as well, which we dealt with at length in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, and also that the Lord came into the world to fulfill everything in the Word and to become thereby an embodiment of the Word, even in its outmost expressions (The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 98100). But this is a secret for people who will be in the New Jerusalem.
[8] The Lord’s natural Divinity was also symbolized by the bronze serpent that Moses was commanded to set up in the wilderness, so that all who had been bitten by serpents were healed by looking at it (Numbers 21:6, 8, 9). That this symbolized the Lord’s natural Divinity, and that those people are saved who look to it, the Lord Himself teaches in John:
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14, 15)
The serpent was made of bronze because bronze, like fine brass, symbolizes the natural self in respect to good, as may be seen in no. 775 below.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 510
510. But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. (11:11) This symbolically means that at the end of the prior church, as the New Church commences and grows, these two essential elements of the New Church are made living by the Lord in people who accept them.
Three and a half days means, symbolically, at the end and then the beginning (no. 505), thus at the end of the church still existing and the beginning of a new one, here the beginning of the church in people in whom the New Church commences and grows, because we are told now in regard to the two witnesses that the breath of life entered them and they stood on their feet.
The breath of life from God symbolizes spiritual life, and standing on their feet symbolizes natural life in harmony with spiritual life, and thus one made living by the Lord. This is the symbolic meaning because the breath of life refers to a person’s inner being, called his inner self, which regarded in itself is spiritual. For it is a person’s spirit that thinks and wills, and to think and will is, in itself, a spiritual activity.* Standing on the feet symbolizes a person’s outer being, called his outer self, which in itself is natural. For it is the body that says and does what the spirit in it thinks and wills, and to speak and act is a natural activity. That the feet symbolize natural things may be seen in nos. 49, 468.
[2] We need to say what all this means specifically. Everyone who is reformed is reformed first in respect to his inner self, and afterward in respect to his outer self. The inner self is reformed, not by simply knowing and understanding the truths and goods by which a person is saved, but by willing and loving them, and the outer self by saying and doing what the inner self wills and loves. To the extent the outer self does this, then, to the same extent the person is regenerated. He is not regenerated prior to that because before then his inner self is not present in the effect, but subsists only in the cause, and unless a cause has an effect, it dissipates. It is like a house founded on a field of ice, a house that sinks to the bottom when the sun melts the ice. In short, it is like a person without feet on which to stand and walk. The same is the case with the inner or spiritual self unless it is founded on the outer or natural self.
This, now, is what is symbolically meant by the two witnesses’ standing on their feet after breath from God entered them, and also by similar statements in Ezekiel:
(Jehovah) said to me, “Prophesy regarding the breath….” And (when) I prophesied…breath came into them, and they…stood upon their feet…. (Ezekiel 37:9, 10)
Also in Ezekiel:
(The voice speaking to me said,) “Son of man, stand on your feet….” Then the spirit* entered me…and set me on my feet. (Ezekiel 2:1, 2)
And again in Ezekiel:
…I fell on my face. But the spirit* …entered me and set me on my feet…. (Ezekiel 3:23, 24)
This, too, is the meaning of the Lord’s words to Peter:
…Peter said…, “…(wash) not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to have his feet washed, and he is completely clean.” (John 13:9, 10)