075. "I Cast Out My Shoe"

"I Cast Out My Shoe"

(Psalms 60:8; Psalms 108:9) "Over Edom will I cast out my shoe." The shoe, like a dog, is considered unclean. In Palestine houses there is always a threshold called the mastaby, where the people of the house and all guests remove their shoes and enter barefooted. Shoes are never worn in a mosque or in well-to-do homes where they have rugs over the floors. Shoes are never spoken of with respect, but in terms of very great disrespect. The angel of the Lord said to Moses (Exodus 3:5), "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." In Joshua 5:15, "And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy."

David, speaking by inspiration, was deriding Edom and said, "Upon Edom will I throw my shoe." David, to humble Edom, considers that country as an equal only to the mastaby or place near the door used for the purpose of casting unclean shoes. The shoe in Bible days was always associated with everything you could think of that was low, filthy, and contemptible. It was only made and worn to protect the feet from the filth and vile things over which the person had to walk. To unloose the shoe was the work of a slave. John the Baptist said that he was not worthy to unloose the shoes of Christ.

We see more clearly what the expression of Amos meant when he said that the rulers and oppressors had "sold .. . the poor for a pair of shoes" (Amos 2:6; Amos 8:6) . "To cast the shoe upon" anyone meant to degrade and humble him to the very limit.

"Over Edom will I cast out my shoe."