The non-canonical literature of later times supplies many additional examples. The Book of Jubilees knows of 10 tempta- tions of Abraham (19*), a thought found also in the Mishna ('Aboth V. 4), and the Test, of Joseph of 10 temptations of Joseph (ch. 2). The fondness of the Rabbis for the number receives striking illustration from the long series of significant tens in 'Aboth V. 1-9. The number was also applied in daily life. Ten persons constituted the minimum required for a communitv or congregation (Mishna, Sanhedrin i. 6), and for a company at a Paschal supper (Jos. BJ vi. ix. 3). Later authorities fix" 10 as the number of persons drawn up in a row to comfort mourners (Sanh. 19a) and as the number requisite for the utterance of the nuptial benediction (K'ef A Hfcof^, 76). The 10 virgins of the parable may possibly receive illustration from an Arab custom mentioned by some medisval Jewish writers. Thev affirm that in the land of the IshmaeUtes, when the bride was taken from
250
NUMBERS
NUMBERS
her father's house to her new home on the evening preceding the completion of the marriage festi\ities, 10 torclies or lamps were borne in front of her. The authority is, it is true, very late, but the custom described may ha\ e been of ancient origin (given in the gloss to Kelim ii. 8, 9&, and in Latin in Wetstein's note on ilt 251). The pavment of a tithe or tenth to the Deity, referred to twice by our Lord (Lk 1812, jit 23-^ || Lli ll-i^), nmst have been connected in the first instance with the symbolic use of 10. The custom has been traced among Hebrews, Eab.y- lonians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. The prominence of the subject in later Judaism is attested by the great space devoted to it in the ilishna, three treatises witli 150 huldkhOth.
Five. — Five, the half of ten, is met with in a con- siderable number of passages in the Gospels, in some of which it may have more than mere nu- merical significance. So perhaps in tlie 5 loaves (Mt 14"- 1" \&>, Mk Q^- ^1 8i«, Lk 9^3. i6^ j^ qs. is)^ a great multitude fed by an amount of food strongly suggestive of smallness and incompleteness ; the 5 talents which bring in 5 more (Mt 25^'^'-''); the fivefold profit of the second servant in the parable of the Pounds contrasted with the tenfold [)rofit of the first (Lk 19^^'-) ; perhaps the 5 .sparrows worth two farthings (Lk 12^) ; and the 5 disciides of Jesus at the beginning of His ministry (Jn ps-^i ; cf. the 5 disciples of R. Jochanan ben Zakai, c. 80 A.D. \^Abuth ii. 10], and the 5 disciples ascribed to Jesus in a baraitha removed from the censored editions of the Talmud [Sank. 43rt, see Laible's Jesus Christus im Talmud, Anhang 15]). In the other passages (Mt 252, Lk \-^ 12''-' W^ 16-s, Jn 4^8 5") it is safest to find onlj^ the ordinaiy meaning. Five, as a small round number, is repeatedly met with in the OT (Gn 43'^ 45^2, Lv 268, Is 30^^ etc. ) and in the Tell el-Amarna letters. In one of the latter (ix. 20 in Winckler's edition) it seems to be regarded as a numlier so small as to need an apology.
Forty. — An important multiple of ten is 40, found in the accounts of the Temptation (Mt 4^, Mk P^, Lk 4^) and of the period intervening be- tween the Passion and the Ascension (Ac P). That it is in both cases more tlian a mere number is evident. The 40 days of fasting in the wilder- ness clearly point back to the 40 days spent by Moses on Sinai (Ex 24^8 34^8) and the 40 days' journey of Elijah in the same region (1 K 198) The 40 days of temptation remind us of the re- peated use in the OT of the number 40 of periods of testing or punishment. The rain at the Flood fell 40 days and 40 nights ( Gn T""- "). The spies were absent 40 days (Nu IS^*). The punishment and proving of the people extended over 40 years (Nu 14^). Nineveh was granted 40 days of respite (Jon 3-'). The Philistine opjiression lasted 40 years (Jg 13'), and Ezekiel predicted that Egypt should be desolate 40 years (Ezk 29"). That this applica- tion of the number was not confined to Israel is probable from the statement on the Moabite Stone (lines 7f.), that the occupation of Mehedeba by Israel lasted 40 years. Even if king Mesha in- tended the number to be understood literally, which is very doubtful, he may have recorded it with a view to its special significance. In another group of passages, also, 40 seems to be a normal or ideal number. Three periods of rest from foreign invasion, each of 40 years, are mentioned in the Book of Judges (3" 5^' 8-8). Eli was judge for 40 years (1 S 4'8) ; and the reigns of David and Solomon are reckoned at 40 years each (2 S 5^ 1 K 1 \*- : add from tradition the reign of Saul, Ac 13", Jos. Ant. vi. xiv. 9).
How did 40 come to be used in this way ? The most satisfactory answer is suggested by the following passages in the OT and other Oriental literature and history. Isaac and Esau married at 40 (Gn 25-o 26''^). Moses came forward as a friend of his people about 40 (tradition recorded in Ac 7-3; cf. Ex 2" 'when JSIoses was grown up'), and began his work as their divinely ap- pointed leader 40 years later (Ac T^" and Ex 7^).