“The number 10 signifies the perfection of Divine order, as it begins an altogether new series of numbers. The first decade is the representative of the whole numeral system, and originates the system of calculation called “decimals,” because the whole system of numeration consists of so many “tens,” of which the first is a type of the whole. Completeness of order, marking the entire round of anything, is therefore the ever present signification of the number 10. It implies that nothing is wanting; that the number and order are perfect; that the whole cycle is complete.
Entire cycles are complete with the number 10: Noah completed the antediluvian age in the 10th generation. The 10 Commandments contain all that is necessary for the law to be complete. The Lord’s Prayer is completed in 10 clauses. The 10 plagues were representative of the complete circle of God’s judgments on Egypt. The tithes of 10% represent the whole of what was due from man to God, as marking and recognizing God’s claim on the whole.” {3}
In Genesis 1, the term “and God said” is used 10 times, describing His Creation work of the earth and heavens which He finished in 6 days.
Abram’s name was changed to Abraham by God. God told him he was to be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:5). He was the 10th generation from Noah and the 20th (2 x 10) generation from Adam (Genesis 5, 11).
Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian as her maid after Abram had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife (Genesis 16:3). This was a serious mistake with the consequences still being felt to this day.
Jacob served 20 years in his father-in-law’s (Laban’s) house. He served 14 years for his 2 daughters (Leah and Rachel), and 6 years for his cattle. During this time, Laban changed Jacob’s wages 10 times (Genesis 31:41).
During the famine in Canaan, Jacob sent his 10 oldest sons to buy corn in Egypt; but he kept his youngest, Benjamin, home with him (Genesis 42:3). These were the same sons of Jacob that sold Joseph into slavery when he was a youth.
Joseph sent 10 asses loaded with the good things of Egypt, and 10 she asses loaded with corn, bread, and meat to his father who was still in the land of Canaan (Genesis 45:23).
During the times of the 10 plagues in Egypt, before the Exodus, God told Moses to speak to the congregation of Israel. On the 10th day of the 1st month, every household was to select an unblemished lamb and remove it from the flock. They were to keep it until the 14th day of the same month, and then kill it in the evening. They were to take of the blood, and strike it on the 2 side posts and on the upper door post of their houses. This blood would make the angel of death pass over the households of the children of Israel.
However, Egypt’s firstborn children and animals would be destroyed. This remarkable event would thereafter be memorialized and celebrated annually as the Feast of Passover (Exodus 12). These events foreshadowed Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as their Messiah on the 10th day of the 1st month and his death on the 14th day of the same month. Jesus is the Lamb of God whose blood was shed to save us from our sins.
There were 10 rebellions of the children of Israel in the wilderness, which mark the completed series of their sin and rebellion against God in the wilderness (Numbers 14:22).
The Day of Atonement was the 6th Feast of the Lord and occurs annually on the 10th day of the 7th month of the Jewish calendar. It is the holiest day of the year when all Israel mourns for their sins. The first occurrence of the Day of Atonement was during the exodus when Aaron, Moses’ brother and High Priest, sacrificed for the sins of his people. It is described in Leviticus 16 and later memorialized in Leviticus 23:26-32.
The Year of Jubilee was a special event for Israel that only took place every 50 years. It was to occur on the 10th day of the 7th month which was the Day of Atonement. During this year all debts were to be cancelled, all slaves were to be freed, and all land that had been sold was to be returned to its original owners (Leviticus 25:8-55). There is no indication that a Year of Jubilee was ever observed in Israel’s history.
Under the leadership of Joshua, the children of Israel crossed over the Jordan River into the Promised Land on the 10th day of the 1st month (Joshua 4:19). This was nearly as great a miracle as the crossing of the Red Sea on Nisan 10 in the spring, when the Jordan River overflowed its banks. The waters stood and rose up upon a heap, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground (Joshua 3:15-17).
Samuel, the great prophet and judge of Israel, warned the people that they would regret their decision to have a king. He told them a king would take a tenth of their seed, and of their vineyards, and give them to his officers, and to his servants. He also told them a king would take a tenth of their sheep and the people would become his servants (1 Samuel 8:15, 17).
After Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam became king of Israel. However, he wasn’t as wise as his father and promised to make the people’s burden even more grievous than before. Rehoboam, the leader of the northern tribes, led them to rebel against the house of David, and he became their king. 10 of Israel’s 12 tribes followed Jeroboam and called their new nation Israel, with the city of Shechem as their capital.
The other 2 southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, remained loyal to Rehoboam and called their nation Judah, with Jerusalem as their capital (2 Chronicles 10). All the priests and Levites throughout Israel moved to Jerusalem where they could worship and serve in the Temple of Solomon. Rehoboam walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years before he abandoned God and the Law.
Hezekiah was one of a few kings of Judah that were faithful and did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. When he became sick unto death, Isaiah the prophet came to him and told him to put his affairs in order because he was about to die. Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord and wept before him. God told Isaiah that He would heal the king and would add 15 years to his life and would deliver Judah from the Assyrians. Hezekiah asked Isaiah what would be the sign that the Lord would heal him. Isaiah told him that it would be when the shadow of the sundial would be brought 10 degrees backward.
“And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz” (2 Kings: 20:11).
The 3rd invasion of Judah by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar began on the 10th day of the 10th month of Teveth (2 Kings 25:1) in the year 588 B.C., and ended approximately 558 days later on the 7th day of the 5th month of Av in 586 B.C. Nebuzzar-adan, the captain of the guard, under Nebuchadnezzar broke down the walls, burned down the Temple and destroyed Jerusalem on the 9th day of Av, according to sources from the Talmud.
When Daniel the prophet was serving as an advisor to the king of Babylon, he had a vision regarding 4 great beasts that came up from the sea. These beasts represented 4 empires that would rule the world at different times. “The fourth beast had ten horns and there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of them plucked up by the roots. In this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things” (Daniel 7:7-8).
This prophecy is believed to be about the last Gentile Empire of the Anti-christ, who will take control of 3 of the 10 kings/kingdoms that will rule during the end times. The apostle John had a similar vision in the book of Revelation: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy” (Revelation 13:1).
Fire came down from Heaven 10 times in the Bible: on Sodom (Genesis 19), on the first offerings (Leviticus 9:24), on Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:2), on the murmurers at Taberah (Numbers 11:1), on Korah and his company (Numbers 16:35), on Elijah’s offering at Carmel (1 Kings 18:38), on Elijah’s enemies (2 Kings 1:10), again on Elijah’s enemies (2 Kings 1:12), on David’s sacrifice (1 Chronicles 21:26), and on Solomon’s sacrifice (2 Chronicles 7:1).
10 times the Jewish people shouted for joy as recorded in the Bible: when the fire from heaven consumed the first sacrifices (Leviticus 9:24), at the taking of Jericho (Joshua 6:20), when the Ark was brought into the camp (1 Samuel 4:5), when Saul was chosen king (1 Samuel 10:24), when Israel went to fight the Philistines (1 Samuel 17:20), when pursuing the Philistines (1 Samuel 17:52), when the Ark was brought back from the house of Obed-edom (2 Samuel 6:15), when God smote Jeroboam before Abijah (2 Chronicles 13:15), when Asa and the people heard Oded’s prophecy (2 Chronicles 15:14), and when the foundation of the second Temple was laid (Ezra 3:11).
There are 10 observances of the Feast of Passover being recorded in the Bible: in Egypt (Exodus 12), in the wilderness (Numbers 9:5), at the plains of Jericho (Joshua 10:10), during King Hezekiah’s reign (2 Chronicles 30:1), during King Josiah’s reign ( 2 Chronicles 35:1), during Ezra’s stewardship (Ezra 6:19), when Jesus was 12 years old (Luke 241), during Jesus’ 1st year of ministry (John 2:13), during Jesus’ 2nd year of ministry (John 6:4), during Jesus’ 3rd year of ministry before his death at the cross (Matthew 26:2).
There are 10 instances in the Old Testament of younger sons being preferred before the elder: Abel, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Ephraim, Moses, and David.
God told Moses to tell the children of Jacob that He was the great “I am.” Jesus told the people 10 times that he was also an “I am”: I am the bread of life (John 6:35), I am the bread of life which came down from heaven (John 6:41), I am the living bread (John 6:51), I am the light of the world (John 8:12), I am one that bear witness of myself (John 8:18), I am the door of the sheep (John 10:7-9), I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:14), I am the resurrection and the life (John 14:6), I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), and I am the true vine (John 14:1, 5).
Nothing can separate Christians from the love of God. The security of the saints is assured for all who are “in Christ” by God’s victory over the following 10 entities: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers; nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38).
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells two parables to his disciples in regard to his return and how to live until he comes: the parable of the 10 virgins (bridesmaids) and the parable of the 10 talents. In Luke 19, Jesus tells the parable of the king’s 10 servants in regard to the kingdom of God.
In Revelation 5, John is shown a scene where the Lamb of God (Jesus) is able to open and read the book with 7 seals. Here is how it is described: “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing” (Revelation 5:11-12).
The number 12 signifies perfection of rule or government. “It is found as a multiple in all that has to do with rule. The sun which rules the day; and the moon and stars which govern the night, do so by their passage through the 12 signs of the Zodiac which completes the great circle of the heavens of 360 (12 x 30) degrees or divisions, and thus govern the year (there are 12 months in a normal year for most calendars). Twelve is the product of 3 (the perfectly Divine and heavenly number) and 4 (the earthly, the number of what is material and organic).” {4}
There were 12 patriarchs from Noah’s son, Shem, to Jacob (Israel): Shem, Arphaxas, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abram, Isaac, and Jacob.
12 is also the number signifying perfection of government. Jacob had 2 wives and 2 ‘substitute’ wives. With these 4 wives, he had 12 sons and 1 daughter (Genesis 35:22-26). These sons of Jacob and their descendants eventually became the nation of Israel. Jacob’s sons’ names were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. Jacob’s only daughter’s name was Dinah.
Abraham’s son, Ishmael (by the Egyptian bondwoman Hagar), was the father of 12 princes. His sons and their descendants became a great nation (Genesis 17:19). Ishmael’s sons’ names were Nebajoth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
In the 1st month in the 2nd year, on the 1st day of the month after the exodus from Egypt, the tabernacle was reared up (Exodus 40:17). This was the worship place of God for the children of Jacob while they were in the wilderness, and where their sacrifices were offered up to Him. Most of the measurements of the tabernacle were multiples of 5 according to Exodus 38; however, when it was time for Moses to dedicate and sanctify the tabernacle and altar, 12 was the pre-dominant number.
“This was the dedication of the altar, in the day when it was anointed, by the princes of the 12 tribes of Israel: twelve chargers of silver, twelve silver bowls, twelve spoons of gold: all the silver vessels weighed two thousand and four hundred (12 x 200) shekels: all the gold of the spoons was an hundred and twenty shekels (12 x 10). The burnt offerings consisted of twelve bullocks, twelve rams, twelve lambs of the first year, with their meat offering. Twelve kids of the goats were sacrificed for a sin offering. And all the oxen for the sacrifice of the peace offerings were twenty and four bullocks (12 x2), the rams sixty (12 x 5), the he goats sixty, the lambs of the first year sixty” (Numbers 7:84-88).
Joshua was chosen to be Moses’ successor as the leader of Israel. He led his people into the Promised Land and began the campaign to conquer the heathen nations that were occupying the land. After his death, the nation experienced a leadership drought and didn’t obey God’s command to drive the Canaanites from the land. The generation that followed abandoned God and began worshiping their neighbor’s gods (idols). This provoked the Lord to anger, and he delivered them into the hands of their enemies. “Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them” (Judges 2:16). There were 12 judges or saviors of Israel who delivered Israel from its oppressors and saved them from a life of slavery: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah (with Barak), Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson.
There were 12 persons that were anointed in the Old Testament (5 of them were priests and 7 were kings): Aaron , Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar, Saul, David, Absalom, Solomon, Jehu, Joash, and Jehoahaz. David was actually anointed 3 times.
In the New Testament, there were 12 apostles of Jesus: Simon (Peter); James the son of Zebedee; John the brother of James; Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite; and Judas Iscariot (Mark 3:14-19).
At the Garden of Gethsemane, when the religious leaders came to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of a servant of the high priest. Jesus told Peter to put up his sword, for he could call down 12 legions of angels to help him if He wished (Matthew 26:53).
Every year, Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. Jesus’ first visit to the Temple in Jerusalem was when he was 12 years old. “And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the Feast” (Luke 2:42). On their trip home, after 1 day’s journey, they noticed Jesus wasn’t within their company; so they returned to Jerusalem seeking him. “And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luke 2:46-47).
When Jesus fed the multitude (5,000 men, not counting women and children) in the desert, all they had were five loaves and two fishes (a total of 7 food items). Jesus then looked up to heaven and blessed the meal and broke the bread, and gave the food to his disciples for distribution. “And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full” (Matthew 14:20).
At the time of the Great Tribulation, after the sixth seal, a mighty angel comes to the earth and proclaims: “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed a hundred, and forty and four thousand (12 x 12 x 10 x 10) of all the tribes of the children of Israel” (Revelation 7:3). Of the 12 tribes of Israel, 12,000 servants from each tribe will be sealed for service in the remaining days of the Great Tribulation.
In Revelation 21, 12 is the dominant number concerning the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven: “And (it) had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels and names written thereof, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:12, 14). “And the city lies foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. And he measured the wall therof, an hundred and forty and four (12 x 12) cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel” (Revelation 21:16-17).
God showed John another vision of the New Jerusalem. Here is a part of the description: “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2).
The New Jerusalem will have 12 foundations for the wall of the city. They are all precious stones: jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolyte, beryl, topaz, chrysoprasus, jacinth, and amethyst (Revelation 21:19-20).
endnotes:
{1} https://www.raptureready.com/2016/02/07/the-perfect-numbers-by-randy-nettles/
{2} https://www.raptureready.com/2015/09/28/multiples-seven-randy-nettles/
{3} Number in Scripture by E.W. Bullinger, pg. 243 – Kregel Classics
{4} Number is Scripture by E.W. Bullinger, pg. 253 – Kregel Classics