KJV Exodus 21:5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free …”
NASB Exodus 21:5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’
Exodus 20 is well known to us as the chapter in which the law, or the Ten Commandments, is given. Immediately following the giving of the law, God gave instructions concerning the building of an altar (ch. 20:24-26), and then of a devoted servant (21:1-11) When God was giving a law that men could not keep, He was thinking of an altar and a Servant Who not only kept that law, but gave Himself to redeem men from the curse the law had brought.
In the account of the devoted servant, we read how, having been brought to the door for the ceremony of ear piercing, he was to plainly avow his love for his master, his wife, and his children.
His Master
Applying all of this to our Lord Jesus Christ, the cross is the clearest and most revelatory expression of His love for His Master. Five times over in John’s Gospel, He spoke of the Father’s love for the Son; only once did He speak of His love for the Father. This was in the shadow of the cross as they left the upper room. “That the world might know that I love the Father. and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence” (John 14:31).
The cross reveals to us, as nothing else could, the full measure of His love for His Father, and as we shall consider, His love for us.
His Wife
“Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it “(Eph 5:25). In the vignette of the consecrated servant, his love for his wife was displayed. As he moved to the door, no doubt she looked on with loving and appreciative eyes, as she beheld the measure of love that would lead him to lifelong devotion to her, a devotion that involved servitude.
When the Lord was expressing His love for us, no thankful eyes gazed up at the Man on the center cross. The passersby, prisoners, priests, and people as a whole mocked and scorned Him. Ye He was unmoved in expressing his love.
His Children
Here was an individual appreciation of His love. Here is where each of us enters and appreciates His personal love for us. That Christ loved the Church is a wondrous truth, but that He should love me individually is an incredible truth — incredible but credible in light of the cross. He has declared plainly for all to hear and understand. There can be no denial or misunderstanding. Calvary is a statement made for the cosmos, heaven and earth, to hear and worship.
Consider
Look at Exodus 21 and Deuteronomy 15:12-15 and note the significant differences.