Parashas Mishpatim - Ears Pierced

It says in this week's parasha [21:6] that if a slave loves his master and chooses to stay with him after the sixth year, (the amount of time till he's eligible for freedom,) then his master must bring him to elohim - the judges, and take him to the door or the doorpost, where his master pierces his ear with an awl. He then serves his master forever.

Rashi introduces Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, explaining: The man whose ear heard at Har Sinai, “You shall not steal,” and nevertheless went ahead and stole, should have his ear pierced. And if he sold himself as a slave; the man whose ears heard at Har Sinai, “For to Me Bnei Yisroel are servants,” and nevertheless went ahead to acquire a master, should have his ear pierced.

It seems like the message here is to solely serve Hashem. If Bnei Yisroel don't, it's inferred that they get 'punished' via the ear because they should have obeyed what they heard at Har Sinai.

The posuk above was talking about slaves, therefore I understand the second explanation, 'for he sold himself and choose a master other than Hashem', however, (a) what about civilians? Didn't our ears hear what was said at Har Sinai? Why don't we get our ears pierced after transgressing any of the commandments we heard on Har Sinai? (b) Why does this 'punishment' come about only once he has spent six wonderful years with his master and then decided to continue serving him forever? If this act of piercing his ear serves as a 'punishment', shouldn't the ear piercing happen right after he has sinned?

Answers:

The only commandments we heard directly from Hashem was “Anochi Hashem Elohecha,” and, “Lo Yehiyeh lecha Elohim acheirim,” but then we asked for Moshe to teach us the rest because we couldn't handle Hashem's awesome revelation.

Piercing of the ear is an indication of being meshubad to your master; something normally done by slaves. At first, when this guy was sold by Beis Din, it was because he wasn't able to pay a debt – so he was forced into slavery. Either he stole something and couldn't pay it back or he was in dire need for money. (The money spent to purchase him is used to reimburse his victims.) Once he served his master for six years and now has the option of freedom - but chooses to stay a slave, that's when his ear gets pierced because it was now his choice. That was the punishment.

It's interesting to note, the posuk says, “v'hi'gisho adonav el elohim,” - His master must bring him to the judges. Unkelos translates “v'hi'gisho” as “vikarbinei – bring him close.” With that translation, perhaps the posuk could be read b'derech remez (hint,) “His master should bring him close to Elohim a.k.a. Hashem.” The master himself should have rebuked the slave and told him to go free. Once he is free, he's able to keep all of Hashem's Torah and Mitzvos and to solely serve Hashem! Once the slave was rebuked and still decided to stay a slave, he was paid back with an awl pierced in his ear.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso