The boring of a slave's ear with it was the token of his volunteering perpetual service, when he might be free at the year of release (Exodus 21:6; Deuteronomy 15:17). So Messiah, volunteering to become God's servant by taking man's nature; "Mine ears hast Thou opened" (Psalm 40:6); Isaiah 1:5, "the Lord God hath opened Mine ear," i.e., hath made Me obediently attentive as a servant to his master. Hebrews 10:5-10 quotes it as Septuagint renders it: "a body hast Thou prepared Me," the strongest proof of willing obedience. The ear symbolizes obedience.