The Meaning of the Number Ten in the Bible—Part 5

Introduction and Review

The number ten in the Bible refers to themes centered on God's commands and humans' responsibility to obey and honor them. It also links with the concept of testing in terms of obedience to God's expressed will and ways. When the number ten appears in Scripture, we will most often find the words command, test, or both very near in the story.

The fourth part of this series examined how the number ten and its themes of responsibility and testing are used in narratives about Gideon, King David, King Asa, King Hezekiah, Job, and Proverbs.

This fifth installment will cover these same themes in the Biblical books of Daniel, Esther, and Nehemiah.

All parts of this series are linked at the end of each article.

Daniel and his friends refuse the king's food and are allowed to be tested for ten days.
Otto Adolph Stemler (1872-1953)

Daniel's Ten-Day Test

Daniel and his three friends were selected to serve in the king's palace during the Babylonian captivity. One of the requirements was to eat a daily ration of the king's food. Daniel and his friends declined. Their overseer was disturbed that this might cost him his life if these young men proved unfit for their training tasks. Daniel asked the overseer to test them for 10 days, while they ate their own food. The narrative includes three mentions of the number ten.

(Daniel speaking) "Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be observed before you and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king's choice food, and deal with your servants according to what you see."

So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days, it was seen that their appearance was better and that they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food. So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables ... Then, at the end of the days the king had spoken of for bringing them in, the commander of the officials brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so they stood in service before the king. And as for every matter of wisdom in understanding which the king sought from them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his kingdom.

— Daniel 1:12-16, 18-20

The Ten Sons of Haman in the Book of Esther

In the book of Esther, chapter nine, the ten sons of Haman are noted four times, along with three mentions of the word law. The book of Esther contains no mention of God but does center heavily on "the king's word or law" as a type of God's Word and Law. At this point in the story, God is bringing order out of the chaotic threat to destroy God's people, and part of that restoration includes the annihilation of Haman's ten sons. (Esther 9) The above video offers a fascinating look at a modern history event related to this scene in Esther.

Nehemiah oversaw the restoration of the Temple after the Babylonian captivity. The people were challenged ten times.

A Test in the Book of Nehemiah

When the children of Israel returned from the Babylonian captivity to begin rebuilding the Temple, they were crumbling under the pressure of being tested by their enemies, who threatened to stop the repairs. They claim to have been threatened ten times.

Our adversaries said, "They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them, and put a stop to the work." Now it happened when the Jews who lived near them came and said to us ten times, “They will come up against us from every place where you may turn," that I had men stand in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I had the people stand by families with their swords, spears, and bows. Then I saw their fear. And I arose and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people: "Do not fear them; remember the Lord who is great and fearsome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses."

— Nehemiah 4:11-14

The link to God's command is found in the first chapter of Nehemiah, where Nehemiah grieves in prayer to the Lord over the Temple ruins resulting from their disobedience to God's commands.

They said to me, "The remnant there in the province who remain from the captivity are in great calamity and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire."

Now it happened that when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, “I beseech You, O Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and fearsome God, who keeps the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You today, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. We have worked in utter destruction against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember the word which You commanded Your servant, Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been banished were at the ends of the sky, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.'
— Nehemiah 1:3-9

Just as we saw that creation obeyed God's ten commands, resulting in order and function, disobeying, in the case of Israel, resulted in chaos and scattering. The ten times challenge in Nehemiah chapter four signals that God is calling for faithfulness to Him despite the difficulties in continuing the repair. Nehemiah encourages them to continue the rebuilding by remembering God, unlike Adam, who forgot God and was unfaithful.

Now it happened that when our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had thwarted their counsel, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work ... So we kept doing the work
— Nehemiah 4:15, 21