September 22, 2026

Business by the Book

Proverbs 13: 8  The ransom of a man’s life are his riches:

Every employer needs to understand the above statement. “Ransom” means “price of a life or bribe” (Strongs). Most often the word ransom is used in connection with a person being abducted. The ransom is the sum of money demanded to be paid for the safe return of the victim. This is a very narrow usage of the term. The Hebrew word has a very broad usage. It could mean a Henna plant, or an asphalt type of substance (often called pitch) that is used as a covering. Or, as in today’s verse it relates to a sum of money.

Let’s say that an individual agrees to work 40 hours a week for an organizati0n. That organization, or company, agrees to pay that person $1,000 per week in return for the 40 hours of labor. The weekly ransom of that employee’s time is $1,000. The ransom of that person’s 40 hours’ worth of life expended for that company is $1,000.

This brings Proverbs 1:19 into closer focus. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. This verse has nothing to do with ending a person’s life by killing them, but rather stealing the life of a person through greed. In Malachi the prophet lists some horrible sins the people of his day were engaged in, one of them was …those that oppress the hireling in his wages… (Malachi 3:5)

I was fortunate to work for an organization for nearly fifteen years that had the stated purpose of making its employees rich. The owners of that company, before it was purchased by a conglomerate, knew something. Paying better than other organizations brought to them the best of employees. Rewarding high performers with big incomes kept them so happy that they seldom left to work for competitors. And, because pay was based on performance, the more the employees made the more the business owners made.

It makes no sense to withhold the ransom of a person’s life for any reason. To fail to pay an employee, or to fail to pay them that which should be paid is never good policy. It is a short lived gain at best, and a horrible transgression against the Word of God at worst.

Dr. William Howe