Exodus 21:1-24:18

Parasha Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1-24:18) comprises a set of laws and commandments given in the Bible in continuation of The Ten Commandments. In this parashah there are a total 53 commandments, however, it is interesting to note that it begins with a commandment relating to the freedom of Hebrew slaves. The reason given is that The Children of Israel were slaves in Egypt and therefore it is an important aspect to determine how to deal with slaves in the future.

This commandment states that after a slave has served you for six years, you shall set him free, however, if he does not want to go free:

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 to the door post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever: (Exodus 21:5-6)

The question arises why is there a ritual to pierce the slave’s ear with an awl at the door post? Let us examine the text:

Door, dalet דלת in Hebrew, is the symbol associated with the letter daled ד and has a value of 4 and represents the phenomenal world. The word for ‘awl’ or nail, in Hebrew, is martzeh מרצע spelled mem-resh-tzadek-ayin and has a gematrical value 40-200-90-70 = 400. The 400 is the value of tafת , the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet and indicates the highest level of spiritual consciousness attainable on this earthly plane, after which is the 500 entering the next world.

Therefore the slave, by wishing to be a servant to his master for all his days, effectively fixes his level of spiritual consciousness to the phenomenal world, the 4. The slave is stating ‘I do not wish to reach a level of spiritual consciousness. I want food in my stomach, a roof over my head and clothes on my body. This is my contentment’.

And why is the nail pierce through the ear? The ear is the prime organ through which we receive knowledge. It is the main organ through which the word of God is transferred to man. It is the reason why a central pray in the Synagogue service and which is stated every day is: ‘Hear Oh Israel, the Lord our God is One’. All our knowledge of God comes through the ear.

The word ‘ear’ is ozen in Hebrew, spelled אזן aleph-zayin-nun with the gematrical structure 1-7-50. Its very structure suggests that: from God (1), through the seventh day (7), the Sabbath, we can reach the next world (50).So by fixing the ear to the door post – to the phenomenal world, the slave is saying: ‘I do not need to know more than the knowledge of the phenomenal world and is enough for my life on this earth.

Now if we extrapolate this ritual to Christianity, it becomes interesting. The gematrical value of 400, represented by the letter taf ת in early Semitic script, was written as a cross ‘+’ and indeed, taf ת is the symbol of a cross. Hence, Jesus nailed to a cross, with a value of 400,  by an awl martzeh מרצע with a value of 400, is effectively saying something very similar to the slave, i.e. ‘I do not want to go into the next world, rather to fix myself to the highest spiritual plane on this Earth’. I will remain in this world to benefit humanity. It is identical to the concept of compassion in Buddhist philosophy, whereby a Buddhist monk states that he will not reach enlightenment until every other sentient being has attained enlightenment before him. The concept in the above passage can be applied to Jesus being nailed to the cross.