Deuteronomy 15:17

17 then thou shalt take an awl, and bore his ear through to the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever; and in like manner shalt thou do to thy maid-servant.

Deuteronomy 15:17 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 15:17

Then thou shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear
unto the door
Not of his master's house, but of the sanhedrim, or court of judicature, according to the Targum of Jonathan, before whom he was to be brought, and declare his desire to continue with his master; (See Gill on Exodus 21:6),

and he shall be thy servant for ever;
that is, unto the jubilee, as the same Targum; for then all servants were released, and so Jarchi calls it the ever of jubilee:

and also unto thy maidservant thou shall do likewise;
not bore her ear, for, as both Jarchi and Aben Ezra, and others say, she was not to be bored; though some are of opinion that a maidservant who was willing to continue with her master was to be bored as a manservant; but this respects the manner of dismissing her, or letting her go free, when she was not to go empty, but to be liberally furnished and supplied, as a manservant was.

Deuteronomy 15:17 In-Context

15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee from thence; therefore I charge thee to do this thing.

16 And if he should say to thee, I will not go out from thee, because he continues to love thee and thy house, because he is well with thee;

17 then thou shalt take an awl, and bore his ear through to the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever; and in like manner shalt thou do to thy maid-servant.

18 It shall not seem hard to thee when they are sent out free from thee, because has served thee six years according to the annual hire of a hireling; so the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all things whatsoever thou mayest do.

19 Every first-born that shall be born among thy kine and thy sheep, thou shalt sanctify the males to the Lord thy God; thou shalt not work with thy first-born calf, and thou shalt not shear the first-born of thy sheep.