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Bible Dictionaries
Shoe
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or SHOE . See Dress, § 6 , where also reference is made to the custom, widely prevalent in antiquity, of removing the shoes before entering a temple, or other sacred precinct, in order to save the latter from ceremonial defilement. (For the original motive see RS [Note: S Religion of the Semites.] 2 453.)
The shoe played a part, further, in certain symbolical actions in Hebrew law. Thus in Ruth 4:7 we are informed that it was an ancient custom in Israel, on completing a purchase, for the seller to draw off his shoe and hand it to the buyer, as a symbol of the transference of the property sold. A parallel symbolism is disclosed by the frequent occurrence, in early Babylonian deeds of sale dealing with house property, of the phrase, ‘the pestle [of the mortar] has been transferred’ (Meissner, Aus dem attbab. Recht , 6). In times when writing was the accomplishment of the few, such a symbolic act in the presence of witnesses was doubtless held equivalent to the later formal deeds ( Jeremiah 32:9 ff.).
The same passage of Ruth and Deuteronomy 25:9 ff. shows that this symbolism, somewhat differently performed, with another still more expressive, was also adopted in the case of one renouncing his right to his deceased brother’s wife (See Marriage, § 4 ).
In the expression ‘upon [or over] Edom will I cast my shoe’ (Psalms 60:8; Psalms 108:9 ) many authorities find a reference to an extension of this shoe symbolism, the actual taking possession of the property being symbolized by throwing a shoe over or upon it. Others, however, rendering as RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘unto Edom,’ see in the words an assertion of Edom’s servitude, it being the part of a slave to carry his master’s shoes. The context and the singular ‘shoe’ (not ‘shoes’) favour the former interpretation.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Shoe'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/s/shoe.html. 1909.
