Section One

The Family Line

Deuteronomy is a book full of rules and laws. In one section, there are some rules about a situation that highlights the importance that was placed on continuing the family line. The situation is connected to a household. Often many generations lived within the same household, and this situation concerns two brothers. The situation is: one of the brothers is married and dies without having any sons (and so there are no means to pass on the family line). In these circumstances, the Israelites were to follow these instructions: • The brother still alive was to marry the widow (his brother’s wife) • The first son born shall then carry on the family line of the dead brother • If the brother left alive refuses to marry the widow, then she is to go to the town gates and talk to the town’s elders • The town’s elders must try to persuade the brother-in-law to marry the widow • If he continues to refuse, the widow has to go to him, take off one of his sandals and then spit in his face • The brother-in-law is then remembered as not having fulfilled his duty - by giving his family the tag ‘The Family of the Unsandaled’!