Anciently it was customary to wash the feet of strangers coming
off a journey, because generally they travelled barefoot, or wore
sandals only, which did not secure them from dust or dirt. Jesus Christ
washed the feet of his Apostles, and thereby taught them to perform the
humblest services for one another. Feet, in the sacred writers, often
mean inclinations, affections, propensities, actions, motions: “Guide my
feet in thy paths.” “Keep thy feet at a distance from evil.” “The feet
of the debauched woman go down to death.” “Let not the foot of pride
come against me.” To be at any one’s feet, signifies obeying him,
listening to his instructions and commands. Moses says that “the Lord
loved his people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at
his feet,” Deut. xxxiii, 3. St. Paul was brought up at the feet of
Gamaliel. Mary sat at our Saviour’s feet, and heard his word, Luke x,
39.
It is said that the land of Canaan is not like Egypt, “where thou
sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy _foot_,” Deut. xi, 10.
Palestine is a country which has rains, plentiful dews, springs,
rivulets, brooks, &c, that supply the earth with the moisture necessary
to its fruitfulness. On the contrary, Egypt has no river except the
Nile: there it seldom rains, and the lands which are not within reach of
the inundation continue parched and barren. To supply this want, ditches
are dug from the river, and water is distributed throughout the several
villages and cantons: there are great struggles who shall first obtain
it; and, in this dispute, they frequently come to blows. Notwithstanding
these precautions, many places have no water; and, in the course of the
year, those places which are nearest the Nile require to be watered
again by means of art and labour. This was formerly done by the help of
machines, one of which is thus described by Philo: It is a wheel which a
man turns by the motion of his feet, by ascending successively the
several steps that are within it. This is what Moses means in this place
by saying, that, in Egypt, they water the earth with their feet. The
water is thus conveyed to cisterns; and when the gardens want
refreshment, water is conducted by trenches to the beds in little rills,
which are stopped by the _foot_, and turned at pleasure into different
directions.
2. To be under any one’s feet, to be a footstool to him, signifies the
subjection of a subject to his sovereign, of a slave to his master. To
lick the dust of one’s feet, is an abject manner of doing homage. In Mr.
Hugh Boyd’s account of his embassy to the king of Candy, in Ceylon,
there is a paragraph which singularly illustrates this, and shows the
adulation and obsequious reverence with which an eastern monarch is
approached. Describing his introduction to the king, he says, “The
removal of the curtain was the signal of our obeisances. Mine, by
stipulation, was to be only kneeling. My companions immediately began
the performance of theirs, which were in the most perfect degree of
eastern humiliation. They almost literally licked the dust; prostrating
themselves with their faces almost close to the stone floor, and
throwing out their arms and legs; then, rising on their knees, they
repeated, in a very loud voice, a certain form of words of the most
extravagant meaning that can be conceived, that the head of the king of
kings might reach beyond the sun; that he might live a thousand years,”
&c. Nakedness of feet was a sign of mourning. God says to Ezekiel, “Make
no mourning for the dead, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet,” &c. It
was also a mark of respect: “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for
the place whereon thou standest is holy ground,” Exodus iii, 5. The
rabbins say that the priests went barefoot in the temple. “If thou turn
away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day,”
Isaiah lviii, 13; if thou forbear walking and travelling on the Sabbath
day, and do not then thine own will. We know that journeys were
forbidden on the Sabbath day, Matt. xxiv, 20; Acts i, 12. Kissing the
feet was often practised as a mark of affection and reverence.
off a journey, because generally they travelled barefoot, or wore
sandals only, which did not secure them from dust or dirt. Jesus Christ
washed the feet of his Apostles, and thereby taught them to perform the
humblest services for one another. Feet, in the sacred writers, often
mean inclinations, affections, propensities, actions, motions: “Guide my
feet in thy paths.” “Keep thy feet at a distance from evil.” “The feet
of the debauched woman go down to death.” “Let not the foot of pride
come against me.” To be at any one’s feet, signifies obeying him,
listening to his instructions and commands. Moses says that “the Lord
loved his people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at
his feet,” Deut. xxxiii, 3. St. Paul was brought up at the feet of
Gamaliel. Mary sat at our Saviour’s feet, and heard his word, Luke x,
39.
It is said that the land of Canaan is not like Egypt, “where thou
sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy _foot_,” Deut. xi, 10.
Palestine is a country which has rains, plentiful dews, springs,
rivulets, brooks, &c, that supply the earth with the moisture necessary
to its fruitfulness. On the contrary, Egypt has no river except the
Nile: there it seldom rains, and the lands which are not within reach of
the inundation continue parched and barren. To supply this want, ditches
are dug from the river, and water is distributed throughout the several
villages and cantons: there are great struggles who shall first obtain
it; and, in this dispute, they frequently come to blows. Notwithstanding
these precautions, many places have no water; and, in the course of the
year, those places which are nearest the Nile require to be watered
again by means of art and labour. This was formerly done by the help of
machines, one of which is thus described by Philo: It is a wheel which a
man turns by the motion of his feet, by ascending successively the
several steps that are within it. This is what Moses means in this place
by saying, that, in Egypt, they water the earth with their feet. The
water is thus conveyed to cisterns; and when the gardens want
refreshment, water is conducted by trenches to the beds in little rills,
which are stopped by the _foot_, and turned at pleasure into different
directions.
2. To be under any one’s feet, to be a footstool to him, signifies the
subjection of a subject to his sovereign, of a slave to his master. To
lick the dust of one’s feet, is an abject manner of doing homage. In Mr.
Hugh Boyd’s account of his embassy to the king of Candy, in Ceylon,
there is a paragraph which singularly illustrates this, and shows the
adulation and obsequious reverence with which an eastern monarch is
approached. Describing his introduction to the king, he says, “The
removal of the curtain was the signal of our obeisances. Mine, by
stipulation, was to be only kneeling. My companions immediately began
the performance of theirs, which were in the most perfect degree of
eastern humiliation. They almost literally licked the dust; prostrating
themselves with their faces almost close to the stone floor, and
throwing out their arms and legs; then, rising on their knees, they
repeated, in a very loud voice, a certain form of words of the most
extravagant meaning that can be conceived, that the head of the king of
kings might reach beyond the sun; that he might live a thousand years,”
&c. Nakedness of feet was a sign of mourning. God says to Ezekiel, “Make
no mourning for the dead, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet,” &c. It
was also a mark of respect: “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for
the place whereon thou standest is holy ground,” Exodus iii, 5. The
rabbins say that the priests went barefoot in the temple. “If thou turn
away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day,”
Isaiah lviii, 13; if thou forbear walking and travelling on the Sabbath
day, and do not then thine own will. We know that journeys were
forbidden on the Sabbath day, Matt. xxiv, 20; Acts i, 12. Kissing the
feet was often practised as a mark of affection and reverence.