出エジプト記 21:6

聖書日本語

6 その主人は彼を神のもとに連れて行き、戸あるいは柱のところに連れて行って、主人は、きりで彼の耳を刺し通さなければならない。そうすれば彼はいつまでもこれに仕えるであろう。

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the judges: Exodus 21:22, Exodus 12:12, Exodus 18:21-26, Exodus 22:8, Exodus 22:9, Exodus 22:28, Numbers 25:5-8, Deuteronomy 1:16, Deuteronomy 16:18, Deuteronomy 19:17, Deuteronomy 19:18, 1 Samuel 8:1, 1 Samuel 8:2, Isaiah 1:26, Zephaniah 3:3

bore his ear: This significant ceremony was intended as a mark of permanent servitude, and was calculated to impress the servant with the duty of hearing all his master's orders, and obeying them punctually. Psalms 40:6-8

for ever: Leviticus 25:23, Leviticus 25:40, Deuteronomy 15:17, 1 Samuel 1:22, 1 Samuel 27:12, 1 Samuel 28:2, 1 Kings 12:7

Reciprocal: Genesis 17:8 - everlasting Deuteronomy 15:16 - General Job 41:4 - a servant Psalms 82:1 - the gods

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then his master shall bring him unto the judges,.... To Elohim, to God, to the judgment seat of God, according to the Septuagint; to some person or persons to inquire of God what is to be done in such a case; but this seems needless, since it is here declared: no doubt civil magistrates or judges are meant by Elohim, or the gods, as in Psalms 82:1, and so Jarchi interprets it of the house of judgment, or sanhedrim, the court that had convicted the servant of theft, and had sold him to him, it was proper he should acquaint them with it, have their opinion about it; and especially it was proper to have him to them, that he might before them, even in open court, declare his willingness to abide in his master's service; and from whom, as the Targum of Jonathan, he was to receive power and authority to retain him in his service:

he shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; either of the gate of the city, where the judges were sitting, before whom what follows was to be done, as Aben Ezra suggests; or rather the door of his master, or any other man's, as Maimonides l:

and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; or with a needle, as the Targum of Jonathan, which also says it was the right ear; and so Jarchi; and the upper part of it, as says Maimonides, who likewise observes, that that with which it is bored must be of metal; and moreover, that it is the master himself that must do it, and not his son, nor his messenger, nor a messenger of the sanhedrim m: the ear is an hieroglyphic of obedience, and the boring of it through to the doorpost denotes the strict and close obedience of such a servant to his master, and how he is, and ought to be, addicted to his service, and be constantly employed in it, and never stir from it, nor so much as go over the threshold of his master's house. This custom of boring a servant's ear continued in Syria till the times of Juvenal, as appears by some lines of his: n

and he shall serve him for ever; as long as he lives o; however, until the year of jubilee, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi; if there was one before his death, for nothing else could free him; denoting freedom by Christ in his acceptable year, and day of salvation.

l Hilchot Abadim, c. 3. sect. 9. m Ibid. n "----Molles quod in aure fenestrae Arguerint, licet ipse negem?" Satyr. 1. o "Serviet in aeternum, qui parvo nesciet uti". Horat.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Forever - That is, most probably, until the next Jubilee, when every Hebrew was set free. See Leviticus 25:40, Leviticus 25:50. The custom of boring the ear as a mark of slavery appears to have been a common one in ancient times, observed in many nations.

Unto the judges - Literally, “before the gods אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym.” The word does not denote “judges” in a direct way, but it is to be understood as the name of God, in its ordinary plural form, God being the source of all justice. The name in this connection always has the definite article prefixed. See the marginal references. Compare Psalms 82:1, Psalms 82:6; John 10:34.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 21:6. Shall bring him unto the judges — אל האלהים el haelohim, literally, to God; or, as the Septuagint have it, προς το κριτηριον Θεου, to the judgment of God; who condescended to dwell among his people; who determined all their differences till he had given them laws for all cases, and who, by his omniscience, brought to light the hidden things of dishonesty. See Exodus 22:8.

Bore his ear through with an awl — This was a ceremony sufficiently significant, as it implied,

1. That he was closely attached to that house and family.

2. That he was bound to hear all his master's orders, and to obey them punctually. Boring of the ear was an ancient custom in the east.

It is referred to by Juvenal: -

Prior, inquit, ego adsum.

Cur timeam, dubitemve locum defendere? quamvis

Natus ad Euphraten, MOLLES quod in AURE FENESTRAE

Arguerint, licet ipse negem.

Sat. i. 102.

"First come, first served, he cries; and I, in spite

Of your great lordships, will maintain my right:

Though born a slave, though my torn EARS are BORED, 'Tis not the birth, 'tis money makes the lord."

DRYDEN.

Calmet quotes a saying from Petronius as attesting the same thing; and one from Cicero, in which he rallies a Libyan who pretended he did not hear him: "It is not," said he, "because your ears are not sufficiently bored;" alluding to his having been a slave.