Dust

(düst.) [A.S.] (Script.) To lick the dust (Ps. lxxii. 9), signifies abject submi ion. To shake the dust from the feet (Matt. x. 14; Luke x. 11), implies the renouncing of all contact. The Pharisees entering Judea from a Gentile country were accustomed to shake the dust from their feet, as a renunciation of Gentile communion. But there was a further meaning. As Paul's shaking his garment (Acts xviii. 6), so shaking off the dust was a declaration of being free from the blood of those who rejected the gospel-me age. The casting of dust on or against a person was a form of bitter execration (2 Sam. xvi. 13; Acts xxii. 23). [s. 308]