Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:5-19
Family and business relationships (25:5-19)If a man died having no son, his brother was to have a temporary marital relation with the widow for the purpose of helping her produce a son. Legally, this son would be considered son of the dead man and so would receive his inheritance and carry on his name. If the brother refused to cooperate, he was to be publicly disgraced for allowing the dead man’s name to die out (5-10). (If, however, there were surviving daughters, they could receive the... read more
Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Deuteronomy 25:9-10
Deuteronomy 25:9-10. Loose his shoe As a sign of his resignation of all his right to the woman, and to her husband’s inheritance; for as the shoe was a sign of one’s power and right, (Psalms 60:8; Psalms 108:9,) so the parting with the shoe was a token of the alienation of such right; and as a note of infamy, to signify that by this disingenuous action he was unworthy to be among free men, and fit to be reduced to the condition of the meanest servants, who used to go barefoot, Isaiah 20:2;... read more