Matthew Poole and continuators on Exodus 21:6

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 awl , and he shall serve him for ever .

Partly that it may appear he chuseth this freely and is not overawed nor over-reached by his master and partly that the agreement being so publickly and solemnly confirmed might be irrevocable.

To wit, of his masters house, as it is expressed, Deut. 15. 17. A token that he was fixed there and never to go a freeman out of these doors.

As a note of a servant, as it continued to be long after this in Syria and Arabia, as Iuvenal and Petronius Arbiter affirm: And it did fitly represent his settled and perpetual obligation to abide in that house, and there to hear and obey his masters commands. See Psal. 40. 6.

(i. e.) Not onely for six years more, but without any limitation of time, as long as he lives, untill the Iubilee, which is an exception made by God to this law, Lev. 25. 40. Deut. 15. 17. The Hebrew word, olam, here used oft signifies not eternity, but onely a long time. See Exod. 12. 14.