A little girl about 4 years old caught my attention in the jewelry department. She was all excited because she was going to get her ear pierced. From what I gathered, the little girl had both ears pierced about three weeks before. One of the earrings had come out and the hole had closed up, so she was getting it fixed. She was sitting on the stool, with her back straight and behaving very well while the lady cleaned and "dotted" her earlobe. With the mother's approval of the dot location, the lady began putting the earring into the gun. The little girl began squirming a little, and as the lady approached, she shrugged her shoulder up to her ear and wouldn't let her pierce it. After several minutes of coaxing by the mother and the older sister, they decided to give up and try again later when the little girl was ready.
I thought it was humorous that the little girl was so brave and so ready until the last second, and then she decided not to go through with it. The whole situation reminded me of the song we sing, "Pierce My Ear". This song was written based on the scriptures Ex. 21:6 and Deut 15:17. These two scriptures are in passages that discuss the treatment of Hebrew servants. They would be released in the seventh year of serving their master or when their debt was paid, whichever came first. According to Bible Manners and Customs, if a male slave was given a wife by his master, she could not leave with him when he was freed. However he could choose to stay with her, but it would mean a life of servitude to the master. If the now freed man decided to stay with his master, then, the Bible says, "his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him forever." The piercing was a physical representation of the kind of person that the slave was. The slave had to be a person who was willing to give up his personal freedom for his family.
The master-slave relationship during the Old Testament is symbolic of our relationship with God. We have to be willing to give up the world to serve Him. Sometimes we are like the little girl. She wasn’t totally committed to getting her ear pierced when it came right down to it. And sometimes we are real close to being totally committed to God when worldly things seem to get in the way. Funny thing, though, it doesn’t sting at all to decide to serve God.
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