The Pierced Ear

'If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the

seventh he shall go out free for nothing ... and if the servant shall

plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go

out free: 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'

(Exod. 21:2 -6).

One cannot read these words without immediately thinking of Psalm 40:6 -8:

'Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou

opened (margin Heb. digged) ... Then said I, Lo, I come: ... I delight

to do Thy will, O my God',

and of their fulfilment in Hebrews 10:5, where the words 'mine ear hast Thou

digged' are interpreted by: 'a body hast Thou prepared me'.

Let us not miss the spirit of it all as expressed by the words 'I love'

of the Hebrew servant.  His six years' service may have been of necessity,

but his seventh and onward could only be entered if he could plainly say: 'I

The service of love, symbolized by the bored ear, finds much exposition

in the New Testament, and the reader is urged to acquaint himself with those

passages which are written in connection with the words of Galatians 5:13,

'By love serve one another'.

The Consecrated Ear

'Take Aaron and his sons ... and sanctify them ... and he brought the

other ram, the ram of consecration ... and he slew it; and Moses took

of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear' (Lev.

8:2 -23).

'And the priest that maketh him clean ... shall slay the lamb ... and

... shall take some of the blood ... and ... put it upon the tip of the

right ear ... and the priest shall put of the oil ... upon the tip of

the right ear ... upon the place of the blood of the trespass offering'

(Lev. 14:11 -28).

As a matter of exposition, the above passages present two very different

aspects of the truth, but for the present purpose they may be considered

together.  Whether priests who need consecration for service, or lepers who

need cleansing and anointing before service is possible, we perceive the

consecration, both by blood and oil, of the servant's ear.  These figures are

readily resolved into their spiritual realities.  The precious blood of

Christ, the sanctification of the Spirit, the application of both by the

Word, these are essential to service.  A bored ear for willing, loving

service; an anointed ear for acceptable, consecrated service, and thirdly, an

opened ear that one may minister words in season.

The Opened Ear

'The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned (learner, a

disciple), that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that

is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear