managers to oversee their estates; these managers, or stewards, could be slaves or, as here (16:3–4), free persons. Squandering another’s possessions was considered a particularly despicable crime (cf. 15:13). 16:2–4. Although the master has dismissed this manager, the master gives him some time to get the accounts together before he leaves. The manager uses this time to procure favor for himself with others to whose houses he may join himself afterward; ancients were very conscious of favors they