Deuteronomy 15:17

17 Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust [it] through his ear into the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also to thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise.

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 bond-man in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing this day.

16 And it shall be, if he shall say to thee, I will not leave thee; because he loveth thee and thy house, because he is well with thee;

17 Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust [it] through his ear into the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also to thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise.

18 It shall not seem hard to thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been of double the worth of a hired servant [to thee], in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

19 All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.