Reference: Sandals
American
Mr 6:9. The ordinary oriental sandal is a mere sole, of leather or wood, fastened to the bottom of the foot by thongs, one passing around the great toe and over the fore part of the foot, and the other around the ankle. The sole was sometimes plaited of some vegetable fibre, or cut from a fresh undressed skin; and the "shoe-latchet" or thong, and indeed the whole sandal, was often of very little value, Ge 14:23; Am 2:6; 8:6. Sandals are usually intended where "shoes" are spoken of in resembling our slipper, and sometimes a wooden shoe with a high heel. The Bedaween wears only a sandal.
The sandals of females were frequently much ornamented, Song 7:1, and probably resembled the slippers or light shoes of modern orientals, which cover the upper part of the foot, and are often made of morocco, or of embroidered work wrought with silk, silver, and gold, Eze 16:10. See BADGER'S SKINS.
It is not customary in the East to wear shoes or sandals in the houses; they are always taken off on entering a house, and especially temples and all consecrated places. Hence the phrase, "to loose one's shoes from off one's feet," Ex 3:5; De 25:9; Jos 5:15. Visitors of the highest rank leave their slippers at the door; and on entering a Mohammedan mosque each worshipper adds his slippers to the pile in charge of the doorkeeper, unless attended by a servant. On the summit of Mount Gerizim, the Samaritans who accompanied Dr. Robinson took off their shoes as they approached the site of their ruined temple. To bind on the sandals denoted preparation for a journey, Ex 12:11; Ac 12:8. To bind on the sandals, to stoop down and unloose them, or to carry them until again needed, was the business of the lowest servants; a slave, newly bought, commenced his service by loosing the sandals of his new master, and carrying them a certain distance. Disciples sometimes performed this office for their master, and accounted it an honor; hence the expression of John the Baptist, that he was not worthy to loose or to carry the sandals of Jesus, Mt 3:11; Mr 1:7. See also FOOT, with reference to washing the feet. The poor of course often went barefoot but this was not customary among the rich, except as a sign of mourning,
2Sa 15:30; Isa 20:2-4; Eze 24:17,23. In the primitive days of the Israelitish commonwealth the custom, in transferring real estate, was, that the seller drew off his shoes and gave it to the buyer before witnesses, in confirmation of the bargain, Ru 4:7-11. The loosing of a shoe of one who refused to marry the widow of his deceased brother, and spitting upon the owner's face, was a ceremony prescribed in the Jewish law, De 25:7-10.
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Easton
Mentioned only in Mr 6:9; Ac 12:8. The sandal was simply a sole, made of wood or palm-bark, fastened to the foot by leathern straps. Sandals were also made of seal-skin (Eze 16:10; lit. tahash, "leather;" A.V., "badger's skin;" R.V., "sealskin," or marg., "porpoise-skin"). (See Shoe.)
Illustration: Sandals
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Morish
Soles worn under the feet; and tied by strings or thongs to keep them in their place. Mr 6:9; Ac 12:8. See SHOES.
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Watsons
SANDALS, at first, were only soles tied to the feet with strings or thongs; afterward they were covered; and at last they called even shoes sandals. When Judith went to the camp of Holofernes, she put sandals on her feet; and her sandals ravished his eyes, Judith 10:4; 16:9. They were a magnificent kind of buskins proper only to ladies of condition, and such as dressed themselves for admiration. But there were sandals also belonging to men, and of mean value. We read, "If the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother will not perform the duty of a husband's brother; then shall his brother's wife come unto him, in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face; and shall say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him who hath had his shoe loosed," De 25:7. A late writer observes that the word rendered "shoe," usually means "sandal," that is, a mere sole fastened on the foot in a very simple manner; and that the primary and radical meaning of the word rendered face, is surface, the superfices of any thing. Hence he would submit, that the passage may be to the following purpose: The brother's wife shall loose the sandal from off the foot of her husband's brother; and shall spit upon its face or surface, (that is, of the shoe,) and shall say, &c. This ceremony is coincident with certain customs among the Turks. We are told that in a complaint against her own husband, for withholding himself from her intimacy, the wife when before the judge takes off her own shoe, and spits upon it; but in case of complaint against her husband's brother, she takes off his shoe and spits upon it.
The business of untying and carrying the sandals being that of a servant, the expressions of the Baptist, "whose shoes I am not worthy to bear," "whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose," was an acknowledgment of his great inferiority to Christ, and that Christ was his Lord. To pull off the sandals on entering a sacred place, or the house of a person of distinction, was the usual mark of respect. They were taken care of by the attendant servant. At the doors of an Indian pagoda, there are as many sandals and slippers hung up, as there are hats in our places of worship.