What Does The Number Ten (10) Mean or Represent in the Bible?

OCTOBER 4, 2014 BY JACK WELLMAN

10 COMMENTS

Is there meaning to the number 10 in the Bible? If so, what does this number mean or represent?

The 10 Commandments

God gave us the 10 Commandments that were a reflection of His expectations of mankind and as a way
to represent His holiness. The first four are vertical (towards God) and the last six are horizontal (human
relations). Couldn’t there have been more than 10 Commandments? Why not 15 or 20? The fact is that
the 10 Commandments, if kept, would be all that society would require to live in peace and harmony
with both God and mankind. The number 10 seems to reflect God’s authority or God’s governmental
rule over the affairs of mankind. This is seen elsewhere as in the 10 elders that were placed in most of
the city gates of Israel (Ruth 4:2) so the number 10 also seems to represents man’s responsibility of
obedience to God’s law. Such a number seems to indicate the law, responsibility and a completeness of
order in both divine and human structures of society. Some scholars see 10 as the number of divine
perfection.

The 10 Toes and Horns of Daniel and Revelation

As 10 represented God’s governmental rule, so does the number 10 represent the rule of mankind but
also the Evil One behind man’s government as we see in the 10 toes of Daniel 2 and in Revelation
chapter’s 13 and 17 of the beast with the 10 horns. Throughout the Bible horns are representative of
strength and great power. In Revelation 2:10 Jesus tells the church as Smyrna, “Do not be afraid of the
things you are about to suffer. Look! The Devil will keep on throwing some of you into prison that you
may be fully put to the test, and that you may have tribulation ten days.” The beast has 10 toes and 10
diadems (Rev 13:1) and the beast’s 10 horns represented 10 kings (Rev 17:12).

The 10 of Genesis

The phrase “God said” appears 10 times in the creation week of Genesis 1. I don’t believe in
coincidences so the fact that “God said” is mentioned 10 times may be His way of saying that there is
completeness in all of God’s creation and in all that God says. I find it interesting that humans, who
were created in the image of God (Gen 1:27), have 10 fingers and ten toes.

The 10 Plagues
When God punished Egypt for not letting Israel God, there were 10 plagues which are reflective of the
completeness of God’s judgment. These plagues were also related, by no accident, to the false God’s
that the Egyptians worshiped so the fact is not lost that God used Egypt’s own false gods against them to
prove that God is the One, True God and there is no other. This was intended to prove to both Egypt
and Israel who the real God was and that the other gods were, in actuality, no gods at all.

The Passover Lamb

The Passover lamb was to be sacrificed on the 10th day of the first month (Ex 12:3) which was symbolic
of the true Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ which John the Baptist noticed when He saw Christ and said
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29b). Since Jesus was the
atonement provided for sinners, the Day of Atonement was on the 10th day of the 7th month.

Ten Generations

There were exactly 10 generations that lived up to the flood of Noah’s day when the flood of God’s
judgment on sinful mankind overwhelmed all those who refused to repent. Noah was the 10th
patriarch and after this generation, God’s judgment fell on mankind because “The Lord saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his
heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and
animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah
found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen 6:5-8). Abraham, the father of the faithful, was the 10th
generation from Shem, the son of Noah (Gen 11:10-26).

Number 10 in the bible

The Tithe

The tithe which is 10% of what Israel gained was holy unto the Lord. This tithe was compulsory and was
said to belong to the Lord, therefore it was holy. Today, we are not under the Old Covenant, but many
still believe in tithing while some are not able to give that much but those who have been blessed are
able to give more than a 10th.

Jesus’ Use of 10

Jesus loved to use the number 10 in many of His sayings, particularly His parable:
There were 10 virgins (Matt 25:1-13).

There were 10 lepers (Luke 17:11-19).

There were 10 talents (Matt 25:14-30).

There were 10 minas (Luke 19:12-27).

There were exactly 10 “I AM’s” spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of John.

Conclusion

I hope that this helps give us a better understanding about what the number 10 often represents in the
Bible, however the most important thing that you should understand is that if you have never repented,
confessed your sins, and put your trust in Christ, you will face worse than the 10 plagues of Egypt. At
least they ended but for those who have never been born of God, they will have the endless wrath of
God abiding on them for all eternity (John 3:18, 36b) with all hope gone forever. I pray that is not your
case. If you haven’t yet been saved, today is your day (2 Cor 6:2) because tomorrow may be too late
(Rev 20:11-15).

Testament side of the year.

The tenth month is a month of new foundation. The four gospel accounts and Acts lay foundation for
the New Testament. It is a time to lay foundation for the remaining months of the year.

The tenth month is a season of good news. The gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are
the good news Jesus brought to the world. The tenth month is a month of experiencing the good news
of Jesus Christ

.The tenth month is for the fulfillment of prophecies and the delivery of promises. The life and ministry
of Jesus are a fulfillment of prophecy. Things happened in the life and ministry of Jesus to fulfill
prophecy. Expect a fulfillment of promises and prophecies in this month. Expect realization of dreams
and hopes.

The tenth month is a season for the release of God’s power for miracles, deliverance and salvation. In
the gospel accounts and the book of book of Acts, God released His power through Jesus Christ, the Holy
Spirit, and the apostles to intervene in the affairs of men. The tenth month is a season of signs and
wonders through the power of God. The disciples of Jesus preached and worked miracles in the tenth
chapters of Matthew and Luke.

The tenth month is the season of the Holy Spirit. In First Samuel 10, the Spirit came upon Saul. In Acts
10, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and his household. This is the month of answers to prayers. God
answers prayers all the time but this month is special. This month, pray as Joshua did in Joshua 10, as
Daniel did in Daniel 10 and as Cornelius did in Acts 10.

The tenth month is a season of grace and mercy. Jesus came to reveal and magnify the grace and mercy
of God. He didn’t come to judge, condemn or destroy sinners but to save them. Expect a multiplication
of grace and mercy in this tenth month.

D. Bible passages that mention ‘the tenth month

From the passages where the tenth is mentioned, the Bible reveals five things:

1. It is the month of visibility and hope. The beginning of dreams becoming reality.

2. It is the month of resolving problems

3. It is the month of favor and realization of dreams.

4. It is the month of warfare

5. It is the month of opening the mouth for proclamations

1. THE MONTH OF VISIBILITY AND HOPE.

Genesis 8:5: And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the
first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

2. THE MONTH OF RESOLVING PROBLEMS

Ezra 10:16: Then the 2. THE MONTH OF RESOLVING PROBLEMS

Ezra 10:16: Then the descendants of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain heads of the
fathers’ households, were set apart by the fathers’ households, each of them by name; and they sat
down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

3. THE MONTH OF FAVOR AND REALIZATION OF DREAMS

Esther 2:16-18: So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which
is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. [17] The king loved Esther more than all the
other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal
crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. [18] Then the king made a great feast, the
Feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave
gifts according to the generosity of a king.

4. THE MONTH OF WARFARE

Jeremiah 39:1: In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.

Jeremiah 52:4: Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day
of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and
encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around.
Ezekiel 24:1-14: Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of
the LORD came to me, saying, [2] “Son of man, write down the name of the day, this very day-the king of
Babylon started his siege against Jerusalem this very day. [3] And utter a parable to the rebellious house,
and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Put on a pot, set it on, And also pour water into it. [4] Gather
pieces of meat in it, Every good piece, The thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with choice cuts; [5] Take the
choice of the flock. Also pile fuel bones under it, Make it boil well, And let the cuts simmer in it.” [6]
‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Woe to the bloody city, To the pot whose scum is in it, And whose
scum is not gone from it! Bring it out piece by piece, On which no lot has fallen. [7] For her blood is in
her midst; She set it on top of a rock; She did not pour it on the ground, To cover it with dust. [8] That it
may raise up fury and take vengeance, I have set her blood on top of a rock, That it may not be
covered.” [9] ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Woe to the bloody city! I too will make the pyre great.
[10] Heap on the wood, Kindle the fire; Cook the meat well, Mix in the spices, And let the cuts be burned
up. [11] “Then set the pot empty on the coals, That it may become hot and its bronze may burn, That its
filthiness may be melted in it, That its scum may be consumed. [12] She has grown weary with lies, And
her great scum has not gone from her. Let her scum be in the fire! [13] In your filthiness is lewdness.
Because I have cleansed you, and you were not cleansed, You will not be cleansed of your filthiness
anymore, Till I have caused My fury to rest upon you. [14] I, the LORD, have spoken it; It shall come to
pass, and I will do it; I will not hold back, Nor will I spare, Nor will I relent; According to your ways And
according to your deeds They will judge you,” Says the Lord GOD.'”

Ezekiel 29:1-7: In the tenth year Ezekiel 29:1-7: In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day
of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, [2] “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh
king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt. [3] Speak, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord
GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies in the midst of his
rivers, Who has said, ‘My River is my own; I have made it for myself.’ [4] But I will put hooks in your
jaws, And cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales; I will bring you up out of the midst of your
rivers, And all the fish in your rivers will stick to your scales. [5] I will leave you in the wilderness, You
and all the fish of your rivers; You shall fall on the open field; You shall not be picked up or gathered. I
have given you as food To the beasts of the field And to the birds of the heavens. [6] “Then all the
inhabitants of Egypt Shall know that I am the LORD, Because they have been a staff of reed to the house
of Israel. [7] When they took hold of you with the hand, You broke and tore all their shoulders; When
they leaned on you, You broke and made all their backs quiver.”

5. THE MONTH OF OPENING OF THE MOUTH FOR PROCLAMATIONS

Ezekiel 33:21-22: And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth
day of the month, that one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been
captured!” [22] Now the hand of the LORD had been upon me the evening before the man came who
had escaped. And He had opened my mouth; so when he came to me in the morning, my mouth was
opened, and I was no longer mute.

PRAYER POINTS FOR THE TENTH MONTH

1. O Lord as the Holy Spirit opened the gate for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in the 44th book of
the Bible, as the Holy Spirit came upon Saul and turned him into another man in the tenth chapter of
First Samuel, and as the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and his household in Acts 10, let the Holy Spirit
take over the gate of this tenth month. Dear Holy Spirit, move in my life and among God’s people
around the world.

2. O Lord, as you dwelt among people in the gospels, let your people experience your presence in this
tenth month of the year.

3. O Lord as Jesus embodied the grace and mercy of God and demonstrated it in the gospel accounts, let
this tenth month be, for me and all your people, a season of the outpouring of mercy and grace. Forgive
the sins of your people

4. O Lord, you answered Joshua in the tenth chapter of Joshua, you answered David in the tenth book of
the Bible, you gave rest to Mordecai in the tenth chapter of Esther, and answered Cornelius in the tenth
chapter of Acts. Let this month be a season of “Your prayers have been answered” in my family and in
families around the world.

5. O Lord, as Jesus went about doing good and intervening in the lives of the distressed and oppressed,
intervene in my life, in my family, job, business, church, and nation. Do not let the will of man prevail in
this nation and in other nations of the world.

The Resting of Noah's Ark

Genesis 8:1-5 "And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in
the ark

The ark of Noah, so far as man was concerned, was left alone upon the waters — no human hand
steered it, no human counsel guided it. It was like many a poor soul which is struggling, perhaps, its
heavenward way through difficulties and fears, without one earthly friend to comfort it, or one heart in
all the world to which to turn for solace and advice. And yet not alone was it tossed and heaved upon
this solitary waste. There was an arm unseen directing it, there was strength unseen supporting it, and
love unseen that was wafting it. The inhabitants of the ark, at that time, constituted the whole body of
God's believing people. "Are there few that shall be saved?" asked one of old. Yes, they are few, but
they are all that can be saved; all that, by the largest stretch of mercy, consistent with God's justice, can
be brought in, shall be brought in. There is no class on earth, if I may so speak, which has not got its
representative in heaven. For 150 days — and when, we would ask you, was waiting time stretched out
so long? — for 150 days Noah was left without any visible token of God's care, when, as the narrative
simply and beautifully goes on, "God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that
was with him in the ark." Yes; for everything when it comes into covenant with God becomes, from that
moment, dear to God. You may be the least — you may be the vilest of all His creatures, but if you are in
the ark, if you are a Christian, God must love you. If the whole world is crying in terror, to a good and
merciful God we must go: He has a store for His children. How many a man has had reason to look back
and say, "That long, tedious affliction which seemed to me as if it would never end — what has it been
to me but the saving of my soul? It has been the snatching of me from that destruction where thousands
of my companions have perished, and where perhaps I should have been this day, but for God afflicting
me"? The heaviest storm that follows you must one day be calmed; the rudest wind that assails you
must one day be hushed. The waters at last began to assuage, and on the seventeenth day of the
seventh month — it is well for the mind to keep an accurate record of the date of mercies — the ark
rested upon the mountains of Ararat. But Noah was not so soon as this to be released from his
confinement, his term was not yet half completed: five months he had been locked in the ark, but seven
months more must he yet remain in it. It is natural to imagine, that this last seven months must have
seemed to pass more slowly than all the time while they were lying on the waves. If the troubled time of
life brings its trials, so also does its calms. It is a hard thing to sit still, and very often there are the
greatest perils in the still seasons of life. When is it that the soul of man is so tempted to presumption
and self-righteous confidence? When is it that we become careless? When is it that the practical duties
of life are neglected, and we sit down it a most dangerous spiritual slumber? Is it not in seasons Is it not
in seasons when we have been imagining that we have reached a place of rest; when the soul, through
an overweening confidence, abandons its efforts as if the work were done, and settles down on its lees?
Oh, when I think of the dangers of life's calms, I bless God, that the voyage is generally a rough one!
When I remember the trials of the resting ark, I bless God that it is kept so long struggling in the storm!
We look at the ark resting seven months upon the mountains of Ararat. What a lesson have we here
against impatience! Did Noah and his family complain that they had to wait so long? Oh, no; on the
contrary, we know the feelings of the mariner, after a long and dangerous voyage, when he is becalmed
within sight of his native land, how he looks at the land and longs to spring upon the shore, — and much
more than that, probably, was Noah's felling; — but now mark his conduct: no impatient prayer escapes
his lips, no restlessness seems to disturb his mind, his faith — as God will expect all faith to be — was a
waiting faith. Not even when the least drop of water had dried away would he venture to leave the ark
unbidden. God had shut the ark, and God, Noah knows, must open it. Not till the welcome word is given,
"Go forth," will he presume to leave the place, how dark and how drearisome soever that place may be.
Now learn, from Noah's example, your line of duty under many a similar dispensation. Let us learn not
to be impatient — I do not say of forbidden pleasures, that would be an easy thing; but do not be
impatient of pleasure which it is permitted, nay, of pleasure which it is commanded you to enjoy; no,
not for heaven itself. If God has shut any Noah in, be content to wait patiently till God shall open. It is
your confidence to sit still. Take another lesson from the resting of the ark. The flood — the type of this
our present life — was not yet half completed when Noah found a resting place on earth. From that
hour he is, indeed, to wait for many a day before he shall be permitted to come forth; but from that
hour Noah is safe. He can thus change no more, for he is anchored on a Rock. Now just so may it be with
us on life's long voyage. The time when it shall be good for us to land on the eternal shore, God alone
has fixed — be it ours to wait for it. Long before our sojourn is nigh full — ay, at any time in all the
course — we may find a safe anchorage under the Rock of Ages; and from the happy moment when you
shall have been received upon a better mountain than that of Ararat, you will feel that you will move no
more. There may be a rising of the deep waters around you, but you will be settled and at rest; and oh,
how triumphant will you look down on the waters and floods of this world's struggles, while your faith,
standing high on the mountain of God, can feel that the foundations of eternity are under you

The Emerging World

Genesis 8:1-5 "And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in
the ark…

To realize this, let us suppose ourselves standing on a hill on a September morning, surrounded by a sea
of mist. Nothing for awhile is visible but wild, rolling waves of dripping darkness, till at last the sun looks
out, a wind begins to blow, and then there loom forth, peak after peak, the hundred hills around,
starting up, as if newly created, from the gulf below, their bases still bathed in mist, but their tops
crowned with light, and resembling the islands of some "melancholy main." It is one of the sublimest of
spectacles, reminding you of the worlds rising out of chaos, of God's "calling the things that were not,
and they appeared," and compelling you, the spectator, to uncover, as the mountains have doge, in the
presence of the God of day, although you see in him, what they do not, only the vicegerent of his
heavenly King.

And similar, but still more striking, must have been to Noah's eye, as he stood on the sides of the resting
ark, the sight of the ancient landmarks of nature reappearing, the ridges of Taurus heaving up like
islands through the waters, their shows for the time melted, and perhaps over them all, in the remote
distance, the "Finger Mount" arising, relieved against, and pointing significantly to the calm blue sky!
Sight reminding us of the rising of great buried truths, as at the Reformation, out of the darkness of
ages; struggling, too, to free themselves from the incrustations of error, as the lion from the
impediments of the Daedal earth, Sight reminding us of the resurrection of great reputations buried
under loads of calumny, or whelmed in deluges of oblivion, into the light of general appreciation, and
the consecration of long-denied reverence and love. Sight reminding us of the resurrection of the dead
from their sepulchres — specially, shall we say, of the resurrection of aged and venerable patriarchs,
having left their hoary hairs in the dust, arising to the vigour and freshness of immortal youth.
Grace and Providence

R.A. Redford

Genesis 8:1-5

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark…

The powers of material nature are obedient servants of God, and those who are the objects of his
regard, remembered by him, are safely kept in the midst of the world's changes. "All things work
together for their good." There is an inner circle of special providence in which the family of God, with
those whose existence is bound up in it, is under the eye of the heavenly Father, and in the hollow of his
hand. "And the ark rested" (ver. 4). We speak of the cradle of the human race being set on Mount
Ararat; is it not well to remember -

1. The new world came out of an ark of Divine grace. Religion is the real foundation of society.

2. The waves of the flood bore the ark to its resting-place. So the waters of affliction, though they heave
our vessel and trouble our hearts with fear, carry us onward to a new and often higher standpoint of
knowledge and faith.

3. While the flood bore the ark, God himself chose out the spot where it should end its awful journey.
The Ararat of the new world was like the paradise of the first man - the nursery of a rising humanity; but
whereas in the state of innocence it is a garden, in the case of the redeemed man it is a mountain, with
its steep, rough places, its heights and depths, its trials and dangers. The humanity which started from
Ararat carried with it at once the good and the evil of the old world which had passed away, and the
mountain symbolized the complex treasury of possibilities, mingled with liabilities, which were laid up in
the rescued race. - R.

Parallel Verses

KJV: And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark:
and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;
WEB: God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and
God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.

Grace and Providence

R.A. Redford

Genesis 8:1-5

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark…

The powers of material nature are obedient servants of God, and those who are the objects of his
regard, remembered by him, are safely kept in the midst of the world's changes. "All things work
together for their good." There is an inner circle of special providence in which the family of God, with
those whose existence is bound up in it, is under the eye of the heavenly Father, and in the hollow of his
hand. "And the ark rested" (ver. 4). We speak of the cradle of the human race being set on Mount
Ararat; is it not well to remember -

1. The new world came out of an ark of Divine grace. Religion is the real foundation of society.

2. The waves of the flood bore the ark to its resting-place. So the waters of affliction, though they heave
our vessel and trouble our hearts with fear, carry us onward to a new and often higher standpoint of
knowledge and faith.

3. While the flood bore the ark, God himself chose out the spot where it should end its awful journey.
The Ararat of the new world was like the paradise of the first man - the nursery of a rising humanity; but
whereas in the state of innocence it is a garden, in the case of the redeemed man it is a mountain, with
its steep, rough places, its heights and depths, its trials and dangers. The humanity which started from
Ararat carried with it at once the good and the evil of the old world which had passed away, and the
mountain symbolized the complex treasury of possibilities, mingled with liabilities, which were laid up in
the rescued race. - R.

Parallel Verses
KJV: And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark:
and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;

WEB: God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and
God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.

Safety

W. Adamson.

Genesis 8:1-5

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark…

Noah anchored his ark to the Providence of God. No sails were unfurled to the breeze, no oars were
unshipped to move the lumbering ark, no rudder was employed to steer. The Providence of God was
deeper than the winds and waves and contrary current; and to that, he fastened his barque with the
strong cable of faith. Hence the security of the ark with its living freight.