Laws relating to hiring
Hired workers must be paid on time
Leviticus 19:13 See also Deuteronomy 24:14–15; James 5:4
You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.
Regular rates of pay must be established
Hired workers are to be treated with kindness
Leviticus 25:6, Leviticus 25:39–40, Leviticus 25:53
Hired foreigners were excluded from the Passover
Hired workers must be carefully chosen
Loss of a hired animal is covered by the price
Various kinds of hiring
A hired husband
A hired prophet
Deuteronomy 23:4 See also Nehemiah 6:12–13, Nehemiah 13:2; Jude 1:11
For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.
A hired priest
Hired soldiers
Judges 9:4; 2 Samuel 10:6; 2 Kings 7:6; 1 Chronicles 19:6–7; 2 Chronicles 25:6; Jeremiah 46:21 No hired mercenary army was ever approved by the LORD (see 2 Chronicles 25:7–10).
Other hirings
1 Samuel 2:5 hirings for food; 2 Chronicles 24:12 masons and carpenters; Ezra 4:5 counsellors; Isaiah 7:20 a razor, symbolising the judgment to be brought by the king of Assyria; Isaiah 23:17 prostitutes; Isaiah 46:6 goldsmiths; Mark 1:20 fishermen
Teachings illustrated by hired workers
The brevity and hardness of life
“Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand? Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages. So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed to me.
Christian workers
Matthew 20:1–15 This parable teaches that believers should not serve in a mercenary spirit but recognise that God's reward is based upon grace.
The severity of the world and the kindness of God
See also Luke 15:15–19
The difference between hired and good shepherds
John 10:11–13 See also 1 Peter 5:2
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.