“But hee that is an hireling and not the shepheard, whose owne the sheepe are not, seeth the woolfe coming, and leaueth the sheep, and fleeth: and the woolfe catcheth them, and scattereth the sheepe.”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
10:12 But the hireling - It is not the bare receiving hire, which denominates a man a hireling: (for the labourer is worthy of his hire; Jesus Christ himself being the Judge: yea, and the Lord hath ordained, that they who preach the Gospel, should live of the Gospel:) but the loving hire: the loving the hire more than the work: the working for the sake of the hire. He is a hireling, who would not work, were it not for the hire; to whom this is the great (if not only) motive of working. O God! If a man who works only for hire is such a wretch, a mere thief and a robber, what is he who continually takes the hire, and yet does not work at all? The wolf - signifies any enemy who, by force or fraud, attacks the Christian's faith, liberty, or life. So the wolf seizeth and scattereth the flock - He seizeth some, and scattereth the rest; the two ways of hurting the flock of Christ.
Joh 10:12 But he that is an hireling . . . leaveth the sheep, and fleeth. It is not the bare fact of a man receiving pay that makes him a hireling. "The laborer is worthy of his hire" (Lu 10:7). He is a hireling who would not work were it not for this hire, and who works where the hire is highest rather than were he can do the most good.