Wednesday, August 25, 2021
“Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever” (Exodus 21:5,6 KJV).
How is the opened ear meaningful in the Holy Scriptures?
As part of the Law of Moses, the LORD God commanded the Israelites: “[1] Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. [2] If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. [3] If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. [4] 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. [5] And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: [6] Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever” (Exodus chapter 21).
The above verses are self-explanatory—although definitely unheard of in our culture (pun not intended). If the freed Hebrew servant loved his master, his wife, and his children, and refused to leave them, the master was to pierce a hole in the servant’s ear with an “aul” (also spelled “awl,” it was basically a large needle). This opened ear symbolized the bondman’s permanent submission to the master’s will in everything. Let us now turn over to Psalm 40:6-8: “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” Here is a “Messianic Psalm,” and it contains an expression that sounds familiar (pun not intended)….
333 Words of Grace 