The Tenth Day

From: Josiah and Revival By: William Woldridge Fereday

• 3 min. read • grade level: 12

The fact is remarkable that while the Passover month was to be henceforward the first in the year to the people of Israel, the lamb was not appointed to be slain on the first day of that month. One might almost have supposed that Jehovah would have commenced the new reckoning with the great fact of redemption. Yet this is what we read in Exodus 12:3³Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: (Exodus 12:3), “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb.” Ten days were thus to run their course ere the victim was drawn from the flock for death.

Numbers are used in Holy Scripture with divine significance The frequent occurrence of “seven” and “twelve” in the book of God is sufficient to suggest this to every observant reader. This is scarcely the place in which to show the meaning of all the numerals divinely employed; for our present purpose it is enough to say that “ten” represents the full measure of human responsibility. Thus we have ten commandments in Exodus 20, ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13¹Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. ²And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. ³They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: ⁴But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. ⁶And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. ⁷Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. ⁸And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. ⁹But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. ¹⁰And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. ¹¹Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. ¹²But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. ¹³Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 25:1‑13), and ten pounds in Luke 19:13¹³And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. (Luke 19:13). The ten days of Exodus 12:3³Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: (Exodus 12:3) speak to us therefore of the ages of responsibility (or probation) which ran their course ere God sent forth His beloved Son to be the Lamb of God, the taker away of the sin of the world.

The preceding ages of responsibility were divinely designed to teach men their deep need of a Savior, that thus they might be disposed to welcome Him with adoring appreciation at His appearing. Taking Archbishop Usher’s chronology (which cannot, however, be insisted upon) men were being thus disciplined during forty centuries. During that long period God’s ways with His fallen creatures varied considerably. Until Noah’s day men had the testimony of creation and the voice of conscience. No Scriptures existed, and there was neither sovereign nor magistrate to call evil-doers to account. The end was the Deluge, the earth having become full of corruption and violence. When Noah and his sons were re-established in the cleansed earth, God set up the principle of human government (Gen. 9:6⁶Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. (Genesis 9:6))-a merciful provision intended as a curb upon wickedness. This quickly failed; Noah’s drunkenness, Nimrod’s tyranny, the building of the tower of Babel, and the idolatry which soon covered the earth proving only too sadly that magistracy (however excellent as an institution) is inefficient as applied to so rebellious a being as man.

Later there was the giving of the law, with its solemn “Thou shalt not’s,” and its accompanying threats and curses for all who were disobedient thereto. The law was given to Israel only (Ex. 20:2²I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (Exodus 20:2); Psa. 147:19¹⁹He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. (Psalm 147:19)—20); for God would demonstrate in that nation the moral condition of flesh everywhere. The commandments had scarcely gone forth from Jehovah’s lips before the first was violated by the setting up of the golden calf and this was but the commencement of a long history of transgression culminating at last in the murder of the Son of Man, who was constrained by lawless men to tread the same path of blood as all others who had ever sought to bring God before their consciences. The parable of the husbandmen in Matthew 21:33-46³³Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: ³⁴And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. ³⁵And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. ³⁷But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. ³⁸But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. ³⁹And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. ⁴⁰When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? ⁴¹They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. ⁴²Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? ⁴³Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. ⁴⁴And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. ⁴⁵And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. ⁴⁶But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet. (Matthew 21:33‑46) declares the wretched story vividly.

Thus men proved, during forty centuries, that under every variety of circumstances and conditions there was nothing but evil in their hearts. This terrible fact having been fully demonstrated, God sent forth His Son. “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6⁶For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)). God’s “due time” is set forth typically in “the tenth day” of Exodus 12:3³Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: (Exodus 12:3). Oh, that men everywhere understood the lesson of it, for then would they renounce all pretension to goodness and strength in themselves, and glory in Christ alone!

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