10: The Importance of Numbers in the Bible

The number ten is the first double-digit number and one of the most important in everyday life. It is the base of the decimal numeral system that we use in modern society as well as the number of fingers we have – which are both great ways of helping us with our sums!  The metric system is based on multiples of ten, for example, 1 cm = 10 mm. 

What else do we know about the number ten? Ten is the sum of the first three prime numbers (2+3+5) as well as the first four positive integers (1+2+3+4). In Roman numerals, the letter X represents the number ten. Ten is the atomic number of neon.
 
A period of ten years is called a decade, decabeing a Greek prefix meaning ten. A shape with ten sides is called a decagon. A decapod is a crustacean with ten legs. A decathlon is an event in athletics combined of ten field and track events. 
 
So, what importance does the number ten have in the Bible? It is believed the number ten appears 242 times and, for some, is designated a perfect number representing law, responsibility and order. One of the most important instances of the number is the Ten Commandments mentioned in Exodus and Deuteronomy, which is why it is considered to denote the law. 
 
There is, of course, another significant list of ten in the Bible. In Exodus 7-12, God sent ten plagues on Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to let his people go:

• River of Blood(Exodus 7:17-18)
• Frogs (Exodus 8:1-4)
• Gnats (Exodus 8:16-17)
• Flies (Exodus 8:20-23)
• Plague on Livestock (Exodus 9:1-3)
• Boils (Exodus 9:8-9)
• Hail (Exodus 9:13-24)
• Locusts (Exodus 10:3-6)
• Darkness (Exodus 10:21-23)
• Death of Firstborn (Exodus 11:4-6)

 
Instances of the number ten being mentioned include:

• Deuteronomy 26:12 (NIV): When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.
• Matthew 25:1-4 (NIV): At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise.The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 
• Revelation 13:1 (NIV): The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.
• Revelation 17:12 (NIV): The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.
• Exodus 12:3 (NIV): Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lambfor his family, one for each household.
• Luke 17:11-12 (NIV): Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosymet him. 
• Luke 19:12-13 (NIV): He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’
• Luke 15:8 (NIV): “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?”

 
I have discovered a number of other facts about the Bible in relation to the number ten that I thought you may find interesting, for instance, in Genesis 1, the words “God said” are written ten times. 
 
Before the great flood recorded in Genesis 6-9, there were ten generations of man, beginning with Adam and ending with Noah. The ten patriarchs were Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah. Remarkably, the average age of these men was 857 years! 
 
There are many deaths recorded in the Bible but only ten of these deaths were caused by women. The female “murderesses” are as follows:

1. Jael, who drove a tent peg through the head of Sisera (Judges 4:21)
2. The woman who dropped a millstone on Abimelech’s head (Judges 9:52-53)
3. The woman who advised that Sheba’s head be cut off (2 Samuel 20:21-22)
4. The woman who lay on her infant child (1 Kings 3:19)
5. Jezebel ordered the deaths of many prophets of God (1 Kings 18:4)
6. Jezebel also orders Naboth stoned to death (1 Kings 21:9-10)
7. The starving woman who boiled and ate a child (2 Kings 6:24-29)
8. Athaliah, who destroyed the whole royal family after finding her son dead (2 Kings 11:1) 
9. Esther commanded that Haman’s tensons be impaled on poles (Esther 9:13-14)
10. The daughter of Herodias (Salome) requested the head of John the Baptist (Matthew 14:8) 

 
Those of you who have read the Bible carefully may have noticed that some passages refer to other books that are not part of the Bible. There are several non-canonical books that have been combined into the Biblical Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books; however, I have found at least ten that have been completely lost. They are as follows:

1. The Book of the Wars of the Laws (Numbers 21:14)
2. The Book of Jasher (Joshua 10:13)
3. The Book of the Acts of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41)
4. The Book of Nathan the Prophet (1 Chronicles 29:29)
5. The Book of Gad the Seer (1 Chronicles 29:29)
6. The Prophecy of Ahijah the Shiloite (2 Chronicles 9:29)
7. The Visions of Iddo the Seer (2 Chronicles 9:29)
8. The Book of Shemaiah the Prophet (2 Chronicles 12:15)
9. The Book of Jehu the Son of Hanani (2 Chronicles 20:34)
10. The Sayings of Hosai (2 Chronicles 33:19)