D25-12: Understanding The Hidden Sexual Meaning Of The Term The ‘UNSANDALED ONE’

“If the man does not wish to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow is to go up to the gate, to the leaders, and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother for me.’  The leaders of his town are to summon him and speak to him. If, on appearing before them, he continues to say, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ then his brother’s widow is to approach him in the presence of the leaders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face and say, ‘This is what is done to the man who refuses to build up his brother’s family.’ From that time on, his family is to be known in Israel as ‘the family of the man who had his sandal pulled off.’”-Deuteronomy 25:7-10

In our discussion of Levirate marriage, today we’re going to be discussing what happens to a deceased man’s brother who refuses to marry a childless widow.

All of the details are presented to us from verse 7 of Deuteronomy 25.

We’re told the widow is to bring the stubborn brother to the city gates where the elders who are serving as the town’s judges are located and then she is to announce in front of them that the brother of her husband refuses to do his duty.

The elders will then ask the brother of the deceased husband of the widow, “Is this true?”.

If he confirms it, the widow is to pull one of the sandals off of his feet, spit in his face and declare…

“This is what is done to the man who refuses to build up his brother’s family.”

And then we’re told from that moment on the man will forever be known as the “un-sandaled one”.

A very odd-sounding insult if I ever heard one.

Before I unpack all of this, there’s something important I need to remind you about sexuality in ancient cultures.

In ancient cultures, sexuality was NOT viewed as obscene, dirty or taboo.

It was considered as much a normal part of life as breathing and eating.

Of course, the Torah established certain laws governing sexual behavior such as forbidding homosexuality, incest and adultery, but the ancient Hebrews were not prudish about it.

Here’s another thing you’ve got to come to terms with.

Scripture is filled with a ton of sexual illustrations and metaphors.

They’re all over the place in Scripture.

These sexual word pictures were considered a very effective way to communicate certain things in a very easy to understand manner.

So here’s the thing.

This whole “pulling-the-sandal-off-the-foot-and-spitting” ritual is actually a sexual word picture being presented to us.

A lot of these things are actually buried by prudish Bible translators to the point where they’re so hidden we can’t see any of this when we read our English Bibles.

That’s right.

Let me explain.

Do you remember how I told you that in a Hebrew marriage, the man is believed to be putting on his wife as if she is a treasured article of clothing of his?

The wife becomes a covering for him, just as the husband also is a covering for her.

That’s why in Scripture, we’ll sometimes see the wife of a husband being referred to as a “garment”.

Let me stress that this is not meant to be demeaning in any way.

It was a beautiful word picture expressing the intimate one-flesh nature existing between a man and his wife.

Well, the sandal story involving the brother marrying the widow represents a similar type of imagery.

So here’s the deal.

The sandal symbolizes the woman’s vagina and the man’s foot represents his penis.

That’s right.

According to the laws of Levirate marriage, the man is supposed to “put on” the woman’s reproductive organ but he won’t.

Thus, during this ritual, the woman publicly removes the sandal from the man’s foot.

Next, when she spits in his face, the spit represents the man’s wasted semen because he will not impregnate her.

According to some of the writings of the ancient sages, the widow actually spit in front of the brother onto the ground right next to his bare foot.

Apparently, this was to reenact what Onan did with Tamar when he pulled out his organ before climaxing with her during sex. 

To conclude, the final insult leveled at the now I can imagine quite humiliated brother is that he would forever be known as “the unsandaled one”.

Because he refused to give the widow a male child.

I’m done.