Exodus 21:2,5,6

Exodus 21:2,5,6 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: 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. This is an interesting passage that has a great story to go with it. During the Old Testament times, some men were good farmers or merchants, and some men weren’t. Those who were good would buy servants to help them make more money. They had to take care of these servants and their families, and they had to deal fairly with them. Those men who weren’t very good farmers or merchants would sell themselves to another man to work for him. But men these weren’t slaves, they were servants. At the end of six years, the man would go free. He could start over and try to make it on his own once again. But if he realized that his master was good to him, and he wanted to stay with that master for the rest of his life, he could. The two of them would go to the town gate where all of the town’s business was taken care of, and they would have a special ceremony. The men of the town would be gathered at the gate discussing the town’s business and the servant would announce to everyone that he wanted to remain the servant of his good master for the rest of his life. Then the master would pierce his ear through. This would be a permanent reminder that he was a servant for the rest of his life. And here is where our story changes. Jesus Christ has become a good Master for us. We should want to have Jesus as our Master for the rest of our lives. We should be like this servant with the pierced ear: since Jesus has been so good to us, we should gladly serve Jesus for the rest of our lives. What a great picture for us!