choosing freedom over security

1) My wife writes on her blog that the eved ivri in choosing to stay enslaved was opting for the security of his master's home, where he, his wife, and children were guaranteed a roof over their heads and support, over the risk of going out and making his way in the world.  I would add that an eved ivri is someone who has either opted to sell himself into slavery because he is in desperate straits or someone who is a thief and has no assets to pay back what he has stolen -- in other words, someone who has not seen much success in making his way in the world in the past.  Nonetheless, the parsha teaches us that freedom trumps security.  The slave is wrong to remain in his master's house even if it appears to be the safer option.

2) There are seforim that talk about the lessons that we can learn in our avodas Hashem from the dinim in the parsha, but if you are like me, your knee jerk reaction is to read these as derush, as mystical concepts, as domains totally divorced from halacha.   So let's learn a Ketzos.  In Choshen Mishpat siman 4 the S.A. talks about the concept of "avid inish dina l'nafshei," cases where a plaintiff can take the law into his own hands rather than go through the laborious process of having a din torah and waiting for the court to act.  The S.A. has the following case: Reuvain gave Shimon a pikadon to watch.  Reuvain also happens to owe Shimon some money and has not been forthcoming in paying his debt.  Can Shimon take the law into his own hands and seize Reuvain's pikadon in order to reclaim his debt?

The Ketzos says nothing doing.  His proof comes from a Zohar.  Every night we entrust our soul to Hashem and every morning (hopefully) he returns it.  Modeh ani... she'hechezarta bi nishmasi, Hashem returns our pikadon.  Who among us does not have a pile of debts that they owe Hashem?  Who among us does not have aveiros of all kinds that we need to make restitution for?  Yet Hashem does not hold our neshoma upstairs in order to collect.  He treats the debts as a separate cheshbon, and returns the pikadon, our neshoma, to us.  

This is not some chassidishe sefer -- this is the Ketzos!  Yes, at the end he tacks on a Ritva as well, but that was not his first go-to point.