Deuteronomy 15:16

And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;

If he say ... I will not go away. If they declined to avail themselves of the privilege of release, and chose to remain with their master, then, by a special form of ceremony, they became a party to the transaction, voluntarily sold themselves to their employer, and continued in his service until death.

'In this passage, where the symbolic indication of permanent servitude is again prescribed (see the notes at Ex 'In this passage, where the symbolic indication of permanent servitude is again prescribed (see the notes at Exodus 21:4), it is stated still more definitely that the ear is to be fastened by the awl to the door. The manifest dishonour which lies in this symbolic act agrees perfectly with the whole spirit of the law; for this seeks to protect personal freedom in every way, and always to re-establish it, and cannot, therefore, approve of one's giving himself over to perpetual servitude. It is true that in the case before us he had, in his love for his family, an apparently good reason for the deed. But who bade him at the outset enter into these relations, and take for his wife a maid in the ownership of her master?' (Barrow's Translation of Saalschutz 'On Hebrew Servitude.')