Footstool

Footstool, in its literal sense, was a platform or step placed before a throne for the king's feet (2 Chronicles 9:18). In Israelite theology, the footstool became a significant image for God's presence and glory. The ark of the covenant was called God's footstool: David declared his desire to build a house of rest "for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, for the footstool of our God" (1 Chronicles 28:2). The Psalms similarly call worshipers to prostrate themselves at God's footstool (Psalm 99:5; 132:7).

Psalm 110:1 — the most-quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament — uses the footstool image with royal-messianic force: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool" (Psalm 110:1). Jesus quotes this psalm to challenge the scribes (Matthew 22:44), and Peter applies it to the exalted Christ at Pentecost (Acts 2:35). Hebrews exploits the "enemies as footstool" imagery to contrast the incomplete rest of the Levitical priesthood with Christ's single, finished offering after which he "sat down" and "waits for his enemies to be made a footstool for his feet" (Hebrews 10:13).