Exodus 21:6
Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever. Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.
Exodus 21:6 is one of the additional precepts given to illustrate and apply the Ten Commandments, so that the obligations of the Decalogue might be more fully understood and enforced. Unlike the Ten Commandments, which were proclaimed directly to the people, it was delivered privately to Moses for him to communicate to the people. This private giving was needed because their minds had been blinded and debased by slavery and were not prepared to fully appreciate the far-reaching principles of God's ten precepts. As part of those judgments and laws, the verse gives specific instruction for applying the principles of the Ten Commandments, with detailed directions intended to prevent confusion about what God required and to guard the sacredness of the Ten Commandments.
These statutes and judgments are Christ's own exalted requirements, not a Christless or lower-order code, and they were to be strictly obeyed. They are included among the teachings and commandments God gave Moses to regulate how the Israelites dealt with one another. The laws in these chapters guard against injustice and guide how people deal with one another.
In content, the verse belongs to laws regulating servants by limiting Hebrew service to six years, with the servant to be freed in the seventh year rather than held as a slave for life. A servant who was entitled to freedom after seven years could choose to remain with his master. Refusing liberty marked him not as a person honored for loyalty but with a mark of disgrace, for the law thus guarded servants' rights and encouraged freedom rather than bondage.