Animals, Colors, Metals, Numbers and Signs in Scripture.

Ten and Law or Commandment

There is an association between the use of the bible number ten and the subject of law, or commandment, or authority.  This association began in the first chapter of Genesis when the phrase, "God said," appears in ten verses and is associated with God's commandments in natural creation.

This association is manifest in the fact that God gave ten commandments in establishing His covenant with the children of Israel.  He sent ten plagues upon the land of Egypt because Pharaoh disobeyed his commandment to let Israel go ten times.  The word, "law," appears in the book of Genesis ten times.  The term "wrath of God" appears ten times in the scriptures and is used to show God's great displeasure at the disobedience toward his commandments.  Moses is commanded to use the rod to manifest the authority of God ten times. 

 he book of Psalms tells us to sing praises upon an instrument of ten strings, which we will see is symbolic of the commandments written in the heart and mind of God's born again people. 

Abraham married the Egyptian handmaid Hagar after he had been in the land of Canaan ten years.  Hagar as we will see is a representative of the law covenant.

The false authority of Satan is manifest to us in the book of Revelation as he is pictured to us as a dragon with seven heads and ten horns.  The dragon causes to rise up out of the sea a beast with seven heads and ten horns.  We are told the dragon gives the beast his power and great authority.

The two cherubims in the temple were each ten cubits in height and each had a wing spread of ten cubits from end to end.  The molten sea was ten cubits in diameter.  The temple had ten candlesticks and was built upon a foundation of stones of ten cubits in size.  As we will see in later essays these had a connection with the laws and commandments of God. 

Natural Creation

There is a scriptural association between the biblical use of the number ten and the subject of law or commandment.  This association is first manifest in the first chapter of Genesis.  In ten verses, we have the statement, "And God said," used in connection with the commandments of God in creation:

    1.  Gen 1:3 "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

    2.  Gen 1:6 "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

    3.  Gen 1:9 "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so."

    4.  Gen 1:11 "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so."

    5.  Gen 1:14 "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:"

    6.  Gen 1:20 "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."

    7.  Gen 1:24 "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so."

    8.  Gen 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

    9.  Gen 1:28 "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

    10. Gen 1:29 "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."

Not only do we notice the power and authority of God in the above verses of scripture, but we also notice the means by which that power and authority was manifest.  God simply spoke and it was done.  This shows us that God simply by speaking with his voice created the entire physical universe in which we live and all things contained therein.  The elements came into existence through the commandment of God and then moved at his commandment in the way that he commanded.  The only creatures that disobey his commandments are men and angels.

Next, we see the authority of men flowing from the authority of God: "God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."  The only lawful authority that men have is the authority God delegated to him.  Any other use of authority is unlawful.

The Ten Commandments

When God made a covenant with the nation of Israel he gave them ten commandments which formed the basis of the covenant he had made with them.  Israel agreed that they would abide by those ten commandments.  The ten commandments were given in Exodus chapter 20:

20:1 "And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13 Thou shalt not kill. 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15 Thou shalt not steal. 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."

These ten commandments formed the basis of the covenant that God made with Israel.  They are important to us also, because they declare to us what God expects in the way of moral living from all of us.  They declare unto us God's moral laws.

These ten commandments were written with the finger of God on two tables of stone: Ex. 31:18 "And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God."

The first thing that man did with the ten commandments that God had written on two tables of stone was to break them: Ex. 32:19 "And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount." 

Moses went up into the mount a second time and received the ten commandments written on two tables of stone from God.  This time the ten commandments on two tables of stone were placed in the ark of the covenant for safe keeping.  The ark of the covenant is a type of Christ and Christ kept the commandments of God perfectly: Matt. 5:17 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."  Christ not only fulfilled the ten commandments, but he also fulfilled all the law and all the prophets perfectly.