Hired Worker
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Job 7:1)—a laborer engaged for a stated period, whether a day, a season, or a year. The law required wages to be paid promptly because the worker depended upon them (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14-15). Job compares the brevity and hardship of mortal life to the service of a hired laborer longing for evening and wages (Job 7:1-2; 14:6). In Jesus’ discourse on the good shepherd, the hired hand flees when the wolf comes because the sheep are not his own; Christ, by contrast, lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11-13). The contrast concerns fidelity and self-giving care, not a condemnation of paid labor.