I was speaking recently with a good friend about the law and he said to put the word “instruction” where you see the word “law” and that gives a better sense of the meaning.

So what is the next instruction that God puts in Exodus after the Ten Commandments? Actually it is about altars. But what is the one after that (in Exodus 21)?

“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he may serve for no more than six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. ³ If he was single when he became your slave, he shall leave single. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife must be freed with him.

⁴ “If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave and they had sons or daughters, then only the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master. ⁵ But the slave may declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I don’t want to go free.’ ⁶ If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door or doorpost and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will serve his master for life.”

I don’t want to go free, God has given me everything.  Pierce my ear to the door of your house, O Lord!