Deuteronomy 25:10. His name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.
To go barefoot was a sign of distress and humiliation. Thus David went up Mount Olivet when he left Jerusalem at the time of Absalom’s rebellion (2 Sam. 15:30). The humiliation of the Egyptians was represented by the prediction of their walking barefoot (Isa. 20:2-4). When Ezekiel was directed to cease his mourning be was told to put on his shoes (Ezek. 24:17). Michaelis says, “Barefooted was a term of reproach, and probably signified a man who had sold everything, a spendthrift and a bankrupt” (Com. Laws Moses, vol.1, p. 435). In this way the man who refused to marry his brother’s childless widow was considered a worthless fellow.