With the utterance of ten words was the world created.
There were ten generations from Adam to Noah, to show how great is God's long-suffering, for each of these went on provoking Him more and more, till His forbearance relenting, He brought the flood upon them.
There were ten generations from Noah to Abraham, to show that God is long-suffering, since all those succeeding generations provoked Him, until Abraham came, and he received the reward that belonged to all of them.
The greatest sinner is uniformly presumed throughout the Talmud to have a certain amount of merit, and therefore a corresponding title to reward (see chap. 2, No. 10 = Ps. xxxvii. 35-37). Much of this last is enjoyed by the wicked themselves in the present world, and the surplus is often transferred to the credit of the righteous in the world to come (see "Genesis", page 482, No. 173 = Matt. xiii. 12).
Abraham our father was tested ten times; in every case he stood firm; which shows how great the love of our father Abraham was.
Ten miracles were wrought for our forefathers in Egypt, and ten at the Red Sea. Ten plagues did the Holy One--blessed be He!--inflict on the Egyptians in Egypt, and ten at the sea. Ten times did our ancestors tempt God in the wilderness, as it is said (Num. xiv. 22), "And have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice."
Ten times did God test our forefathers, and they were not so much as once found to be perfect.
Ten times the Shechinah came down unto the world:--At the garden of Eden (Gen. iii. 8); at the time of the Tower (Gen. xi. 5); at Sodom (Gen. xviii. 21); in Egypt (Exod. iii. 8); at the Red Sea (Ps. xviii. 9); on Mount Sinai (Exod. xix. 20); into the Temple (Ezek. xliv. 2); in the pillar of cloud (Num. xi. 25). It will descend in the days of Gog and Magog, for it is said (Zech. xiv. 4), "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives" (the tenth is omitted in the original).
The Shechinah made ten gradual ascents in passing from place to place:--From the cover of the ark to the cherub (2 Sam. xxii. 11); thence to the threshold of the house (Ezek. ix. 3); thence to the cherubim (Ezek. x. 18); thence to the roof of the Temple (Prov. xxi. 9); thence to the wall of the court (Amos vii. 7); thence to the altar (Amos ix. 1); thence to the city (Micah vi. 9); thence to the mount (Ezek. xi. 23); thence to the wilderness (Prov. xxi. 9); whence the Shechinah went up, as it is said (Hosea v. 15), "I will go and return to my place."