Wages

The word rendered in the English Version by this term, signifies primarily ’to purchase,’ to obtain by some consideration on the part of the purchaser; thence to obtain on the part of the seller some consideration for something given or done, and hence to hire, to pay, or receive wages. Wages, then, according to the earliest usages of mankind, are a return made by a purchaser for something of value—specifically for work performed. And thus labor is recognized as property, and wages as the price paid or obtained in exchange for such property. In this relation there is obviously nothing improper or humiliating on the side either of the buyer or the seller. They have each a certain thing which the other wants, and in the exchange which they in consequence make, both parties are alike served. In these few words lies the theory and also the justification of all service. The entire commerce of life is barter. In hire, then, there is nothing improper or discreditable. It is only a hireling, that is, a mercenary, a mean sordid spirit, that is wrong. So long as a human being has anything to give which another human being wants, so long has he something of value in the great market, of life; and whatever that something may be, provided it does not contribute to evil passions or evil deeds, he is a truly respectable capitalist, and a useful member of the social community. The Scriptural usage in applying the term translated ’wages’ to sacred subjects—thus the Almighty himself says to Abraham (Gen 15:1), ’I am thy exceeding great reward’—tends to confirm these views, and to suggest the observance of caution in the employment of the words ’hire’ and ’hireling,’ which have acquired an offensive meaning by no means originally inherent in themselves, or in the Hebrew words for which they stand (Gen 30:18; Gen 30:32-33).

The law and the gospel both require the full and prompt payment of a just equivalent for all services rendered according to agreement, Lev 19:13 Jer 22:13 Jas 5:4 . Eternal death is the wages or just recompense of sin; while eternal life is not a recompense earned by obedience, but a sovereign gift of God, 1Ch 6:22-23 .\par

Wages. The earliest mention of wages is of a recompense, not in money, but in kind, to Jacob from Laban. Gen 29:15; Gen 29:20; Gen 30:28; Gen 31:7-8; Gen 31:41. In Egypt, money payments by way of wages were in use, but the terms cannot now be ascertained. Exo 2:9.

The only mention of the rate of wages in Scripture is found in the parable of the householder and the vineyard, Mat 20:2, where the laborer’s wages was set at one denarius per day, probably 15 to 17 cents, a sum which may be fairly taken as equivalent to the denarius, and to the usual pay of a soldier, (ten asses per diem), in the later days of the Roman republic. Tac. Ann. i. 17; Polyb. Vi. 39.

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 law was very strict in requiring daily payment of wages. Lev 19:13; Lev 24:14-15. The employer who refused to give his laborers sufficient victuals is censured Job 22:11 and the iniquity of withholding wages is denounced. Jer 22:13; Mal 3:5; Jas 6:4.

Paid by Laban to Jacob in kind (Gen 29:15; Gen 29:20; Gen 30:28; Gen 31:7-8; Gen 31:41; "I served 14 years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle".) The labourer’s daily wages (misthos) in Matthew 20 are set at one denarius ("penny") a day, 7 3/4 d. of our money; compare Tob 5:14, "a drachm." The term opsoonia for "wages" (Luk 3:14) and Paul’s words, 2Co 11:8 (opsoonion), "charges," 1Co 9:7, imply that provisions were part of a soldier’s wages. They should be paid every night (Lev 19:13; Deu 24:14-15; compare Job 24:11; Jas 5:4; Jer 22:13; Mal 3:5); spiritually, Joh 4:36; Rom 6:28.

WAGES.—1. ὀψώνιον is the technical term for a soldier’s pay, and occurs only in Luk 3:14. ‘From a root πεπ we get ἕψω, ὄψον, “cooked” meat, fish, etc., as contrasted with bread. Hence the compound ὀψώνιον (ὠνέομαι, “to buy”) = (1) provision money, ration money, or the rations in kind given to troops. (2) In a more general sense, “wages” ’ (Sanday-Headlam on Rom 6:23). In the time of Julius Caesar, a foot soldier received ⅔ of a denarius a day. This was increased by Augustus. John the Baptist bids the soldiers (probably those engaged in police duty connected with the customs) abstain from adding to their wages by extortion through violence, threats, or false accusations.

2. μισθὁς is the ordinary term for wages, and is translated indifferently throughout the Gospels as ‘wages,’ ‘reward,’ ‘hire.’ The labourers in the parable hire themselves for a denarius a day (Mat 20:8). That was a fairly generous rate for such work (cf. Tob 5:14). The denarius was equivalent in money value to 9½d., and in purchasing value to about 2s. (see artt. ‘Money,’ § 8, and [in Ext. Vol.] ‘Wages’ in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible ).

The analogy of service and wages is freely used by Jesus in His teaching; but it is not so much the receipt of wages that rules the thought as the quarter whence they come. The labourer is always worthy of his hire, but what that will be depends upon whether he is serving the world or God. The Pharisee is really the world’s hireling, and receives his wages from it, viz. honour, consideration, power, wealth, and not from God, whom nominally he serves (Mat 6:2; Mat 6:5; Mat 6:18). But those persecuted for righteousness’ sake (Mat 5:11), those whose religious obedience is unobtrusive and self-forgetting (Mat 6:4; Mat 6:6; Mat 6:18), those who help any of God’s servants and do them a kindness for His sake (Mat 10:41-42, Mar 9:41), those who go beyond the world’s self-regarding way, and love their enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again (Luk 6:35, Mat 5:45-46), are servants of the unseen Father. Their wages are not counted out to them in the world’s coin; they receive the Father’s open acknowledgment and gather fruit unto life eternal (Mat 6:4; Mat 6:6; Mat 6:18, Joh 4:36).

Jesus’ remark that the labourer is worthy of his hire, or of his meat (Luk 10:7, cf. Mat 10:10), probably a quotation of a common proverb, is of a different order. It is an encouragement to His disciples to accept hospitality, in their missionary journeys, from those to whom they have ministered in spiritual enlightenment.

Literature.—The vols. on the Parables, esp. Bruce, Parabolic Teaching, 178; Phillips Brooks, New Starts in Life, p. 1; Griffith Jones, The Economics of Jesus (1905); Expos, i. iii. (1876) 81, 427; ExpT [Note: xpT Expository Times.] v. (1894) 549.

Richard Glaister.

See MASTER AND SERVANT:

WAGES.—Under the conditions of life in Palestine in OT times, work on the land, at all times the chief occupation, was done for the most part by the peasant and his family, assisted, in the case of the well-to-do, by a few slaves. The ‘hired servants’ were never numerous, and mainly aliens. We have no information as to the wages of such field-labourers. Deu 15:18 seems to say that a hireling cost the farmer twice as much as a slave, and since the latter received only his keep and his few clothes, it follows that the former will have earned the equivalent thereof, over and above, in wages. The first definite engagement—disregarding the special case of Jacob and Laban—with stipulated wages is that of the Levite whom Micah hired as his domestic chaplain for 10 shekels a year, with ‘a suit of apparel’ and his ‘victuals’ (Jdg 17:10). The next instance is Tobit’s engagement of the angel Raphael as his son’s travelling-companion for a drachm a day and all found (Tob 5:14). This amount—in Tobit’s day nearly a shilling—would probably be equal in purchasing power to three shillings at the present day. From the NT we have the familiar case of the labourers in the vineyard who received a denarius for their day’s labour (Mat 20:1 ff.; see Money, §§ 6, 7 (b)).

Information is now available as to the wages of different classes of ‘hirelings,’ from doctors to tailors, in Babylonia c [Note: circa, about.] . b.c. 2000, from the Code of Hammurabi (see Hastings’ DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] , Ext. Vol. 592 f., 606 f.; S. A. Cook, The Laws of Moses and the Code of Hammurabi, 171 ff.), but it is perilous to compare too closely the highly developed social conditions of Babylonia, even at this early period, with the simpler forms of Hebrew life, say under the monarchy. A still better reflexion of the actual conditions of labour in the valley of the Euphrates is found in the numerous written contracts that have been deciphered in recent years, a specimen of which will be given below (see esp. Johns, Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] and Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] Laws, ch. xxv. ‘Wages of Hired Labourers’; Meissner, Aus d. altbab. Recht, 13 f.). The Code of Hammurabi (§ 273) enacts that a field labourer shall receive from the beginning of the year (April) to the fifth month—the period of longer days and harvest operations—6 she (180 she = 1 shekel) per day; and from the sixth month to the end, 5 she. At best this is only a shekel a month; but, according to Meissner, this early introduction of a ‘standard wage’ did not lead to a rise of wages, for only on very rare occasions do these exceed 6 shekels a year in addition to food and clothing. It was customary to give a sum, probably a shekel, as earnest-money, the remainder being paid at stipulated intervals, daily or monthly, or in a lump sum at the expiry of the engagement.

Brickmakers and tailors are to receive 5 she a day (§ 274), and herdsmen—the name nâqîd is the Babylonian form of that denoting the occupation of Amos, the prophet—8 gur of corn a year, the gur being worth probably about a shekel. In other cases as well, it was customary to pay in grain, Frequently, as has been said, a written contract was drawn up, specifying the wages and the period of engagement. An example may be given from Meissner (op. cit. 14):—

‘Asir-Ramman, the son of Libit Urra, has hired Shamash-bel-ili from the priestess of the sun, Achatani, the daughter of Shamash-khazir, for one year. He will pay 3¹/2 shekels as yearly wages. He will find his own clothes. He will begin work on the 4th of the month Dur-Ramman, and will finish and leave in the month Mamitu.’

In OT times we hear also of yearly engagements (Lev 25:53), but the Deuteronomic Law enjoins daily payment of wages, in cases of poverty at least (Deu 24:15, cf. Lev 19:13). Details of the conditions of hire and the mutual obligations of master and servant at a much later period are to be found in the Mishna (see esp. Baba mezîa, vi. and vii.).

A. R. S. Kennedy.

wā´jez, wā´jiz (חנּם, ḥinnām, משׂכּרת, maskōreth, פּעלּה, p^e‛ullāh, שׂכר, sākhar, שׂכר, sākhār; μισθός, misthós, ὀψώνιον, opsṓnion): (1) Ḥinnām means “gratis,” without cost or any advantage, for nought, or in vain; wages in the sense of reasonable return. Jeremiah pronounces woe upon him who “useth his neighbor’s service without wages, and giveth him not his hire” (Jer 22:13; the only place where the word is used). (2) Maskōreth means “reward” or “wages.” Laban said to Jacob: “Shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? Tell me, what shall thy wages be?” (Gen 29:15). Jacob said, concerning Laban, speaking to Rachel and Leah: “Your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times” (Gen 31:7; compare Gen 31:41). (3) P^e‛ullāh generally means “work,” “labor,” “reward,” “wages.” The old Levitical Law was insistent on honesty in wages and on promptness in payments: “The wages of a hired servant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning” (Lev 19:13). (4) Mistakkēr means “earning,” “hire,” “reward,” “wages,” from root sākhar, meaning “to hire,” and has in it the idea of temporary purchase: “He that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes” (Hag 1:6). (5) Sākhār means “payment of contract,” in the material way of salary, maintenance, fare, and so compensation, reward, price, benefit, wages - seemingly wages received after an understanding as to time, manner and amount of payment. Laban (employer) said to Jacob (employee): “Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it” (Gen 30:28); “If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages” (Gen 31:8); Pharaoh’s daughter said to Moses’ mother: “Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages” (Exo 2:9); Nebuchadrezzar and his army served against Tyre, “yet had he no wages, nor his army” (Eze 29:18), and the prey of Egypt “shall be the wages for his army” (Eze 29:19); swift and sure judgment is predicted against “those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless” (Mal 3:5). (6) Misthos means either in a literal or figurative sense “pay for service,” either primitive or beneficial, and so reward, hire, wages. In Joh 4:36 Jesus said, “He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal.” 2Pe 2:15 has changed “wages” (the King James Version) to “hire,” reading “who loved the hire of wrongdoing.” (7) Opsōnion, meaning primarily “rations for soldiers” (opson being the word for cooked meat) and so “pay” or stipend, provision wages. In Luk 3:14 John said to the soldiers, “Be content with your wages”; “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23); Paul said: “I robbed other churches, taking wages of them” (2Co 11:8); the same word in 1Co 9:7 is translated “charges.”

The Bible refers to wages actual and wages figurative. Of actual wages there are three kinds: (1) money wages, (2) provision (usually food) wages, and (3) what may be called “exchange” wages, wages in kind, sometimes “human-kind,” e.g. Jacob’s wages from Laban. Often laborers and soldiers received both money and “keep” wages. The laborer in New Testament times received about 15 cents per day (the “shilling” of Mat 20:2), besides in some cases his provisions. The old Law required daily payment, honesty in dealing, also sufficient food for the laborer.

It is practically impossible to test “Bible” wages by any of theories of modern economists. In this connection, however, mere mention of the six principal theories may be of interest. Concisely put, they are: (1) the wage-fund theory, (2) the standard-of-living theory, (3) the German-socialistic theory, (4) the production theory, (5) Henry George’s theory, and (6) the laborer’s value theory. The incidents in the Old Testament of Jacob and in the New Testament of Mt 20 both show that the laborer was at the caprice of the employer. Therefore, we may designate the Bible law of wages as the “employer’s theory.”

Hag 1:6 (a) This is a reference to the results obtained from labor which in this case are not permanent. The wages are lost instead of saved because they are not invested for the glory of GOD.

Joh 4:36 (b) It refers to the eternal rewards which will be given to those who work for the Lord in His service. The reward of the wicked is found in Rom 6:23.

2Pe 2:15 (b) Here we see the results of living a wicked life. It describes the satisfaction that is received by the sinner from yielding to evil desires. (See Rom 6:23).