Establishing the King’s Feet

Reading LeGrand Baker and Stepen Ricks’ most excellent work Who Shall Ascend is helpful in unlocking some of the difficult passages of Isaiah, particularly as they are used in the Book of Mormon. His book is also useful in helping readers see how the Book of Mormon fits into its context as a First Temple text that testifies of the dying and rising God who would redeem Israel. In this short excerpt of their book, Baker and Ricks outline a particular phrase, “establishing the king’s feet” and how this phrase fits into the context of the Israelite festal drama. They also show us a small piece of the Brass Plates that have a very important saying that is missing from the Isaiah material in our King James Bible. They illustrate why this is missing and why it matters to readers of the Book of Mormon.

Act 2, Scene 12: “Establishing” the King’s Feet

From Who Shall Ascend to the Hill of the Lord? The Psalms in Israel’s Temple Worship in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon, by LeGrand Baker and Stephen Ricks.

Probably at the beginning of the performance of the festival drama, the Ark of the Covenant had been removed from Solomon’s Temple. When it was returned during the great procession of the seventh day, it represented God’s presence, and later it symbolized God’s authority when it sat in the Holy of Holies before the great golden throne at the conclusion of the drama.

The Ark of the Covenant had been the portable earthly throne of God while the Israelites had a portable temple, but when the Tabernacle was replaced by the Temple of Solomon, the Ark took on a slightly different role. When Solomon built his magnificent Temple, he also built, in its Holy of Holies, a new and wondrous throne. In the Temple the throne was a permanent fixture that sat between two huge cherubim. The Ark of the Covenant, still portable, and still representing God’s celestial throne, was placed in front of the throne and became an integral part of it.^[1]1 Chronicles 28:1-6; 2 Chronicles 9:1-20; Psalms 99:4-9, 132:2-18; Mowinckel, Psalms in Israel’s Worship, 1:7, 59, 117, 129, 176, 177; Johnson, Sacral Kingship, 20-21; Seow, Myth, … Continue reading

After Jehovah symbolically left the earthly temple to be enthroned in his Celestial one, the Ark of the Covenant no longer represented the presence of God, but now it represented God’s authority. As such, it become the footstool of the throne in the Holy of Holies. Sarna explains:

This conception of the sacred Ark of the Covenant as a footstool beneath the throne of God in the Holy of Holies seems strange to the Western mind. It becomes intelligible, however, if it is viewed within the context of the thought world of the ancient Near East. There, the throne and the footstool go together so that often they may form a single article of furniture. In many instances the footstool would be richly and symbolically decorated. So important were the two appurtenances of royalty that in Egypt, throne and footstool were frequently entombed together with the mummy of the pharaoh. The reason for their extraordinary status is that they evoked notions of majesty, exaltation, preeminence, sovereignty, and power. In the Israelite Tabernacle there was no actual throne, only the boxlike Ark with its tablets of stone inside it and its cherubim on top of it—an abiding reminder both of the invisible presence of the sovereign God and of His inescapable demands upon His people.

All this explains why the Ark was thought to assume a numinous aspect and to possess a dangerous potency. It constituted the understructure of the sacred space above it, space that was imbued with the extra-holiness radiated by the Divine Presence.^[2]Nahum Sarna, Exploring Exodus, 210-11.

Designating the Ark as the footstool was not a sacrilege, because a footstool was an essential part of the throne, and no human feet would ever rest upon it except those of the anointed king, who was the adopted son and legal earthly heir of Jehovah.

When the king and the Ark of the Covenant entered the Holy of Holies, Jehovah, having reestablished his earthly kingdom, symbolically returned to his own throne in the heavens and left the mortal king, his adopted son and heir, to preside in this world. The king’s legitimacy was confirmed by his actually taking his seat upon the throne of God. This was important, for the king was still Adam. He had regained his garment of light, and could reclaim his place on the earthly throne of God. Symbolically everyone in the audience had also participated in all the rites of the drama. Thus, Jehovah had created a nation of priests and sacral kings.

Therefore, sitting upon the throne under the wings of the cherubim represented not only priesthood power and temporal majesty but also security and peace, as is expressed in the 63rd psalm, “Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice” (Psalm 63:7).^[3]See also Psalms 17:8, 36:7, 57:1, 61:4, 91:4. Mowinckel asserted: “In the cultic drama he represents David: Yahweh is represented by His holy ark, by the ‘footstool’ before the throne on which He [God] is invisibly seated. …It is the king who receives Yahweh’s promises, His blessings, and His power; and he transmits them to the community which he represents.”^[4]Mowinckel, He that Cometh, 84. As examples Mowinckel’s footnote gives Psalms 132:11ff; 72; cf. 20:8f; 21:10; and Isaiah 55:3.

The sacred Ark of the Covenant, serving as the footstool to the throne of God, represented the authority of God in three ways: (1) It was the means—provided by Jehovah—by which the king ascended to the throne of God; (2) it contained within it the sacred emblems of kingship, priesthood, and the fruit of the tree of life;^[5]Paul writes that “the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant” (Hebrews 9:4), … Continue reading and (3) it was the place where the king’s feet were “established” after his coronation.^[6]This idea of kingship being represented by the “establishment” of one’s feet, is represented in a prophecy of Isaiah about the time of the restoration of the gospel. The verse was on the brass … Continue reading Johnson observes that “just as the Ark is the symbol of Yahweh’s Person, so Mount Zion corresponds to the divine Mount of Assembly, and the Temple itself is the earthly counterpart of the divine King’s heavenly Palace.”^[7]Johnson, Sacral Kingship, 75, fn.

Thus the king’s being on the throne with his feet securely planted on the Ark of the Covenant was a multi-faceted affirmation of his royal status and of his acceptability before God.^[8]For that reason, the priests of Noah challenged Abinadi with, “What meaneth the words which are written, and which have been taught by our fathers, saying: How beautiful upon the mountains are the … Continue reading

The Ark of the Covenant was placed before the throne in the Holy of Holies in the Rock that was believed to be the connecting place between heaven and earth.^[9]Ritmeyer, Secrets of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, 91-110.

Ritmeyer’s report that the Ark was not simply placed on the floor of the Holy of Holies, but that anciently an indentation the same size as the Ark had been carved into the Rock so that the Ark sat in the Rock, suggests that the Ark became an extension of the Rock. Ritmeyer’s report reads:

‘The Priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH to its place, in the holy of Holies of the Temple’ (1Kings 8:6). That ‘place’ can now be identified as the rectangular depression in es-Sakhra [the sacred Rock that is covered by the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem] that measures 2 feet, 7 inches by 4 feet, 4 inches – 1.5 by 2.5 cubits – the same dimensions as the Ark of the Covenant that God commanded Moses to build in the wilderness (Exodus 25:10) and that was later housed in the Temple.”^[10]Ibid., p. 104.

In its new role as the footstool of the throne, the Ark represented the connection between earth and heaven—and the king’s feet were established upon that Ark—symbolically giving evidence that he was also the connection between earth and heaven and therefore the ultimate political and ecclesiastical authority in Israel.

Psalm 132 refers to the people’s worshiping at God’s footstool, and anticipates the Lord’s returning to heaven:

7 We will go into his tabernacles:

we will worship at his footstool.

8 Arise, O Lord, into thy rest;

thou, and the ark of thy strength (Psalm 132:7-8).^[11]For discussions of Psalm 132, see Kruse, “Psalm CXXXII” 279-97; Laato, “Psalm 132 and the Development,” 49-66; Seow, Myth, Drama, 196; Hillers, “Ritual Procession,” 48-55. Psalm 99 … Continue reading

The symbolism is important. The footstool is the way by which one ascends the throne; in the Temple it was the throne of God. That same symbolism reflects a similar purpose for the creation of the earth and the purpose of the people on it. Isaiah wrote, “Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool” (Isaiah 66:1). And the Savior warned:

But verily, verily, I say unto you, swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; Nor by the earth, for it is his footstool (3 Nephi 12:34-35)

The thrones—both the Ark in the Tabernacle and the great throne in Solomon’s Temple—were designed to represent an earthly replica of God’s heavenly throne, and the cherubim who guarded them were representative of the members of the Council in Heaven who attended God and guarded his throne in the celestial world.^[12]See for examples, Isaiah 6; D&C 77 and the associated passages in Revelation.

On the occasion of his enthronement, the king sat upon the throne of God in the Temple. There is an important account of that in the story of Solomon’s coronation:

21 And they sacrificed sacrifices unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings unto the Lord, on the morrow after that day, even a thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel:

22 And did eat and drink before the Lord on that day with great gladness. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him unto the Lord to be the chief governor, and Zadok to be priest.

23 Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father, and prospered;664 and all Israel obeyed him (1 Chronicles 29:21-23).^[13]See Barker, “High Priest and the Worship,” 93-111.

The passage gives only a brief sequence of the events of the coronation ceremony. After the king was anointed and adopted as a son, he had the right to sit on the throne of Jehovah as his heir and representative. Mowinckel elaborated, “It was supposed that ‘Yahweh who sits upon the cherubim’ was seated on it [the throne in the Holy of Holies] invisibly. When the king as the ‘son of Yahweh’ seats himself on his throne, this is a symbolic expression of the fact that he, as Yahweh’s appointed governor, sits on the Lord’s own throne, i.e. wields sovereign power in the name of Yahweh.”^[14]Mowinckel, Psalms in Israel’s Worship, 1:63-64.

Wensinck has written that the king’s sitting upon the throne of God in the Holy of Holies would have been seen as a necessary part of the coronation because, symbolically, the king was still playing the part of Adam who had reclaimed his original royal status:

In the Old Testament the Holy Rock [upon which the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s temple was built] is not mentioned; but Jerusalem as the place of the Divine Throne occurs I Chron. 29, 23: “And Solomon set himself upon the throne of Yahweh as a king, instead of David, his father.” Here the royal throne is called the throne of Yahweh. Of course this expression springs from the idea that the king is the Khalifa of God; how closely God and the king are connected, appears in the idea that the royal throne is also the divine throne or an image of it. As God in his heavenly sanctuary sits upon his throne, so the king sits in the earthly sanctuary upon his throne. The centre of the earth and the pole of heaven, both are intimately connected with the throne. We find this already in the legends about Adam.

In the centre of the earth Adam is inaugurated by God as a king and a priest and set upon a throne. All this is meant typically of course; here the analogy is proclaimed between heaven and earth, godhead and kingship, navel and throne.^[15]A. J. Wensinck, The Ideas of the Western Semites concerning the Navel of the Earth (Amsterdam: Johannes Muller, 1916), 54-55.

During the ceremonies of the New Year Festival, the king had walked in the way of righteousness until he had come to the summit of the mountain where Jehovah’s own throne awaited him. Now his feet were firmly established upon the Ark of the Covenant, and the sacred emblems of priesthood and kingship which it contained were the symbols of his own authority. The king’s sitting on God’s throne was a major symbolic act, an acknowledgment that he was God’s legitimate son and heir.

There is evidence that post-exilic Jewish authors and editors of the Old Testament understood that principle also. Some of the evidence is not in what they wrote but what they left out when they edited the Law and Isaiah. Isaiah 49 presents an interesting example. It is a prophecy of the restoration of the gospel and the gathering of Israel. The Old Testament version of verses 13 reads:

13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted (Isaiah 49:13).

The same verse on the brass plates reads:

13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; for the feet of those who are in the east shall be established; and break forth into singing, O mountains; for they shall be smitten no more; for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted (1 Nephi 21:13).

The missing phrase, “for the feet of those who are in the east shall be established” is a promise of sacral kingship. The “east” is the place where the righteous dwell. The reference to their feet being “established” is a reminder of the time when the king sat upon the throne of God in the Holy of Holies, with the Ark of the Covenant as the footstool to that throne. The promise in Isaiah a promise of sacral kingship. One gets a glimpse of it in the 40^th Psalm that was probably sung as a celebration of the triumph of the great feast day of the drama:

1 I waited patiently for the Lord;

and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit,

out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock,

and established my goings (Psalm 40:1-2).

It is apparent that since the post-exilic Jews could no longer implement that promise, the phrase in Isaiah became an awkward reminder of the blessings of the past. That awkwardness was removed when the phrase was simply edited out of the passage. In contrast, modern revelation uses the phrase in the context of eternal priesthood and kingship:

Who hath appointed Michael your prince, and established his feet, and set him upon high, and given unto him the keys of salvation under the counsel and direction of the Holy One, who is without beginning of days or end of life (D&C 78:16).

Four psalms allude to the king’s sitting on the Temple throne under the cherubim wings. Of those, one says simply “in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast” (Psalm 57:1). Excerpts of the first three are:

7 Shew thy marvelous lovingkindness,

O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put

their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.

8 Keep me as the apple of the eye,

hide me under the shadow of thy wings (Psalm 17:2-15).

1 Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.

2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee,

when my heart is overwhelmed:

lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

3 For thou hast been a shelter for me,

and a strong tower from the enemy.

4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever:

I will trust in the covert of thy wings.

5 For thou, O God, hast heard my vows:

thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name (Psalm 61:1-5).

3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life,

my lips shall praise thee.

4 Thus will I bless thee while I live:

I will lift up my hands in thy name.

5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;

and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:

6 When I remember thee upon my bed,

and meditate on thee in the night watches.

7 Because thou hast been my help,

therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice (Psalm 63:3-7).

The fifth is a prayer of thanksgiving, spoken by “the children of men.” It is one of the strongest evidences that not just the reigning king but all of his people as sacral kings could symbolically—by right—sit upon the Temple throne:

1 The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,

that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes,

until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit:

he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.

4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed;

he setteth himself in a way that is not good;

he abhorreth not evil.

5 Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens;

and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains;

thy judgments are a great deep:

O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.

7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!

therefore the children of men put their trust under the

shadow of thy wings.

8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house;

and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

9 For with thee is the fountain of life:

in thy light shall we see light.

10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee;

and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 Let not the foot of pride come against me,

and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.

12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen:

they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise (Psalm 36:1-12).

This psalm may have been the one the Savior referred to when he lamented, “how often would I have gathered thy children together … and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37).^[16]Luke 13:32-35; 3 Nephi 10:1-7; D&C 10:64-68, 29:1-4, 43:19-25.

(See: LeGrand Baker and Stephen Ricks, Who Shall Ascend to the Hill of the Lord? The Psalms in Israel’s Temple Worship in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon, Act 2, Scene 12: “Establishing” The King’s Feet, Eborn Books, 2011, p. 408-416)