Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
Shall bring him unto the judges - el haelohim , literally, to God; or, as the Septuagint have it, , 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 E ars are B ored ,
' 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.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Exodus 22:8
Leviticus 22:10
Deuteronomy 15:17
Job 41:4
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