"Take off Your Sandal"

Then the Commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take you sandal off your foot for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so.

                                                                                                                                 -Josh 5:15

Now about Joshua, why did the Angel of the LORD tell him to take off his sandal from his foot instead of his sandals from his feet?

Well either Joshua was one legged (could have lost a foot in battle) or this could simply be an ancient Hebrew idiom for both feet (like some North Indians say "Roti Khaalo"- "Have some bread", meaning have a meal; the bread referring to the whole meal that may or may not even include bread)

Or maybe something else was going on here...

In Deut 25 and in Ruth 4 we read of the kinsman redeemer. When a piece of land was to be redeemed but the one who had the right to redeem it forfeited this right in favour of someone else the first man took off one sandal from his foot and gave to to the second man.

Here Joshua was going in with the nation of Israel to redeem the land of Canaan from the heathen whose sin was now 'full'. When The Angel of the LORD told him to remove one sandal, He was telling Joshua that the LORD was the true redeemer of the land and that He would fight Joshua's battle. And though Joshua would be the leader of Israel, God would be their Lord and the land of Israel belonged to God Himself.

But He would redeem the the land on His own terms not on the terms of the Israelites. When Israel obeyed God they were victorious but when they harboured sin, as in the case of the battle of Ai, they were defeated.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is our redeemer and the true owner and Master of our lives and all that we have and are. If only we would remember this we could save ourselves a lot of frustration and trouble; if only we could learn to seek His kingdom first and to walk in obedience and faith because He is now responsible for us and our well-being, if we only obey.