Ruth 4:7 explains an old legal custom in Israel: when people redeemed property or exchanged rights, a man removed his sandal and handed it to his neighbor, and that act confirmed the agreement. The narrator of the book of Ruth is describing this custom to the reader, not speaking to a character directly. The surrounding story involves Boaz, a relative of Naomi, and the other close relative who had first right to redeem her late husband’s land.
Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man took off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the way of formalizing transactions in Israel.
Ruth 4:7 (WEB)
What Ruth 4:7 Means
The verse begins by saying this was “the custom in former time,” which tells you the writer is looking back at a practice that was already familiar to the original readers but may have faded in the writer’s own day. The words “redeeming” and “exchanging” refer to two parts of the same transaction: buying back family property or taking on a family obligation, and passing the rights from one person to another. The purpose is stated plainly: “to confirm all things,” meaning to make the deal binding and public.
The sandal is the key detail. Handing over a shoe was a visible, physical sign that a right had changed hands, something witnesses could see and remember. The verse does not explain every legal detail of how this worked, and it does not claim the custom was used in every kind of transaction. It simply tells us how this particular agreement was made official.
The Context of Ruth 4:7
The book of Ruth is traditionally attributed to an unnamed author, and most scholars date its final form to the period after the exile, though the story itself is set in the time of the judges. Its original audience was the people of Israel, who would have understood the family law, the role of the kinsman-redeemer, and the importance of the town gate as a place of public business. Verse 4 shows Boaz taking the matter to the elders and witnesses at the gate, and verses 9 and 10 show him calling those same witnesses to confirm what he has done.
Seen in that setting, the sandal is not a random ritual. It is the public seal on a private arrangement that carries real consequences for land, inheritance, and the continuation of a family name. Ruth 4:7 is the narrator’s aside that explains why the sandal matters, so that the reader can follow the scene where the other kinsman steps away and Boaz is free to take up the responsibility.
Key Phrases in Ruth 4:7
Leviticus 25:25
“‘If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold.
(WEB)
This verse sets out the principle that a kinsman may redeem land sold by a relative in hardship. It gives the legal foundation behind the scene in Ruth, showing why the right of redemption existed and whose responsibility it was.
Ruth 4:10
Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”
(WEB)
Here Boaz names the purpose of the whole transaction: to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance. Reading it alongside Ruth 4:7 shows that the sandal sealed not only a property deal but a commitment to family continuity and care.
A Short Prayer From Ruth 4:7
Lord, you see the agreements we make and the responsibilities we carry, including the ones no one else sees. Help me to handle my obligations openly and honestly, so that others can trust what I have promised. Where I have been holding something that is not mine to carry, show me clearly, and give me the courage to step back with grace. Where you have placed a duty on my life, give me the faithfulness to step forward as Boaz did, trusting that you go before me in every transaction of my days. Amen.
