Hireling

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

In Scripture language, our nature is frequently spoken of as an hireling. "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?" ( Job 7:1) By the law, the Lord made a gracious provision for the hireling, commanding that his wages should not abide all night, until the morning. ( Leviticus 19:13) Under the gospel, the term of hireling is and also as a mark of worthlessness. Thus faithful servants of the Lord, in the ministry of his word and ordinances, are described as labourers sent into the vineyard by the Almighty Householder, and who, after the labour of the day, are called home to receive their hire; beginning from the last to the first. So that solemnly engaged in Christ's service, and hired to the work, they are supposed to labour in the word and doctrine with a single eye to the Lord's glory. They are, as instruments in the Lord's hand to break up the fallow ground of the hearts of their people, and to water the garden of Jesus. ( Matthew 20:1-16) Whereas the mere hirelings, who enter the service of the Lord Jesus, not for love to the Lord, nor affection to his people, are represented as engaged only for filthy lucre's sake. These seek the fleece, not to serve the flock. They look for gain, every one to his own quarter; for so the prophet describes them. ( Isaiah 56:11) Our Lord, in his unequalled manner, hath strikingly defined their character. ( John 10:12-13)

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

Moses requires that the hireling should be paid as soon as his work is over: "The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night unto the morning,"  Leviticus 19:19 . A hireling's days or year is a kind of proverb, signifying a full year, without abating any thing of it: "His days are like the days of a hireling,"  Job 7:1; the days of man are like those of a hireling; as nothing is deducted from them, so nothing, likewise, is added to them. And again: "Till he shall accomplish as a hireling his day,"  Job 14:6; to the time of death, which he waits for as the hireling for the end of the day. The following passage from Morier's Travels in Persia, illustrates one of our Lord's parables: "The most conspicuous building in Hamadan is the Mesjid Jumah, a large mosque now falling into decay, and before it a maidan or square, which serves as a market place. Here we observed, every morning before the sun rose, that a numerous band of peasants were collected with spades in their hands, waiting, as they informed us, to be hired for the day to work in the surrounding fields. This custom, which I have never seen in any other part of Asia, forcibly struck me as a most happy illustration of our Saviour's parable of the labourers in the vineyard in Matthew 20; particularly when, passing by the same place late in the day, we still found others standing idle, and remembered his words, ‘Why stand ye here all the day idle?" as most applicable to their situation; for in putting the very same question to them, they answered us, ‘Because no man hath hired us.'"

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

HIRELING. —A hireling is one who works for wages, an employé. Originally synonymous with ‘hired servant,’ it did not necessarily imply venal motive. Ben Sira was acquainted with devoted hirelings: ‘Entreat not evil thy servant that worketh, nor a hireling that giveth thee his life’ ( Sirach 7:20). Hireling now denotes a wage-earner who manifests certain baser qualities of human nature. Christ’s use of the word in  John 10:12-13 to signify one who, because he cares more for his wages than for his work, proves unfaithful under trial, has determined its evolution into meaning an untrustworthy employé.

Calvin, who defines hirelings as ‘those who retain the pure doctrine, and who proclaim the truth, as Paul says, to serve a purpose rather than from pure zeal,’ discusses a question wont to Be debated in times of persecution, viz.—Has that man to be reckoned a hireling who for any reason shrinks from encountering the wolves? He agrees with Augustine that parties may flee ‘if the public advantage of the flock be thereby promoted’ (Calvin on John , vol. i. p. 403f., Edinburgh, 1847).

D. A. Mackinnon.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) One who is hired, or who serves for wages; esp., one whose motive and interest in serving another are wholly gainful; a mercenary.

(2): ( a.) Serving for hire or wages; venal; mercenary.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Job 7:1-2 Deuteronomy 24:14-15 Malachi 3:5 James 5:4 John 10:12-13

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Job 7:1 14:6 Mark 1:20 Leviticus 19:13 Matthew 20:1-14

King James Dictionary

HI'RELING, n. One who is hired, or who serves for wages.

1. A mercenary a prostitute.

HI'RELING, a. Serving for wages venal mercenary employed for money or other compensation.

A tedious crew

Of hireling mourners.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( שָׂכַיר , Sakir'; Μισθωτός ), a laborer who, is employed on hire for a limited time ( Job 12:1;  Job 14:6;  Mark 1:20). By the Mosaic law such a one was to be paid his wages as soon as his work was over ( Leviticus 19:13). The little interest which would be felt by such a temporary laborer, compared with that of the shepherd or permanent keeper of the flock, furnish a striking illustration in one of our Lord's discourses ( John 10:12-13). The working day in the East begins with the rising of the sun, and ends when it sets. The parable in  Matthew 20:1-14, is interesting, not only as showing what were the day's wages of a laborer at this period in Judaea, "a penny," i.e. the Roman Denarius, about fifteen cents of our money, but also as showing that the salvation of the Gentiles can in itself become no impediment to the Jews; and as eternal life is the free gift of God, he has a right to give it in whatever proportions, at whatever times, and on whatever conditions he pleases. (See Servant); (See Wages), etc.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hı̄r´ling ( שׂכיר , sākhı̄r ): Occurs only 6 times in the Old Testament, and uniformly means a laborer for a wage. In   Job 7:1 f there is reference to the hireling's anxiety for the close of the day. In   Isaiah 16:14 and   Isaiah 21:16 the length of the years of a hireling is referred to, probably because of the accuracy with which they were determined by the employer and the employee. Malachi (  Malachi 3:5 ) speaks of the oppression of the hireling in his wages, probably by the smallness of the wage or by in some way defrauding him of part of it.

In the New Testament the word "hireling" ( μισθωτός , misthōtós ) occurs only in   John 10:12 f, where his neglect of the sheep is contrasted unfavorably with the care and courage of the shepherd who owns the sheep, who leads them to pasture and lays down his life for their protection from danger and death.