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Bible Dictionaries
Hireling
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or 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.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Hireling'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/h/hireling.html. 1906-1918.
