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#8. Symbols of Service.
The ear and the eye.
pp. 48 - 50
The reader who has followed this series will by now have realized that we are lifting
out from the Word a number of symbols of service, and presenting them alphabetically.
We have considered up to the present the following symbols of service:--
AMBASSADORS, APOSTLES and ANGELS.
BONDSERVANTS, BUILDERS and BURDEN-BEARERS.
CALLING, CLEANSING and COMMITTING.
DEBTORS and DISCIPLES.
We do not suggest that every letter of the alphabet will prove of service, but as far as
is possible we hope to pursue this course, so that we may in more senses than one learn
the "A B C" of service. Should any reader feel that this method savours of levity or is
fitted only for children, we would point to the inspired alphabetical Psalms and other
passages of an acrostic nature in the Word. Our memories are not so good but they will
be all the better for a little help, and an alphabetical arrangement is an aid to memory.
The two symbols of service that are before us to-day are the ear and the eye as used in
Scripture with reference to service.
The bored 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 to 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 Psa. 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 fulfillment in Heb. 10: 5, where the words "mine ear hast Thou digged" are
interpreted by: "a body hast Thou prepared me."
As we have discussed these passages elsewhere, we merely present them here as
beautiful symbols of service. 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 love."