Ruth 4:7
Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel.
Ruth 4:7 preserves an old Israelite legal custom for confirming every matter of redeeming and of changing or exchanging a right, in which a man drew off his shoe or sandal and handed it to his neighbor as a public testimony. The removal and giving of the shoe was the recognized public witness that a redemption or transfer of property had been confirmed in Israel. By the time the book was written that practice of confirming a bargain by drawing off the shoe had fallen into disuse, so the verse pauses to explain a manner of former time no longer familiar.
In this narrative the nearer kinsman's shoe was the legal token that he gave up his right to redeem the family property and to perform the kinsman's duty. His refusal cleared the way for Boaz to step into his place, redeem the family inheritance, and take Ruth in marriage.
The surrounding passage in Ruth 4:1-12 displays the law of redemption of men and their inheritances in action. When an Israelite had lost his inheritance or had himself been brought into bondage and was not able to redeem himself or his inheritance, redemption was provided through the right falling not merely to one near of kin but to the one nearest of kin by blood-relationship who was able. The verse stands in a beautiful pastoral book that shows the sweet, simple home life among the children of Israel and God's care for the Seed, for the Moabitess Ruth became one of the progenitors of the Lord according to the flesh. The lesson of the near kinsman in the chapter is a type of the Lord.
That redemption story illustrates the pattern fulfilled in Jesus as humanity's nearest kin and Redeemer. It proves that man has lost his inheritance and is himself in bondage and cannot redeem himself or his inheritance, so the right falls to Jesus Christ as the only one in all the universe who is able. To be Redeemer He had to become a blood-relative and the nearest of kin by taking part of the same flesh and blood in very substance like ours. The account of redeeming Naomi's inheritance points to the Lord as Redeemer, who had the right to redeem and did so through the sacrifice of His own life. The act of redemption points to Christ, who came to redeem the lost when no one else could rescue them.