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Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter: a man removed his sandal and gave it to another; and this was the manner of attestation in Israel. So the closest relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” And he removed his sandal. (Ruth 4:7-8 NASB)
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Shoeless Joe I was teaching Ruth 4 and was asked, “Why does the unnamed relative in Ruth 4 take off his shoe?” To help us understand this sandalous situation [sorry, couldn’t resist], I need to take you on a field trip. Climb in the Magic Schoolbus kids, and let’s travel to an ancient city called Arad. [You’ll enjoy the cool pictures of the ruins if you Google “Arad, Israel.”] During and after Israel’s conquest of the land, Arad was one of the larger cities in the world – over 30 acres of densely-packed houses. It was built at a major trade crossroads. Under the judges & kings of Israel, a big fortress was constructed to protect trade from marauding tribes like the Amalekites and countries like Edom. It was pretty smart of the Israelites to put a big fort there. But what else they did at Arad wasn’t wise. At some point the people of southern Judah built a false temple at Arad. They made a fake holy of holies and put two big standing stones in it – one representing the detestable sex goddess Asherah and the other either for Baal or YHWH. How sick is that? They had the blessed opportunity to personally relate to the God of the universe! They had to chance to trust that God would do as promised and make a way to remove human sin! They were offered intimate joy with the real God of covenant love! And they diluted it with a bunch of nasty, weird worldliness. Thank goodness we never do that! But we do, don’t we? As the supposed center of our own universe, we try to rework God into our image and make our relationship with Him about the shallowness of what we want instead of the richness of what He offers. We change God into idols that we can control. So, whenever I take people to Arad I have them do something that seems rather odd to them, at least at first. I have people walk up to those idols and show the idol the bottom of their shoe. You probably understand if you grew up in a place where everybody walked as the primary mode of transportation. For hundreds of centuries, walking cultures have shared this ethical image – that when you show your shoe bottom, you are rejecting something. Got that? Show your shoe = rejection. This is especially true if one takes the shoe off, like that idiot who threw a shoe at US President Bush. Keep the shoe on, don’t show the sole, and you are accepting something. Show the shoe bottom or take the shoe off and you are rejecting that thing. And thus we understand why the guy takes off his shoe. We grasp why Moses’ Law describes the interchange that way. This dude is rejecting the chance to be the redeemer of Elimilech’s land & Ruth’s hand. Boy, did he miss out! Two prayers I was thinking this though and began praying for each of us, asking the Lord to guide our hearts so that we don’t reject the truly precious and important things in life. I pray that we are not like that goofball who let the best possible thing slip away. Of course, I also pray that we eschew the idols that we so easily create. May we show our soles to the idols and keep our sandals on for the precious people of God. Amen! |