The Male Servant

First written Last viewed Times read 2,918

2“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything. 3If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. 5But if the servant shall plainly say, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;’ 6then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever. Exodus 21:2-6

God provided for servitude in Moses' Covenant, in six-year periods. In the seventh year, the male servant was to go free as he came in, not paying anything.

If he was unmarried when he was bought, he would leave unmarried; but if married before servitude, then his wife would leave with him.

However, if he married while under his master's lordship his wife and any children borne by her would remain with his master. So we see the boundaries of servitude under this Covenant. It is like another life has begun—it is no longer the servant's life while under the master's care—he does not own himself or what he produces.

But a method of keeping what he has produced is provided: if he desires to stay with his master, and his wife and children gotten while with the master, he can do so. His ear must be pierced with an awl into the doorpost of his master's house, as a sign of his life-long servitude. He shall never be free again, but all that he has produced and loves shall remain with him.

The Spiritual

One can see the spiritual truth behind this ordinance. We sell ourselves into slavery to sin and its master, Satan, when we sin (John 8:34). We leave the free world and enter servitude. Anything that we produce while in sin's house becomes the property of its master, Satan. Therefore, when we choose to leave, all that we have produced remains with him—we leave it all behind for something greater: Jesus.

The Lord tells us that anyone who leaves houses, mothers, fathers, wives, children, etc., for His sake and the sake of the Gospel, will receive 100-fold more in this life, as well as ageless life in the world to come (Mark 10:28-30). This is the blessing of the New Covenant. Though we lose what we made in our life with Satan, we gain so much the more as we enter the house of Yahweh. But if we choose to stay in Satan's house, though we keep all we have gained, we die with him—apart from Yahweh. It is all for nought (Matthew 16:25-26)!

Those who leave Satan's house and his servitude, and enter the House of Yahweh, will also produce much (John 15:8). They, if they choose to stay in God's House, will keep all they produce. They will serve Him forever. All that they do will remain with them as they continue to serve Yahweh. Without His Son, into Whom they have incorporated, they can do nothing (John 15:4-5)—but with Him they can do all things (Mark 10:27)!

What's more, Jesus promises to free those already in God's House! Those already under the Old Covenant had the ability to become free through the New Covenant of Christ.

35A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever. 36If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:35-36

Israel could come out from under the old and into the new, which was better. God has provided for those who were in covenant with Him through Moses, but as servants, as well as for those sold into servitude to sin. No matter who we are, Jew or Gentile, Christ has made provision for us to become free.

Possibly Related

Email the Author Write about this page

I welcome your questions, testimonies, suggestions and fellowship. Please contact me by using the form below.

The form notes which material this is and pre-fills the subject with its title.

The Good Message

As you read this site, you will hopefully come to know Yahweh more fully.

But all of this continuing knowledge is useless unless and until you come into union with Him. I use the word union because it is truly a marriage. It is that deep connection we all seek, for which we most often look in other people. However, the truth is that our hearts will only be fulfilled when we enter that union in fullness with the One Who made us.

This is the grace of God, that He has not stayed distant for us only to worship as Creator. But He has come unto us, even become one of us—in His Son, Christ Jesus—in order to share an intimate union with us. He desires such closeness that it truly will envelope our entire life, transforming us into something new and wonderful.

You may have already entered this union with Him and only seek to know Him better through reading here. But if you have not, as you do read, let this Gospel sink into your heart as you read it now.

God loves you, and has cast your sins into the sea. He has sent His only Son as the Savior of the world—that includes you.

That Son, Jesus Christ, was born as a man through a virgin who had given her life to Yahweh; He lived without sin, reflected the glory of His Father, God, in all His words and deeds, and was persecuted even unto death because of it.

His death upon a cross was the powerful explosion that separated you from your life of death. It remains for you, now, to enter into that death with Him. As you die to the one you are now, a person separated from God from your many sins, you will be born anew, with a nature predisposed to live rightly. This gift is free to you, with nothing you can do to earn it. It is the mercy of God to offer it to you, as He loves you so much! All you must do is receive it by trusting Him to have delivered you. Simply place your life in His hands and embrace the freedom that came through that death on the cross.

The Gospel is that Jesus did not remain dead, but rose again on the third day after His crucifixion! Death could not hold Him, as He was without sin. And so death will not be able to hold you, as you identify with Him fully through your trust in Him. Let go of yourself and confess Him as Lord of your life. The power of His death and resurrection will work in you all that your Creator has destined for you. You will truly enter a new life and experience that intimate union you have been seeking all of your life.

So ponder these words as you read here of this great God—Yahweh—and all that He has revealed to His creation. Let His Spirit testify to your heart that these words are true, that God is Love, and that He sent His Son so that you might receive the life that is unbound by time and space. As you feel that witness in your heart, simply believe and receive what He is offering to you, even now, and begin your new life as a child of God.

Please write to me and let me know when you take this step, as I will be your brother in Christ—we will be one in Him!