Wages
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Wages — Rate of (mention only in Matt. 20:2); to be punctually paid (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14, 15); judgements threatened against the withholding of (Jer. 22:13; Mal. 3:5; comp. James 5:4); paid in money (Matt. 20:1–14); to Jacob in kind (Gen. 29:15, 20; 30:28; 31:7, 8, 41).
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
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WAGES Payment received by a laborer in return for his work. Usually wages are calculated in terms of a medium of exchange, such as money, but they can be paid in any kind of goods or services. Jacob worked seven years in return for Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel (Gn 29:18–20), and then had to work another seven years when Laban did not honor his agreement. Later, Jacob’s wages were sheep and goats (30:31–32; 31:8). Nebuchadnezzar was given the country of Egypt as wages for his work in capturing the city of Tyre (Ez 29:18–20).
Usually wages were agreed upon by employer and employee (Gn 29:15–19; Mt 20:2), but sometimes the pay was at the discretion of the employer (Mt 20:4). A fair wage for honest work is a biblical principle (Lk 10:7; 1 Tm 5:18). The Lord established laws to cover this principle and judged those who violated it. Wages were to be paid promptly (Lv 19:13); the holding back of wages is condemned in the Scripture (Mal 3:5; Jas 5:1–6).
Wages were often a source of discontent and dispute between employer and employee. When soldiers came to John the Baptist to be baptized and asked about their future conduct, he urged them to be content with their wages (Lk 3:14). Jacob and Laban had disagreements about wages and twice Jacob complained, “You have changed my wages ten times” (Gn 31:7, 41).
The Bible also speaks of ill-gotten wages. The wages of a prostitute could not be brought into the house of the Lord (Dt 23:18), and people are warned against the error of Balaam, who corrupted Israel because he “loved the wages of unrighteousness” (2 Pt 2:15).
See also Money; Banker, Banking; Poor, The; Riches; Work.
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (1289). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
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WAGES.
1. Usually some form of Heb. śākār (Gen. 31:8; Ex. 2:9; Ezek. 29:18–19); elsewhere “hire,” “reward,” etc.
2. Heb. maskōret (Gen. 29:15; 31:41; Ruth 2:12).
3. Heb. pƒ˓ūllâ (Lev. 19:13; Ps. 109:20, “reward”).
4. Two Gk. words are thus rendered: misthos, John 4:36; elsewhere “reward,” or “hire”; opsōnion, Luke 3:14; 2 Cor. 11:8; Luke 6:23, “reward.”
Wages, according to the earliest uses of mankind, are a return for something of value, specifically for work performed. Thus labor is recognized as property, and wages as the price paid or obtained in exchange for such property. The earliest mention of wages is of a recompense not in money, but in kind. This was given to Jacob by Laban (Gen. 29:15, 20; 31:7–8, 41). Such payment was natural among a pastoral and changing population like that of the tent-dwellers of Syria. In Egypt money payments by way of wages were in use, but the terms cannot now be ascertained.
Among the Hebrews wages in general, whether of soldiers or laborers, are mentioned (Hag. 1:6; Ezek. 29:18–19; John 4:36). The rate of wages is only mentioned in the parable of the householder and vineyard (Matt. 20:2), where the laborer’s wages are given as one denarius per day (about sixteen cents), a rate that agrees with Tob. 5:14, where a drachma is mentioned as the rate per day, a sum that may be taken as fairly equivalent to the denarius and to the usual pay of a soldier in the latter days of the Roman republic. In earlier times it is probable that the rate was lower. But it is likely that laborers, and also soldiers, were supplied with provisions. The Mosaic law was strict in requiring daily payment of wages (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 15:14–15). The employer who refused to give his laborers sufficient provisions was censured (Job 24:9–11), and the iniquity of withholding wages was denounced (Jer. 22:13; Mal. 3:5; James 5:4). See Service.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
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WAGES. Basically the payment made for services rendered. The frequency of the term in the Bible is somewhat obscured in that the Heb. and Gk. terms are sometimes translated ‘reward’ or ‘hire’.
In OT society the hired labourer was not common. The family worked the farm. The family group included slaves and relatives whose wages would be in kind, e.g. those of Jacob as he worked for Laban. But a Levite received money as well as his keep for his service as family priest (Jdg. 17:10). And when Saul consulted Samuel, the seer, he first planned to pay the fee in kind, but finally resolved on a monetary fee (1 Sa. 9:7–8).
In primitive communities the employer had great power in fixing wages, and Jacob could complain that Laban had changed his wages ten times (Gn. 31:41). But the OT legislated to protect the wage-earner. Unscrupulous employers must not take advantage of his economic weakness. He must be given a fair wage, and paid promptly each day (Dt. 24:14–15).
Men working for wages meet us in the NT, both in actuality (Mk. 1:20) and in parable (Mt. 20:1–2; Lk. 15:17, 19; Jn. 10:13, etc.). The principle is laid down in the maxim, ‘the worker earns his pay’ (Lk. 10:7, neb). Paul makes use of this to lay bare the essential truth at the heart of the gospel. ‘To one who works,’ he says, ‘his wages (Gk. misthos) are not reckoned as a gift but as his due’ (Rom. 4:4). Then he goes on to point out that men are saved, not by working for a heavenly wage but by trusting ‘him who justifies the ungodly’ (Rom. 4:5). By contrast the lost receive an exact if grim wage, for ‘the wages of sin is death’ (Rom. 6:23; cf. 2 Pet. 2:13, 15).
There is a sense in which the preachers of the gospel receive wages from those to whom they preach (misthos is used in this connection in Lk. 10:7; 2 Cor. 11:8; 1 Tim. 5:18). Our Lord himself enjoined the principle that ‘those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel’ (1 Cor. 9:14; cf. D. L. Dungan, The Sayings of Jesus in the Churches of Paul, 1971, pp. 3–80). This must not be misinterpreted, however, for in both OT and NT those who teach for the sake of money are castigated (Mi. 3:11; Tit. 1:7; 1 Pet. 5:2).
There are many passages which speak of God as giving wages or reward for righteousness (e.g. Lk. 6:23, 35; 1 Cor. 3:14; 2 Jn. 8). The metaphor is striking, but Scripture makes it clear that we are not to think of any rewards that God may give as merited in any strict sense. They are the acts of grace of a beneficent God who delights to give his people all things richly to enjoy. The knowledge of these gratuitous rewards is given to us in order to strengthen our perseverance in the way of righteousness. d.b.k.
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) (1228). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
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wages, the compensation paid to a free laborer hired for a fixed period of time or for a specific service. It was apparently common to hire a laborer in ancient Israel for a day’s work, for the Torah requires payment of wages at the end of the day (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14; Job 14:6; cf. Matt. 20:1-2, 8). However, there are also references to yearly (Lev. 25:53; Isa. 21:16) and triennial hire (Deut. 15:18; Isa. 16:14; 1 QIsaa 21:16).
The Hebrew Bible contains scattered examples of wages paid to laborers: to Jacob when he worked as a shepherd for Laban (Gen. 29:15; 30:32-33; 31:8); to Moses’mother as a nurse, by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exod. 2:9); to Tamar for harlotry, by Judah (Gen. 38; cf. Deut. 23:18; Isa. 23:17; Ezek. 16:31; Hos. 9:1; Mic. 1:7); the levitical portion (Num. 18:31); the hiring of Balaam to curse Israel (Deut. 23:5; Neh. 13:2); the hiring of mercenaries (Judg. 9:4; 2 Sam. 10:6; Jer. 46:21; 2 Kings 7:6; 2 Chron. 24:6); the hiring of Shemaiah to prophesy falsely (Neh. 6:10-13); the hiring of counselors (Ezra 4:5); the hiring of a priest (Judg. 18:4); the hiring of a seer (1 Sam. 9:6-9); the hiring of skilled craftsmen (Isa. 46:6; 2 Chron. 24:12); and the wages to be paid to elders (1 Tim. 5:17-18; cf. Luke 10:7).
Specified fixed wages are not mentioned, although occasionally the Bible relates the price in a given situation (Gen. 30:32-33; 1 Sam. 9:8; 2 Chron. 25:6; Matt. 20:1). This indicates that the wage was agreed upon by the employer and employee. Nonetheless, it appears that hired workers were often either not paid or not paid sufficiently, resulting in a poor labor class who come under the concern of the Torah and Prophets (Deut. 24:14-15; Jer. 22:13; Mal. 3:5; cf. Gen. 31:7, 41; 1 Sam. 2:5; Job 7:2-3; James 5:4).
The term ‘wage’ is also used metaphorically in the religious sense as reward given by God for the ‘labor’ of loyalty, suffering, or right action (Gen. 15:1; Ezek. 29:18-19; Isa. 40:10; 61:8; 62:11; 1 Cor. 3:8; of children, Gen. 30:18; Jer. 31:16; Ps. 127:3) or as the just recompense of sin (Rom. 6:23). See also Slavery. J.U.
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (1116). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
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Wages
Any form of economic compensation received in exchange for labor or the performance of a service. Such compensation might include shelter and provisions along with additional remuneration either in kind or some object of value. Thus, Jacob was to receive a portion of Laban’s flocks in exchange for his shepherding services (Gen. 30:31–33). The use of money, in the form of coinage, did not emerge in the Palestinian economy before the Persian period, and even then was not widespread until the Hellenistic period. Prior to that time wages might be received in weighed amounts of useful or precious metals, such as bronze or silver.
The emergence of wage laborers within an economy requires sufficient agricultural progress to free people from the necessity of directly meeting their own subsistence needs. However, a considerable portion of the wage labor population in biblical times continued to work in the agricultural sector, providing such services as farm labor (Matt. 20:1–6; Luke 15:17) and shepherding (John 10:12). Other wage earners include fishing crews (Mark 1:20), mercenary soldiers (2 Sam. 10:6; Luke 3:14), construction craftsmen (2 Chr. 24:12), priests (Judg. 18:4; Mic. 3:11), prophets and seers (Deut. 23:4 [MT 5]; 1 Sam. 9:6–9), wet nurses (Exod. 2:9), and prostitutes (Gen. 38:16–17; Mic. 1:7).
The level of compensation a wage earner received was a matter of negotiation, and was often subject to manipulation by either party to the agreement (Gen. 30:31–43; 31:41; Matt. 20:1–16). A typical wage for a day laborer in Palestine during the 1st century c.e. is generally taken to be about one denarius (Matt. 20:2; cf. Rev. 6:6 where the severity of the famine is illustrated by the exorbitant prices). Since such laborers were dependent upon their wages for their subsistence, the Mosaic law stipulated that laborers were to receive their wages daily (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14–15). The prophets denounced those who paid an insufficient wage or failed to pay their workers in a timely matter — some withholding the wages altogether (Jer. 22:13; Mal. 3:5; cf. Jas. 5:4).
The Hebrew (kāḵār, pĕ˓qllâ) and Greek (misthós) words for “wages” are often used metaphorically to refer to both God’s positive and negative responses to human conduct, and so translated into English in certain contexts as either “reward” or “recompense” respectively (e.g., Isa. 40:10). God is said to provide wages for those who perform some work on God’s behalf (judgment, Ezek. 29:18–19; spreading the gospel, 1 Cor. 3:8–9), and children are sometimes seen as the currency of God’s reward (Gen. 30:18; Ps. 127:3; Jer. 31:15–16). The image of wages as divine judgment is perhaps most clearly seen in Paul’s assertion that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The language of “wages” or “reward of unrighteousness” is also used in the NT somewhat more literally of material gain from sinful conduct (Acts 1:18; Titus 1:11; 2 Pet. 2:3).
Timothy B. Cargal
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (1363). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
