"If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go free for nothing" (verse 2b). The Israelites could not permanently make one of their own a slave.
"If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself" (verse 3).
This remarkable law states that if a man is a slave, after seven years he is free to go. If he was married when he became a slave, his wife was free to accompany him to freedom. If he married while a slave, that is, if he married a woman who was already a slave of his master, at the end of seven years he could go free, but his bride would still belong to the master. He would be free, but his wife would not. He could, however, if he loved his wife, decide to stay of his own free will. If he decided to stay, his master would pierce his ear lobe through with an awl signifying his forever ownership or servanthood.
This is a wonderful picture of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to this earth as a servant taking upon Himself our humanity - the humanity of all of us who were then, and are today slaves to sin. He could have returned to Heaven, to His position in the Godhead, without going through the agony of the cross. He did not have to die upon that horrible tree. But He willingly came down to earth. "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8).
The beautiful picture of our Lord as a servant continues with this verse from Psalm 40:6 also speaking of the pierced ear: "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened." No, the Lord's ears were not opened with an awl. The psalmist is simply referring to this custom of piercing the ear with an awl, in relationship to the servanthood of Christ who chose to stay willingly. Christ was given a body. He took our humanity. He identified Himself with us and thus He became a servant. He also became a sacrifice.
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