New Wine Fellowship Bible Study

We all observed with either anger or amusement (maybe both) the recent incident involving an Iraqi journalist removing his shoes and hurling them at President Bush as a form of protest.  Why throw his shoes?  Was it the only thing handy to fling at President Bush or is there some deeper significance?  It turns out that shoes and feet have deep cultural meaning in the Middle East that goes back centuries.  To sum it up, feet and shoes are considered dirty.  It is a great insult to show ones feet to another person and the ultimate shame to strike a person with a shoe.  So, while the enraged Iraqi journalist could have flung the notepad he had in his hand, whipping his shoes at Bush sent a far more symbolic message.  To learn more about this custom and its significance, check out this link  - http://www.slate.com/id/2206749/?gt1=38001 .  Does the Bibile have anything to say on the subject of feet or shoes?  Turns out it does.  In Deuteronomy 25:5-10 the use of a shoe as a symbol of shame and insult is actually sanctioned into law!  The issue deals with Leverite marriage.  When a man died and left a widow, the law of Leverite marriage required that the next eldest brother would take the widow as a wife, care for her and bear her children in order to sustain the family line of his deceased brother.  If the brother refused, the widow was to remove one of his sandals, spit in his face and let everyone know what a sorry brother-in-law the guy was.  Futhermore, the official record would show that the man’s line would be known as the “Family of the Unsandled”.  This punishment was public, insulting, highly shameful and carried a lasting stigma along with it.  Most brother-in-laws would avoid it at all costs.  We run across another instance of the sandal of shame in the book of Ruth chapter 4.  Boaz wants to redeem the family line of Naomi; a relative of his who has lost her husband and two sons.  To redeem the line he needs to buy some property she has and take Ruth, the widow of one of her sons, as his wife.  Boaz is willing and eager to perform the duty of the Kinsman Redeemer but he finds out that there is another reative that is closer in line to Naomi than he is  Essentially this closere relative has the right of first refusal on the Kinsman Redeemer deal.  Being an honorable guy, Boaz approaches this closer relative and lays out the situation to him mentioning only the property at first.  The closer relative is happy to oblige until Boaz mentions that a wife comes along with the deal.  And not just any wife, a Gentile from Moab, the archenemy of Israel!  The closer relative passes on the deal and transfers the right of the Kinsman Redeemer to Boaz.  He immediately removes one of his sandals and gives it to Boaz.  Why did he do this?  The reason goes back to the passage in Deuteronomy.  Responsibilities of Leverite marriage were not restricted to just a brother-in-law.  Since both of Naomi’s sons had died as well as her husband the next eldest male relative within the extended family was in line to redeem her family line by marrying the widow of her son - Ruth.  Why would they not marry Naomi instead?  Because she was past childbearing age and one of the main purposes of Leverite marriage was to carry on the family line of the deceased by bearing children with the widow.  By agreeing to buy the property but refusing to marry Ruth, the closer relative was reneging on his duty under Leverite marriage.  He was due the old sandal punishment outlined in Deuteronomy.   Fortunately, Boaz was willing to be the Kinsman Redeemer to the fullest.  He bought the property, married Ruth and redeemed the line of Naomi in the process.  They lived in a small town called Bethlehem and along with harvesting wheat, had several fields of sheep they tended.  Boaz and Ruth had children to redeem the family line of Naomi.  Eight generations later a shepherd boy born into this same family line, tending sheep in those same fields became a hero when he slew a giant with a slingshot.  And we know the shepherd boy grew up to become King David.  Centuries later, his descendants were still tending sheep in those same fields in Bethlehem that were first established by Boaz and Ruth.  One night, those shepherds were visited by angels bearing a message that a child king - The Messiah, Yeshua - was born to them in Bethlehem.  Jesus, a descendant of not only David but of Boaz - the man who refused to be known as the Family of the Unsandled.