What is the significance of a footstool in the Bible?

The usual accompaniment of a throne. 2 Chr. 9:18. The earth is the footstool of God's throne in the heavens. Isa. 66:1; Matt. 5:35. It is symbolical of 'the place of rest:' David had it on his heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the 'footstool' of God, wherein God could find rest among His people, and where He was to be worshipped. 1 Chr. 28:2; Ps. 99:5. It is also symbolical of 'subjection to power:' the Lord Jesus must reign until all His enemies are made His footstool. Ps. 110:1; Matt. 22:44; Acts 2:35; Heb. 1:13

Therefore, Stephen's words now cut right to the heart of the matter. "The Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands" (N.A.S.B.). Also He quotes their own scriptures to clearly indicate this: "Heaven is My throne, and earth is the footstool of My feet: what kind of house will you build for Me? says the Lord: or what place is there for My repose? Was it not My hand which made all these things?" (N.A.S.B.). Is God to be contained in a trifling part of that which His own hands have created? The One who had indisputable rights in regard to the temple had already been rejected and crucified by Israel. How can they speak so piously of the house while rejecting its true owner?

"Thus says Jehovah, the heavens [are] my throne, and the earth [is] my footstool: what [is] the house that ye will build to me? and where [is] the place of my rest? Even all those [things] has my hand made, and all those [things] have been, says Jehovah" (vv. 1, 2). It is not that God did not accept the house which king David desired, and his son Solomon was given, to erect for His glory. It is not that He will not have a sanctuary in the midst of Israel in the glorious land; for He has revealed it minutely, with the feasts, sacrifices, priests, and appurtenances, by Ezekiel (Ezek. 40 - 48).

But it is another thing when His people, despising the only Saviour and Lord, their own Messiah, rest in the sanctuary, as of old in the ark to their own shame and discomfiture before their enemies. So it was when the Lord left the temple — no longer God's house but theirs, and left to them desolate, Himself its true glory being despised and rejected. So Stephen charged home on them these very words (Acts 7:48-50). It was not he nor Luke, but Isaiah who declared that the Most High dwells not in temples made with hands: and this in full view of the "exceeding magnifical" temple which Solomon built. Heaven is His throne, earth is His footstool. What can man do worthily for Him to rest in? He needs nothing of human resources. His own hand has made all these things, in comparison with which man's greatest exertions are puny indeed.

Once more among the Jews at the end of the age shall be the state of things which draws out this rebuke of their own prophet. Trusting in the house that they are at length allowed to build in Jerusalem, they must prove afresh that an unbelieving idolatrous heart desecrates a temple, and that not thus can sin be settled between God and the sinner. Earthly splendour in such circumstances is but gilding over iniquity. It is real hypocrisy. They may seek in unbelief to restore "all these things that have been"; but God has a controversy with the people about idolatry and the rejected Messiah not yet judged; and His elect own their sins and look for the new estate He will create in honour of Messiah. The heart must be purified by faith in order to worship acceptably.

Isaiah 66 opens on a very lofty note. The earth is but the footstool of Jehovah's feet for the heavens are His throne. Recognizing this, we are conscious that no earthly house built for Him is anything but a small matter. What is a great matter is the right spiritual state and attitude, which should be found in man, who by nature is sinful and estranged from God. To be poor and contrite in spirit, and to receive the word as being truly the Word of God, and therefore to tremble at it and be governed by it — this invites the Divine regard. To such a man the Lord will look in blessing. We may remember that when the Lord Jesus opened His mouth on the mountain, the first beatitude He uttered was, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3).

Psalm 99. 1 Jehovah reigneth. let the peoples tremble. He sitteth [above] the cherubim; let the earth be moved. 2 Jehovah [is] eat in Zion, and he [is] exalted above all the peoples 3 They shall praise thy great and terrible name; holy [is] he. 4 And the king's strength loveth judgment: thou hast established equity; thou hast wrought judgment and righteousness in Jacob. 5 Exalt Jehovah our God and worship at his footstool: holy [is] he. 6 Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those calling on his name; they called to Jehovah, and he answered them. 7 In a pillar of cloud he spoke to them; they kept his testimonies, and the statute he gave them. 8 Jehovah, our God, thou answeredst them; a forgiving God (El) wast thou to them, and taking vengeance on their doings. 9 Exalt Jehovah our God, and worship at the mountain of his holiness; for holy [is] Jehovah our God.

Jehovah is sitting between the cherubim, great in Zion, and high above the peoples. The king's strength is celebrated, and executes judgment in Jacob. So "exalt ye Jehovah our God, and worship at his footstool." The Spirit too in Israel recalls, with the understanding of grace, His ancient dealings with them in the distinctive acceptance of His saints, and dealings of judgment with them on account of their ways. Creation and universal joy and peace are not as much brought forward, as the covenant and habitual and well-known blessings of Israel in mercy and truth, made theirs by Jehovah's power in their deliverance. It seems to me also somewhat further on in point of time than 96 and 97, which are more widely prospective on the first manifestations of the incoming of Jehovah's power, which, be it noted, acts on apostate Gentiles when the Jews are in rebellious union with them.

Psalm 99 — Jehovah is now enthroned between the cherubim, and is great in Zion. He is the King that loves justice; and the peoples praise His Name. 'It is holy.' But there are those who can say, 'Jehovah our God'; and in a nearer and more intimate way can say, 'He is holy.' (v. 5.) They worship at His footstool — at the hill of His holiness. Is not this Zion? (Cf. v. 2 and v. 9). And, reviewing the grand principles of His ways with their fathers, they exalt Him, and cry, 'Holy is Jehovah our God.' Jehovah, 7; Elohim, 4; El 1.

(vv. 4-5) These verses present the character of His rule. His name is great and holy; His reign, in accord with His name, will be marked by power exercised in righteous judgment. Might and right, so often divorced by man, are at last brought together under the rule of Christ, the King. The glory of the One who rules calls not only for submission, but for worship at the footstool of His throne, and again we are reminded He is holy.

In the manifestation of Messiah's glory, the full rays of the Divine holiness, which dwelt secretly of old in Israel's tabernacle — veiled from every eye, even of the tribes of His own inheritance, — will shine forth upon the utmost families of the heathen. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14). But the praises of Israel will in that day be the chosen habitation of His love. The sanctity of Jerusalem, as the footstool of Jehovah, and the appointed place of Gentile confluence for the worship of His name, is distinctly asserted in verse 5.

“I had in my heart,” he says, “to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Jehovah and for the footstool of our God, and I have prepared to build” (v. 2). This is what Psalm 132 expresses in a very remarkable manner. David, in all his tribulations had not given himself rest until he had found a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord — a place where this covenant, deposited in the ark, could eventually be established for God's people without being exposed to a fresh journey across the desert or to new vicissitudes in the hands of the Philistines. This rest of God was at the same time that of “the footstool of His feet,” for the ark was the throne of God who was seated between the cherubim, the throne which He had established in the midst of His people.