Commento su Esodo 21:6

אל האלהים means to the court. He (the slave) should take counsel with his vendors (the court) because it was they who sold him to him (the master) (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 21:6:1).

THEN HIS MASTER SHALL BRING HIM UNTO ‘HA’ELOHIM’ — “to the court. The servant must take counsel with those who sold him.”⁵¹This section speaks here of one who was sold by the court for a theft which he had committed and was not able to pay for (further, 22:2). On refusing to go free at the end of his six years of service, the servant is to take counsel with his vendors [the court] “and they will advise him to go free, for when he is free he can serve G-d in more ways than he could as a servant etc.” (Zeh Yenachmeinu — commentary on the Mechilta). [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,’⁵²Further, 22:8. 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.⁵²Further, 22:8. And so did Moses say, for the judgment is G-d’s;⁵³Deuteronomy 1:17. so also did Jehoshaphat say, for ye judge not for man, but for the Eternal, and He is with you in giving judgment.⁵⁴II Chronicles, 19:6. Similarly Scripture says, G-d standeth in the congregation of G-d; in the midst of ‘elohim’ (the judges) He judgeth,⁵⁵Psalms 82:1. 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.⁵⁶Deuteronomy 19:17. And this is the purport of the verse, For I will not justify the wicked,⁵⁷Further, 23:7. according to the correct interpretation. In Eileh Shemoth Rabbah I have seen it said:⁵⁸Shemoth Rabbah 30:20. “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.⁵⁹Judges 2:18.

אל האלוהים, before a judge or judges