Exodus 21:6

then his master shall bring him before the judges, and shall receive from them the power, and bring him to the door that hath posts; and his master shall pierce his right ear with an awl; and he shall be a servant to serve him until the jubela.

THEN HIS MASTER SHALL BRING HIM UNTO ‘HA’ELOHIM’ — “to the court. The servant must take counsel with those who sold him.” [Thus is the language of Rashi.] And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote that the judges are called elohim because they uphold the laws of G-d on earth.
In my opinion Scripture uses these expressions: Then his master shall bring him unto ‘ha’elohim;’ the cause of both parties shall come before ‘ha’elohim,’ in order to indicate that G-d will be with the judges in giving their judgment. It is He Who declares who is just, and it is He Who declares who is wicked. It is with reference to this that Scripture says, he whom ‘Elokim’ (G-d) shall condemn. And so did Moses say, for the judgment is G-d’s; so also did Jehoshaphat say, for ye judge not for man, but for the Eternal, and He is with you in giving judgment. Similarly Scripture says, G-d standeth in the congregation of G-d; in the midst of ‘elohim’ (the judges) He judgeth, that is to say, in the midst of a congregation of judges He judges, for it is G-d Who is the Judge. And so also it says, Then both men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Eternal. And this is the purport of the verse, For I will not justify the wicked, according to the correct interpretation. In Eileh Shemoth Rabbah I have seen it said: “But when the judge sits and renders judgment in truth, the Holy One, blessed be He, leaves, as it were, the supreme heavens and causes His Presence to dwell next to him, for it is said, When the Eternal raised them up judges, then the Eternal was with the judge.

אל האלוהים, before a judge or judges

אל הדלת או אל המזוזה, in public view, as a sign of servitude. The door and doorpost described are made of wood even if the house in question is of stone so that the procedure of piercing the ear against such a background poses no problem.

לעולם. According to the plain meaning of the text, “for the rest of his life.” This is also the meaning of the word לעולם in Samuel I 1,22 when Chanah announced her intention of handing over her son Samuel to the High Priest Eli.

ורצע אדוניו את אזנו במרצע, “his master must pierce his ear with an awl;” why did the Torah choose the awl as the tool with which to pierce this servant’s ear? The numerical value of the letters in the word מרצע equals 400. It is to remind that servant that seeing that G–d had redeemed the Jewish people from 400 years of slavery, it is unbelievable that he should choose being enslaved to a human master voluntarily. G–d had stated categorically in Leviticus 25,55 כי לי בני ישראל עבדים, “for the Children of Israel are meant to be bound by a master- servant relationship only with their G–d,” not with any human being. If this man chooses to become indentured to a human master he deserves to be punished physically. (Talmud, tractate Kiddushin, folio 22, and Tossaphot on that folio.

ועבדו לעולם, “and he shall serve him “forever.” The word עולם here means: for the same length of time as the Levites perform their duties in the Temple. The word is used in this connection for the prophet Samuel whose mother had “given him” to G–d, i.e. to the Temple and the High Priest when he was 2 years old. Samuel died at the age of 52. (Samuel I 1,22) It follows that the length of time someone must serve a master when the Torah calls it לעולם, is no longer than 50 years.