John Calvin Commentary Exodus 21:1

"Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them." — Exodus 21:1 (ASV)

Now these are the judgments. Both passages contain the same regulation, namely, that for Hebrews, slavery must end in the seventh year. For God wanted the children of Abraham, even if forced to sell themselves, to be treated differently from Gentile and ordinary slaves. Their liberation is, therefore, commanded, but with an exception that Moses expresses in the first passage but omits in the latter: that is, if the slave had married a slave woman and had children, they were to remain with the master, and the slave alone would go free.

From this, it is clear how harsh the condition of slaves was, since it could not be eased without such an unnatural exception (sine prodigio); for nothing could be more contrary to nature than for a husband to forsake his wife and children and go elsewhere. The bond of slavery could only be broken by divorce—that is, by this ungodly violation of marriage. There was, then, extreme cruelty in this separation, by which a man was torn from his wife and his own children.

Yet there was no remedy for this situation. If the wife and children had been set free with him, it would have been a robbing of their lawful master, not only because the woman was his slave, but also because he had incurred expenses in raising the young children. The sanctity of marriage, therefore, yielded in this case to private property rights. This flaw is to be counted among others that God tolerated because of the people’s hardness of heart, as it was very difficult to remedy. However, if anyone, constrained by pure love, was unwilling to abandon his wife and children, an alternative was offered: namely, that he should also surrender himself to perpetual slavery.

The procedure for this is more clearly described in Exodus than in Deuteronomy. In the latter, it only says that the master, to establish his permanent right to the slave, should pierce his ear. In Exodus, however, the detail is added that a public legal process should first occur; for if every private individual had been their own judge in this matter, the houses of rich men would have become like slaughterhouses where they could torture their miserable slaves.¹⁴⁸

We read in Jeremiah 34:11 that this law was treated with contempt, and that the Jews, contrary to all law and justice, retained permanent dominion over their slaves. Indeed, when they were severely reprimanded under King Zedekiah and liberty was proclaimed anew, the miserable men were immediately dragged back under their tyrannical yoke, as if they had been set free in mockery.

Therefore, care had to be taken to prevent them from compelling unwilling slaves to continue in servitude through secret tortures. The safeguard against this evil was an open declaration of the slave's desire before the judges, while the piercing of the ear served as a kind of mark of shame on them.

For Eastern peoples were accustomed to brand slaves, fugitives, criminals, or those who were suspected in any way. Although God did not choose to have this mark of disgrace imprinted on the foreheads of His people, yet if anyone voluntarily consented to endure perpetual slavery, God willed that he should bear this sign of his servitude on his ear.

Still, we must remember that even this slavery, although said to last “forever,” was brought to an end at the Jubilee, because then the condition of the land and people was completely renewed.

¹⁴⁸ “Pour tormenter, et gehener les poures serfs.” — les poures serfs.” — Fr..