“Then the Lord said to him [Moses], ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground’”(NIV).
Acts 7:33 is cross-referenced with Exodus 3:5, “Do not come any closer,” God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’”
I’ve heard this passage preached in a couple of ways including, our feet are dirty as are our shoes, so Moses needed to remove them before being in God’s presence. This argument is backed up by the fact that feet were regularly washed in the Ancient Near East (ANE), Jesus washed the disciple’s feet, and in modern cultures we tend to remove our shoes when we enter people’s homes, so we don’t get their carpet or floors dirty.
After digging deeper using online resources such as netbible.org and blueletterbible.org, I’d like to offer another viewpoint.
According to Matthew Henry’s commentary on Acts 7, God’s command to Moses to take off his sandals was ordering Moses into a reverent posture. This is because one was not to enter sacred places or spaces with “low, and cold, and common thoughts.”
Taking off your sandals, keeping thy foot, or guarding your steps, can be interpreted by Scripture in Ecclesiastes 5:1-2:“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.”
Taking off our sandals before entering into God’s presence means to not be hasty and rash when we approach Him but to tread softly in reverence and obedience and listen.
Comentarios