Exodus 21:6

His master shall bring him to the judges In the original, gods, magistrates being often so called as the visible representatives of God upon earth. In the Septuagint it is προς το κριτηριον θεου, to the tribunal of God, meaning probably the sanctuary. The sense seems evidently to be, that the master was to bring his slave to the temporal judges, that they might take cognizance of the case, and that the agreement, being publicly and solemnly confirmed, might be irrevocable. He shall bring him to the door To wit, of his master's house, as is expressed Deuteronomy 15:17, in token that he was fixed there, and must no more go out free. Shall bore his ear through with an awl We find from Juvenal and Petronius that this continued to be a custom in Syria and Arabia many ages after this. And it fitly represented the servant's perpetual obligation to abide in that house, and there to hear and obey his master's commands, Psalms 40:6. For ever As long as he lives, or till the year of jubilee.