Luke 16:7

Luke 16:7, in plain English

The next debtor owes a hundred measures of wheat. The manager says, 'Change yours to eighty.' A twenty-percent discount — another new friend made.

Why it's here

Each deal creates another person who will remember the manager's generosity and feel obligated to return the favor.

Who's speaking

The manager keeps the deals moving, building his network of future allies one debtor at a time.

Where it sits in the story

Deal number two is done. The manager is systematically converting his boss's money into a web of grateful friends.

The scholarly reading

The second debtor owes one hundred 'measures' (korous, Hebrew kor, approximately 10-12 bushels each) of wheat. The twenty-percent reduction is smaller but still represents a considerable sum given the volume.

Language and setting

The different reduction rates (50% for oil, 20% for wheat) may reflect the manager's varying commission structures or the relative values of the commodities.

Voice

The manager and second debtor execute the same scheme with a smaller but still significant discount.

Significance

The second debtor owes a hundred measures of wheat and gets the bill reduced to eighty — a smaller cut but still a meaningful gift.

5And he called in each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first.

6‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he answered.

7Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’

8The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.

9I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.

Read all of Luke 16 — A shrewd manager, a rich man in torment, and Lazarus at his gate. Jesus draws a straight line between how you handle money and where you end up.