Deuteronomy 15:17

15:17 push it through his earlobe: This disfigurement publicly indicated that a bondservant had voluntarily indentured himself to his master for life. This might be what Paul meant when he said “I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus” (Gal 6:17).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To the year of Jubilee, Lev. 25:40.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 17. Thou shalt take an awl] See Clarke on Ex 21:6.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(17) And unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise—i.e., “in furnishing her liberally” (Rashi), and “possibly also in retaining her if she will.”

It must not be supposed that this contradicts Exo_21:7, “She shall not go out as the menservants do.” She shall not go out according to the going of the men-servants (i.e., on the same principle). It is not said, She shall not go out at all. The exceptions are given in Exo_21:8-11, which see. The general right of release is stated here. One difference (as stated by Rashi) is that women were not liable to be sold for theft like men, but might be sold by their parents in infancy. If the girl were not marriageable when the first Sabbatical year arrived, she would obtain her freedom absolutely, because the case contemplated in Exo_21:8-10 could not possibly arise. And, generally, we may suppose that the rights of an unmarried female slave would be the same as those of a man, to go out free in the seventh year. (See Jer_34:9.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. thou shalt take an awl] Lit. a borer, only here and in Exo_21:6.

and thrust it through his ear] Lit. set, or give, it; E, bore or pierce his ear. His ear because it is the organ of obedience. Cp. Psa_40:6, mine ears thou hast opened; Isa_50:4 f., morning by morning he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the taught … The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear. In the Code of Ḫammurabi (§ 282) the slave who denies his master has his ear cut off.

unto the door] E, to the door or doorpost, i.e. of his master’s house. See Driver on Exo_21:6, and the meaning of the other phrase there, to the Elohim, which D omits, whether because it means the local sanctuary, abolished by D’s law, or some domestic image of deity, still more repugnant to D. See Clay Trumbull, The Threshold Covenant, 210.

thy bondman for ever] i.e. for life; ‘again a good example of the relative force of the Heb. phrase for ever’ (Berth.).

And also unto thy bondwoman, etc.] See introd. note.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Exo 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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

House, before a judge. It is supposed that this law regarded only those who had sold themselves, or had been condemned to be slaves. (Fagius) --- For ever; that is, till the year of jubilee. --- Also, not by piercing her ear, as some have thought, but by setting her at liberty, and giving her something, ver. 14.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

For ever, i.e. all the time of his life, or, at least, till the year of jubilee. See on Exo 21:6.

Unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise, i.e. either dismiss her honourably, and with plenty of provisions; or engage her to perpetual servitude in the same manner, and by the same rites; whence it appears that this case differs from that Exo 21:7, and that the maid-servant there was taken in upon other and better terms than this here.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Take an awl, and thrust it through his ear — The bored ears constituted a badge of slavery.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For ever - All the time of his life, or, at least, 'till the year of jubilee. Likewise - That is, either dismiss her with plenty, or engage her to perpetual servitude, in the same manner and by the same rites.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

עבד עולם [AND HE SHALL BE THY] SERVANT עולם — One might think that עולם has here its usual meaning: for ever! Scripture, however, states, (Leviticus 25:10) “[And ye shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof] and ye shall return every man unto his family”. Consequently, you learn that it (what Scripture terms here עולם), can only mean the period until the termination of that Jubilee cycle (Mekhilta; cf. Rashi on that verse),

ואף לאמתך תעשה כן AND ALSO UNTO THY MAID SERVANT THOU SHALT DO LIKEWISE — i.e. furnish her out of thy property. One might think, however, that Scripture puts her on the same level with the man-servant concerning the piercing of the ear too! It however, states, (Exodus 21:5) “And if the man-servant (העבד) shall plainly say, [I love my lord … then … his lord shall bore his ear through with an awl]” — so you see that a man-servant must have his ear pierced, but a maid-servant does not have it pierced (Sifrei Devarim 122:6).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.