The Meaning of the Number Ten in the Bible—Part 1

The Purpose of Biblical Numbers

Numbers in the Bible are often symbolic, adding a deeper layer of understanding to the passages that use them. God's use of numbers in Scripture helps categorize and identify specific themes. The nice thing about numbers is that using them as literary cues provides a consistent, concrete, dependable way to keep God's original intent for His message intact. Changing language, word associations, and cultural shifts can sometimes get in the way of capturing the underlying thoughts the Scriptures are trying to communicate.

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. These ideas will culminate in marital metaphors that help us understand a significant aspect of relational reciprocity and obligation between God and His people, in which obeying God becomes an expression of loyalty. A fringe connection with governing powers, as seen predominantly in the book of Daniel, will also be explored.

The first part of this series will explore how the number ten categorizes themes of obedience to God's commands in the lives of Abraham and Noah.

Yod, the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, represents work and the things we do.

The Tenth Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet

The tenth and smallest letter of the Hebrew Aleph Bet is a "yod (יד)," and pictographically is a picture of a hand illustrating things we do. Psalm 119, being an alphabetic Psalm, begins its "yod"(יד) section with the following verse, which addresses doing God's commands.

Your hands (יד) have made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.

— Psalm 119:73

The letter "yod (יד)" is also known as the jot in the New Testament. Following the Beatitudes in the book of Matthew, Jesus spoke of the jot as His perfect fulfillment of God's law, in that He did not miss even the smallest of God's requirements.

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever, therefore, breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

— Matthew 5:17-20

The "yod (יד)" also expresses power and dominion. This is illustrated in the book of Daniel through powerful kings depicted as horns.

After this, I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, fearsome and terrifying and extraordinarily strong, with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns ... and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth speaking great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates ... As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will make low three kings. He will speak words against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One
— Daniel 7:7,20,24-25

Dominion is later granted to those who faithfully serve and obey God.

But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated, and destroyed forever. Then the reign, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’

— Daniel 7:26

Overview of Genesis poster by the Bible Project

Genesis in General

Ten things that contain ten are counted in the book of Genesis.

Abraham lived ten years in Canaan at the time of the Hagar incident
Abraham made a plea for ten righteous people before the destruction of Sodom
Eliezer took ten camels when he went to find Isaac a wife.
Eliezer gave Rebekah a gift of jewelry weighing ten shekels
Laban wants Rebekah to stay ten more days
Jacob's wages are changed ten times
Jacob's ten times wage change is noted a second time
Jacob sent ten bulls and ten male donkeys as gifts to appease Esau's anger.
Joseph's ten brothers are noted.
Joseph sends two sets of ten donkeys to bring his father, Jacob, to Egypt.

In the Beginning

The phrase "God Said" occurs ten times in the Genesis chapter one creation account (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29). In each instance of God's speaking, everything obeys and thereby cooperates in forming a habitable, life-sustaining environment. These first ten occurrences of God's commands contribute to the meaning of the number ten in Scripture, which concerns God's created order. There is life, order, and function when God's commands are obeyed.

There is disorder and decomposition when God's commands and order of things are disregarded. The book of Exodus records that Pharaoh did not listen to God's command to let His people go during the ten consequential tests. Each time Pharaoh rebelled, a destructive event occurred in a type of anti-creation. (Exodus 5-10)

According to the Arcadia Bird Website, the very first thing God calls forth in the creation account is an essential element in the functionality of all things that support life on the planet.

Light is responsible for all life, for the production of the air that we breathe, the cycles of our oceans, the magnetic fields around our planet, gravity, warmth, and our weather.

Noah and his sons were building the ark as God commanded, by James Tissot.
Brooklyn Museum

Noah Did All God Commanded

Noah was the tenth generation from Adam and was noted three times for obeying God's commands.

Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
— Genesis 6:22
There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
— Genesis 7:9
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in.
— Genesis 7:16

The writer of Hebrews observes that it was disobedience that precluded the flood, which returned the chaotic, disorderly waters to the earth.

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that He might bring you to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.
— I Peter 3:18-20

In doing all that God commanded, Noah was called righteous and spared from the deluge.

Then Yahweh said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this generation.
— Genesis 7:1

After the flood, Noah became the new Adam in the new post-flood habitable world.

Noah and his family began anew on the new earth after the flood. Depicted by Daniel Maclise (1806-1870)

Ten Sayings of The New Creation

After the flood subsided and dry land appeared as it did on day three of creation, Noah and his family disembarked from the ark to begin their new life on the newly cleansed earth. Much like the beginning narrative of creation, God uttered ten sayings before the completion of the earth's deconstruction and reconstruction.

The first and second words addressed God's disappointment that resulted from humanity choosing, as Adam did, to partake of forbidden things and corrupt the entire world with evil instead of obeying God. Instead of seeing good when He created the habitable world, He only saw corruption. Noah is noted in this case as someone who walked with God, meaning he lived according to His will and ways.

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
— Genesis 6:5-8
And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
— Genesis 6:13

In the third instance of God speaking, God commands Noah to enter the ark and notes his righteousness. The fulfillment of God's commands is connected with righteousness.

Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.
— Genesis 7:1

The fourth mention involves God commanding Noah to bring his family out of the ark.

Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.
— Genesis 8:15

The fifth mention records God's promise never to curse the ground nor destroy everything again with a flood.

Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
— Genesis 8:21

The sixth, "God said," occurs when God blessed Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply, just like He did with Adam in the creation account.

So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
— Genesis 9:1

The seventh through tenth Words that God spoke established His covenant with all living things on the new earth.

Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: "And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
— Genesis 9:8-11
And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
— Genesis 9:12-13
And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
— Genesis 9:17

Like Jesus, Isaac carries the instrument of wood on which he will be sacrificed. God honored Abraham's obedience and interrupted the deed depicted by Hugues Taraval.

Abraham's Ten Tests

Abraham, the tenth generation from Noah, was tested ten times, as noted in the following incidents.

1. God told Abraham to leave his land and family and go to a new land that God would show him. He passed this test except for bringing Lot with him.
— Genesis 12:1

2. Abraham is next tested by a famine. He fails this test by going down to Egypt for provisions, which God did not command him to do. This is where Abraham obtained Hagar, which led to far-reaching, chaotic consequences that still exist today
— Genesis 12:10

3. Pharaoh took Abraham's wife, Sarah, most likely to become part of his harem, while Abraham said nothing. God had to rescue her.
— Genesis 12:15

4. Abraham passed test number four in the battle of the four and five kings when he went to rescue Lot. Here, he meets the priest/king Melchizedek, a type of Christ. However, this could also be seen as a consequential problem in bringing Lot.
— Genesis 14:14

5. After ten years without childbearing, Abraham and Sarah failed the test of waiting, and Sarah's servant, Hagar, was used to fulfill God's promise in their own way.
— Genesis 15:3

6. God commanded Abraham to enter into a covenant with Him through circumcision. Abraham passed this test.
— Genesis 17:23-27

7. After Sodom and Gomorrah blew up, Abraham ran off to Philistine territory and sought refuge with the King of Gerar. Once again, God did not command Abraham to do this, and Sarah is placed in a compromising position. God had to rescue her, as he had to with Pharaoh. Abraham failed this test.
— Genesis 20:2

8. God told Abraham to honor Sarah's wishes to send Hagar away. He did so reluctantly. This is evidenced by the fact that he sent her with only a bottle of water and some bread, most likely hoping she would return as she did the last time.
— Genesis 21:12

9. Abraham also had to send Ishmael away, which was a reluctant decision. In verse eleven, it records that sending him away was grievous to him
— Genesis 21:11-12

10. The tenth test was the call to sacrifice Isaac, his only promised son. The opening verse of the chapter reads, "Now it happened after these things, that God tested Abraham ... "Abraham gets it right this time on all accounts.
— Genesis 22

Abraham, like Noah, was also noted for obeying God's commands.

For I (Yahweh) have known him (Abraham), so that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of Yahweh to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”

— Genesis 18:19

The background to the above verse concerns Yahweh's decision to reveal to Abraham the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. At this time, Abraham interceded for Lot, who resided there, by asking Yahweh whether, if there were a certain number of righteous in the city, He would spare it. He begins with fifty and ends with ten. God destroying the cities indicated that there were fewer than 10 righteous people.

Although Abraham didn't pass all ten tests, his willingness to sacrifice his only promised son on the tenth test was considered a sign of faith in the coming Savior and, by extension, a sign of righteousness. His final act was considered righteousness, as recorded five times in the New Testament. (Romans 4:3,9, Galatians 3:6, Hebrews 7:2, James 2:23)