But if the bondman shall say distinctly, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free;
The words in this verse are a slave's own declaration, spoken at the moment the law would have set him free. Commentators read it as a picture of Christ's own choice: a servant who could walk away, but stays out of love. The older translation these writers use says "servant" where the ESV says "slave."
The six years were over and the door was open.
Here we have one of the shadows of good things to come. It is a shadow of the True Servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved the Church and gave Himself for it. The Hebrew servant had served the legal time, so he was free to go out. But he loved his wife and his children. His love was so great that he gave up his own freedom for their sakes. He proved his love for them by sacrificing himself. He might have gone out and enjoyed his freedom, but what of them? How could he leave them behind? Impossible.
The servant had paid everything the law could ask. So the words "if the servant plainly says" open something new.
The Hebrew servant could go out free for nothing, after six years. So Christ had completely fulfilled every possible claim on Him. But it is added, "If the servant plainly says, I love my master." From here on it is no longer a question of law at all. He really had been under law. But now something else opens up.
The master stands ahead of the wife and the children.
We cannot help wondering whether any Hebrew servant ever said, "I love my master, my wife, and my children." Those words put his master before wife and children. We can only say that the master would have to be a most wonderful person to gain such a place. But our blessed Lord took the servant's place. He came first to do the will of God in devotion to His glory. He came second to establish a relationship with redeemed men that nothing will ever break.
The verse asks for the words to be said plainly. One writer points to Christ's prayer over the cup.
In verse 5 we read, "If the servant plainly says, I love my master." How plainly He said it! He cried, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will!" The servant is one who does not do his own will.
One writer names who the master, the wife, and the children stand for.
The servant is the Lord Jesus, who willingly took this place in coming into the world. Now He has chosen to be a servant forever. He loves His Master (God the Father). He loves His wife (the church of God, the assembly). He loves His children (everyone who has been born again).
Commentators differ on the children. Another writer applies the three relations to "His Father (or master), to His church (or wife), and to His earthly people (or children)."
Nothing forced the choice.
He served His full time perfectly, so He could have gone out free. As He said to Peter, "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?" For His own part, He had no need to go to the cross. Nothing made Him go except the constraint of His own heart, and His desire to bring glory to God and to win His bride, the pearl of great price.
Love, not need, is what keeps this service going.
As long as there is need in the saint of God, there is service on the part of the Saviour. It is impossible that Jesus should not serve as long as there is a want to be met. But what about the day when there will be no need to be met? If there is no need on our part, there is love on His part, and love will always serve even when there is no question of need.
One writer hears the servant's exact words on Jesus' lips on the night before the cross, in John's Gospel.
The great Antitype of the Hebrew servant, pictured in Exodus 21:2-6, is found here saying, "I love the Father" — the equivalent of "I love My Master … I will not go out free."
- Free. The six years were finished and every claim met; the servant had a right to walk out with nothing owed.
- Love. Love, not law, produces the words of verse 5 — the master first, then the wife, then the children.
- Choice. He would not go out free, though twelve legions of angels were within reach; only His own heart held Him.
- Family. He stayed because going free meant leaving them behind. Commentators read the wife and children as the church and His own people.
- Forever. The choice made Him a servant forever — serving now in our need, and still serving in glory when no need is left.
then his master shall bring him before the judges, and shall bring him to the door, or to the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall be his bondman for ever.
A servant has served his term and can walk away free. He refuses — and three actions seal his choice: a hearing before God, a door, and an awl.
Nothing holds this servant back. He can walk out, and stays only for love.
As far as he himself was concerned, the servant was completely free to go. He had met every claim, and could walk away in freedom no one could question. But because he loved his master, his wife, and his children, he chose to bind himself to service for life. And not only that: he was also willing to carry the marks of that service on his own body.
The ESV reads "bring him to God." Older versions say "to the judges." One word lies behind both:
In Exodus 21:6 — and twice in chapter 22:9, and once in chapter 22:8 — the word for "judges" is "elohim," which means God. That is because the judge stands there for God, and God has established the authorities that exist. We are to submit to them.
The doorway marks where a household begins and ends.
The doorpost was the sign of personal limits; by it the family entered, and no one else had the right. So it was not something a stranger could claim. Above all, it belonged to the household. This is also why the blood of the Passover lamb was put on the doorpost. As far as that house was concerned, it held back the hand of God from the firstborn inside — but from no one else.
The mark costs him something. The quote below uses the older wording of Psalm 40:6, because the point turns on that one word.
This is far from obedience forced by the threat of punishment. The slave chooses to suffer pain and shed his blood rather than stop serving. And there is no doubt that the right reading of this sees it as a picture of the divine Servant. Of His own will He binds Himself to service for ever, because He loves God and the spiritual Bride. In Psalm 40:6 He says, "You have opened My ears." The word translated "opened," kahhrah, is translated "pierced" in Psalm 22:16 (my hands and my feet).
Another commentator names who each figure in the scene pictures, and why the ear was the part marked.
The servant is the Lord Jesus, who willingly took this place when He came into the world (Philippians 2:7). He has willingly decided to be a servant forever, because He loves His Master (God the Father), He loves His wife (the church of God, the assembly), and He loves His children (every person who has been born again). The boring of the ear teaches us something too. A hearing ear is the main mark of a true servant. Here the boring of it reminds us of the death of the Lord Jesus in obedience to His Father's will. That death confirms that He is a servant forever.
Writing on the Gospel of John, another commentator hears the servant's own words from the Lord:
The Hebrew servant of Exodus 21:2-6 pictured a greater Servant. Here that Servant is found saying, "I love the Father." It means the same as "I love My Master … I will not go out free." And in John 13:1 we already had the statement of His love for those pictured by the wife and children in Exodus.
He could still have walked away at that moment. He did not.
So the Lord presented Himself in this wonderful way as taking the form of a servant, with His ear bored. This was not about His becoming a man. But when He had served the seven years, He says, I will not go out free. He remains a servant for ever. He might have had twelve legions of angels and gone out free; but that is not what He came for. He said, I will be a servant for ever.
The servant stayed for love, and those he stayed for are kept by that love.
Jesus loves the Father. The security of every member of the redeemed family matches the strength of that love. When a sinner believes on the name of the Son of God, his salvation is, in one sense, simply the expression of Christ's love to the Father.
- Free — The servant owed nothing and could walk out. He stayed only because he loved.
- Declared — He says his reason aloud, and his master brings him before God. The choice is public.
- Marked — The awl draws blood at the doorpost, where the Passover blood also went.
- Forever — The pierced ear fixes the choice for good. The One it pictures could have called twelve legions of angels and left. He would not.
- Secure — Love for the Master sealed the bond, so the wife and children are as safe as that love is strong.