The house ... - Equivalent to "the house of the barefooted one." To go barefoot was a sign of the most abject condition; compare 2 Samuel 15:30.

And his name shall be called in Israel,.... Not his particular and personal name, but his family; for it seems that not only a mark of infamy was set upon him for refusing to marry his brother's widow, but upon his family also:

the house of him that hath his shoe loosed; which, as Leo of Modena says (s), was repeated by her three times; and at every time the people with a loud voice answer and call him, one that had his shoe loosed; and then the Rabbin tells the man that he is at liberty now to marry whom he pleases; and if he desires a certificate from them of this setting free his kinswoman, they presently give him one; and she also had a writing given to her by the judges, certifying the same, that she was free also to marry another; of which the following is a short form or copy (t)."In such or such a session (or court), such an one, the daughter of such an one, plucked off the shoe of such an one, the son of such an one, before us; she brought him before us, and she loosed the shoe of his right foot, and spit before him spittle, which was seen by us upon the ground; and said, so shall it be done to the man that would not build up his brother's house.''A larger form may be seen in Maimonides (u), as well as a type and copy of the matrimonial contract. From this law an high priest was free, Leviticus 21:14; and so a king, according to the Jewish canon (w).

(s) History, ut supra, sect. 5. (Leo Modena's History of Rites, &c. l. 1. sect. 5.) (t) T. Hieros. Sanhedrin, fol. 19. 1.((u) Hilchot Yebum Vechalitzah, c. 4. sect. 29. (w) Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 2. sect. 2.

And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.

25:10 His name - That is, his person, and his posterity also. So it was a lasting blot.

25:5-12 The custom here regulated seems to have been in the Jewish law in order to keep inheritances distinct; now it is unlawful.