John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 24:7

"If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and he deal with him as a slave, or sell him; then that thief shall die: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee." — Deuteronomy 24:7 (ASV)

The same punishment is here deservedly proclaimed against man-stealers as against murderers. For the condition of slaves was so wretched that liberty was more than half of life. Therefore, to deprive a man of such a great blessing was almost to destroy him.

Besides, it is not only man-stealing that is condemned here, but also the accompanying evils of cruelty and fraud—that is, if the one who had stolen a man had also sold him. Now, such a sale could hardly be made among the people themselves without the crime being immediately detected. And nothing could be more hateful than for God’s children to be alienated from the Church and delivered over to heathen nations.