August 9, 2020

Shoes... ghosts....


For reference:



I have a Biblical theme this morning, but are there any shoes in the Bible? The closest I come is Ephesians 6:14-16:
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
It's because they were all wearing sandals. There are many references to sandals in the Bible. Matthew 3:11:
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

55 comments:

Darrell said...

First COVID, now these shoes.
China has a lot to answer for.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

That guy is so much better than me, I'm not worthy to carry his (stinky, weather-beaten) sandals. The beautiful variation from recent years: I couldn't carry his jock strap.

Rick.T. said...

From the apocryphal Book of Merle, verse 3:

Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear;
Beads and Roman sandals won't be seen.

MikeR said...

:O Take your shoes from off your feet. She shall draw his shoe from off his foot, and spit before him... If I would accept a string or a shoelace, or take anything from all that is yours... Their loins girded, shoes on their feet... Your shoes did not wear off your feet...

Kai Akker said...

Most famous reference is understood.

Shake the dust of that town off your feet!

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+10:14&version=NKJV

Probably only twelfth to cite it here.

66 said...

Several. Examples —

Old Testament:

Exodus 3:5

Then he said, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

New Testament:

Luke 15:22

But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet;

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Sandals are shoes. They are a type of shoe. Like loafers, sneakers, high heels, platforms etc. If you wear it on your feet and keep your feet you are 'shod' in shoes, which protect the feet.

Shod is a term used for the action of putting on shoes and for wearing shoes. Like horses. Horses are shod and they wear shoes too!

The Pac Man thing is hilarious. If I had those shoes I would colorize them before being shod. Gluing on some googly eyes too would be fun.

Dan in Philly said...

Exodus 3:5

"Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

Jet13 said...

Song of Solomon 7 King James Version (KJV). 7 How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter!

Also "How Beautiful With Shoes' by Wilbur Daniel Steele

Jet13 said...

Song of Solomon 7 King James Version (KJV). 7 How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter!

See also 'How Beautiful With Shoes' by Wilbur Daniel Steele "

mikee said...

Will you settle for shoes in a biblical era?

He has given us a sign!

wildswan said...

Pacman - do you remember your first game of Pacman. I do, or at least I remember watching the others play, then I tried and was knocked out at once before I even really "saw" the action. I can remember being fascinated, sitting down and being hurried out of my seat about a minute later, totally bewildered. Someone else's turn. It came out in 1980 - forty years ago. How many games have followed in those footsteps? Though the figures had no feet. And though Pacman, the game, fell behind. Still, you can see that "followed in the footsteps" is more appropriate than "Came with." Imitation, not voyage.

Nancy said...

Ann, you're missing the wonderful Hebrew Bible discussion of the man who refuses to marries his brother's widow. See Deut 25:9-10. She gets to take off his shoe and spit in his face, and he is forever known as "he whose shoe was loosened"

Nichevo said...

Yeah, we get your theme, God is stupid, God is mean, God is bad, God is silly, you hate God and want him to die, take that, God! Refreshing and original. No such sentiments have ever been uttered before.

Meanwhile, you ridicule statements made by others, but nobody can compete with you for ridiculousness.

Maybe it is God's fault for making you what you are.

Wince said...

Like most of us, those pac man ghosts are less wide-eyed and look more askance since the 1980s.

Tom said...

My mom always called sandals, “JC Water Walkers.”

Temujin said...

Isiah:
None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a sandal strap broken;

The ancient Hebrews wore wood or leather sandals. Though some say they wore Allbirds. (love how I use the Journalist! tactic of saying something- anything- and giving it an anonymous 'some say'?). These were to be removed when entering a holy place to pray. (Muslims do this to this day).

And now for something completely different. How not to be seen

Geneo said...

The point is----------------

Lincolntf said...

Woke up to an earthquake this morning here in NC. My poor cats scattered across the house, one still hasn't emerged from under a couch. It was a 5.1, I don't think anyone got hurt or anything.

Ann Althouse said...

There's also "The Shoes of the Fisherman."

"Shoes" sounds better than "sandals." I can see that there are translations where "shoes" is preferred over "sandals," notably the King James Version:

Exodus 3:5
And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Exodus 12:11
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover.

Deuteronomy 33:25
Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.

Joshua 9:5
And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy.


Joshua 9:13
And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.

1 Kings 2:5
Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

Song of Solomon 7:1
How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.

Isaiah 5:27
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

Ezekiel 24:17
Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.

Ezekiel 24:23
And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.

Amos 2:6
Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

Amos 8:6
That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

Matthew 3:11
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Matthew 10:10
Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.

Mark 1:7
And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.

Luke 3:16
John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

Luke 10:4
Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.

Luke 15:22
But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

Luke 22:35
And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.

Acts 7:33
Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

Acts 13:25
And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.

AllenS said...

Brown shoes don't make it

Act 1
Zappa 69:10

Ann Althouse said...

"Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men."

"tire" = turban.

Mark said...

Warning -- the Bible was not written in English.

There is an issue of translation here from the original, usually Hebrew or Greek (with some Aramaic too), to English, often passing through Latin on its way here. And there are different schools of how to translate -- some more direct, others more interpretive.

The Latin version of the Bible, in use for over 1500 years, uses the term "calceamentum," which is best translated as "footwear."

At best, the references are vague and ambiguous.

Nichevo said...

You'd being more impressive, Ann, if you actually knew any Bible and could bring it up from your brain instead of doing word searches to feed your confirmation bias. Were it not for the internet you would be unable to think.

Darrell said...

"tire" = turban.

Why cars weren't invented in the Middle East.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

there's also a lot of talk in the bible about washing peoples feet.

Fernandinande said...

“JC Water Walkers.”

I haven't heard that in a pig's age.

Ralph L said...

How can people wear plastic shoes?
Am I the only one whose feet sweat like a race horse?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Bildad the Shuhite (job2:11)

...the shortest man in the bible

Yancey Ward said...

"Pacman - do you remember your first game of Pacman."

Most definitely! Summer of 1982, Kings Island, Ohio. I never got to play the original PacMan all that often, though- no close arcade where I lived. During my freshman year in college, though, in 84-85, the student activities center had a Ms. PacMan, and I got very, very good at that game over the course of the year, finishing off all four maze designs (after the fourth one is cleared the final of five times, the maze design reverted to the first one, which was a disappointment, and I basically stopped playing after I learned that.

I still play Ms. PacMan when I find one in some location- happens about 1 time every couple of years. I can reliably still clear the mazes up to about level 8-9, but my reflexes have slowed noticeably the last decade. I know where one is about 20 minutes away, and might go out and play a few dollars worth sometime this week now that I am thinking about it.

Thread music.

TelfordWork said...


FWIW, two common Greek words for footwear in the New Testament are hypodema and sandalion. The first is the broader category which includes the second, which the sandal. Like rectangles include squares. This makes it tougher to find verses about, say, closed-toed shoes. From the Louw-Nida lexicon (I hope the fonts reproduce properly):

ὑπόδημα, τος n: any type of footwear—‘sandal, shoe’ (though ordinarily the reference would be to a sandal rather than to a shoe). οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς κύψας λῦσαι τὸν ἱμάντα τῶν ὑποδημάτων αὐτοῦ ‘I am not worthy to stoop down and untie his sandal straps’ Mk 1:7.

σανδάλιον, ου n: a type of footwear consisting of a sole made of leather (or possibly wood) tied to the foot by means of thongs or straps—‘sandal.’ ζῶσαι καὶ ὑπόδησαι τὰ σανδάλιά σου ‘get dressed and put on your sandals’ Ac 12:8.

Howard said...

G_d will smut you for this embarrassed tirade of blasphony.

Joe Smith said...

Carry on, my wayward son...

Howard said...

Kanye "White Shoes" Johnson

NCMoss said...

Sometimes a shoe is a shoe and parsing Bible versus doesn't necessarily lead to insight but maybe Althouse is seeing something more personal and profound about God in all those sunrise pictures that she's not yet shared.

tcrosse said...

The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) starred Anthony Quinn as Zorba the Pope.

narciso said...

john the baptist, felt the burden, in time he would predecease jesus, at the hands of a vengeful royal, salome, which showed even then the cost of being a public proselytizer of the word,

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. 25 No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.

26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— Deuteronomy 11: 24-26

Kanye wants to be like Musk

FWBuff said...

There is also the beautiful love story in the book of Ruth (with a fascinating glimpse into Biblical real-estate law) where Boaz redeems Ruth and Naomi and their dead husbands’ land from the closer kinsman, and closes the deal with a shoe.

‘Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.’
Ruth 4:7-8 NIV

Paddy O said...

Don't forget Ruth 4!

It involve contracts law.

Known Unknown said...

Ye's Platform (Shoes)

cassandra lite said...

So glad they didn't wear flip flops back then. On the other hand:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FWTFgaragesale%2Fcomments%2F70n87w%2Fbought_this_at_a_thrift_store_a_while_back%2F&psig=AOvVaw25eapHhfXKBdCzkKnLFGEe&ust=1597083225405000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCKD3gurcjusCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ

WK said...

Quite a few quotes in the Bible about sandals. No mention of shorts?

Guildofcannonballs said...

This is one of the greatest Althouse performances I've seen, and I've seen more than quite a few.

Bravura! is what Vanderluen wrote once I think here and once again I concur.

Bravura!

Guildofcannonballs said...

Perhaps it's just me but I've always felt the more Bob Marley and the more Four Tops the better 'round here.

Take a look at this Sir: https://twitter.com/proteinwisdom

Over the years I've learned, which is something.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Ahead ahead ahead ahead.

Because x, ahead now, for sure.

Ahead ahead ahead ahead.

Because x-1, still ahead!

Ahead Ahead Ahead/

Static Ping said...

In Mrs. Pac-Man, which is the superior game, Clyde was renamed Sue to keep with the theme. In the later Jr. Pac-Man, the Clyde ghost is Tim. In the original Pacman cartoon, Clyde and Sue were both present. Of course, these were the English names. The Japanese had their own names for them.

Guildofcannonballs said...

If we end up (like the founding fathers talking about).

Clyde said...

Speaking of shoes, I liked this story I found on the BBC site the other day:

Fox found with impressive shoe collection in Berlin

There is a tweet in the article (in German) that shows a picture of the fox in flagrante making off with a pair of flip-flops, as well as another picture with the fox's shoe stash. Imelda Marcos had nothing on this fox!

As scrawny as the fox was, it probably would have been better off stealing something edible!

hstad said...

Having been on every Continent in the World, except Antarctica, the #1 footwear is a "sandal"! Cheap and easy to wear!

narciso said...

the point is not to debate, but to get going on the mission, the devil, tells us this is all there is, and these are the rules we must abide by, and how we must survive

Guildofcannonballs said...

It is inn numb rand-cley.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

There are marshmallow bits you'll find inside: Inky, Blinky, Pinky.. 'I'm Clyde!'

Josephbleau said...

"During my freshman year in college, though, in 84-85, the student activities center had a Ms. PacMan, and I got very, very good at that game"

My college days were miss spent playing the "Dual Flash" bowling game with a metal puck, lubricated with parmesian cheese. After a few beers I was the champ.

Charlotte Allen said...

Song of Solomon 7:1

How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.