Why Is the Eved Punished by Having His Ear Pierced with an Awl?
The laws regarding an eved ivri are that he is to be enslaved for six years, after which he is to be allowed to go free. If the servant wants to remain with his master, then we are to pierce his ear.
Rashi explains that this is a punishment. The reason he was sold as an eved is that he is a thief, or that he sold himself as a result of poverty. If so, the piercing of his ear is a punishment for his deeds.
This begs explanation: If the reason for piercing his ear is that he sold himself as an eved, the punishment should have been carried out immediately, rather than after he has been an eved for six years.
Our Sages tell us that someone who purchases an eved ivri is like someone who purchased a master for himself. This is because the Jewish eved has many rights. It is forbidden to force him to do difficult labor, it is forbidden to degrade him, and the master needs to provide him with food and sustenance on the same level as the master’s own.
If so, who would agree to buy an eved and become “enslaved” to him in this way? The average person would not agree to buy an eved ivri; it is only a righteous person, who knows that the Torah said to sell the eved, and thus, there is an injunction of the Torah to be carried out, so they buy him.
According to this, during the six years when the eved works for the righteous man, he views firsthand how a good Jew is meant to behave. The purpose of the six years is for him to learn from his master’s ways and improve.
But if after six years he wants to stay together with his wife – the non-Jewish maidservant – it is a sign that he did not learn from the ways of his master, and for this he deserves a punishment of having his ear pierced.
Another explanation: In the beginning, when they sold him as an eved, he had no possessions and no food. As such, there was no possibility for the brachos of Shamayim to rest upon him and for him to be able to earn his parnassah honorably. Therefore, he had to be sold.
But now that he is leaving his master’s house, he is given an allowance. With the money from that allowance he could go out and earn parnassah, and then certainly Hashem will send him blessings and bountiful parnassah. If he refuses to go out, that is a sign that he does not trust in Hashem to bless his money and provide his needs. He thinks that only in his master’s house will he have food. Therefore, he deserves the punishment of having his ear pierced.
