What Shoes Symbolise in the Bible: Reverence, Contracts and Freedom

Sandals do more work in the Bible than almost any other everyday object. They seal contracts, mark holy ground, signal freedom, and settle disputes over inheritance.

Once we know what the shoe meant, several familiar passages change shape.

Take off your sandals

The most famous instruction comes at the burning bush:

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5)

Joshua gets the same order outside Jericho, almost word for word, from the commander of the Lord’s army (Joshua 5:15).

Sandals carried the dust and filth of the road. Removing them was an acknowledgement that the ground here was not like other ground. Priests, by most accounts, served barefoot in the sanctuary for the same reason.

There is a second implication that is easy to miss. Bare feet cannot run. Taking off shoes is a way of saying we are not leaving.

The sandal as a legal instrument

This is the part that surprises people.

Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalising transactions in Israel. (Ruth 4:7)

The narrator has to explain it, which tells us the custom was already archaic when Ruth was written down. A sandal handed over was a signature — the transfer of a right to walk on a piece of land.

The darker version is in the law of levirate marriage. A man who refuses to raise up offspring for his dead brother is brought before the elders, and his brother’s widow shall go up to him, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” (Deuteronomy 25:9)

His household is then known as “the family of the unsandalled.” The punishment is a shoe and a name.

Shoes and status

Slaves and captives went barefoot. Free people did not. That is the background to two scenes that are otherwise merely touching.

When the prodigal comes home, the father’s instructions are precise: Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. (Luke 15:22)

The son had asked to be made a hired servant. Sandals are the father’s answer to that request, delivered without a word of discussion.

And John the Baptist, asked who he is: He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. (John 1:27)

Untying a master’s sandals was work considered too low for a Hebrew slave to be required to do. John picks the one task at the very bottom and says he is not fit for it.

Which makes what happens in John 13 harder rather than sweeter. Jesus takes off his outer clothing, wraps a towel around himself, and washes their feet.

Shoes for travelling

When the disciples are sent out, the instructions about footwear are exact: Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. (Mark 6:9)

Take what is needed for walking. Take nothing that would only be wanted if the journey went badly.

And Israel’s original marching orders, eaten standing up: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand (Exodus 12:11). Dressed to leave, before there was anywhere to go.

Moses reminds them later that through forty years in the desert your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet (Deuteronomy 29:5).

The armour

Paul’s list of armour gives the feet a line, and it is the strangest item on it:

and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15)

A Roman soldier’s caligae were studded for grip. They were not for marching so much as for standing without slipping while being pushed.

The word Paul chooses is readiness, and the thing the feet are shod with is peace — which is not what anyone building a suit of armour would have picked.

Frequently asked

What do shoes symbolise in the Bible?

Several things: reverence when removed (Exodus 3:5), legal transfer when handed over (Ruth 4:7), freedom and sonship when given (Luke 15:22), and readiness when worn (Ephesians 6:15).

Why did Moses have to take off his sandals?

Because the ground was holy (Exodus 3:5). Sandals carried the dust of the road, and bare feet also mean a person is not about to leave.

What is the sandal ceremony in Ruth?

A transfer of property was sealed by handing over a sandal (Ruth 4:7). The narrator explains it, which tells us the custom was already old.

Why did John the Baptist mention sandal straps?

Untying a master’s sandals was work too low to be required even of a Hebrew slave. John names the lowest task and says he is not worthy of it (John 1:27).

What does Ephesians 6:15 mean?

The soldier’s studded boots gave grip for standing firm. Paul shoes the feet with readiness and with peace, which is not the obvious choice for armour.