Bondservants
In Roman times, the term bondservant or slave could refer to someone who voluntarily served others. The Hebrew word for “bondservant,” ‘ebed’, had a similar connotation. However, the Mosaic Law allowed an indentured servant to become a bondservant voluntarily: “If the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl….