The Tenth Day of Christmas
03/01/15 05:18
There are scholars who have devoted their entire lives to the study of numerology in the Bible. They comb through the Bible and note each time that a number is used. Some believe that there are specific symbols attached to numbers that import secret or hidden meanings. Most theologians, however, believe that the Bible is not a coded book. Its meanings are contained in its words and no special message is hidden within some kind of secret code known only to a few people. Still, there is numerical symbolism in the Bible. Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation all contain numbers that convey part of the meaning of the story.
There are many problems with trying to read too much into the numbers that are found in Biblical literature, however. First is is important to remember that the Bible did not come to us in a single form, all in the language that is most familiar to us. Rather, the Bible has arisen from a complex network of cultures, languages and traditions. In modern English we use what are commonly called Arabic numbers. Our base ten system is probably more accurately labeled Hindu-Arabic, referring to the origins of our numerical system in early Indian mathematicians. This system was adopted throughout the Middle East and was developed and refined by Arabic scholars.
The Old Testament of the Bible was originally written with the Hebrew number system, which assigned numerical meanings to the letters of the alphabet and used the same characters to convey numbers as were used to convey other words. It sounds more complex than it is in practice, but it takes some knowledge of the language to translate ancient biblical texts into meaningful prose in our language.
It is likely that most of the interpretations of the meanings of the twelve days of Christmas are not inherent in a particular set of days, but rather are meanings that have been added on over years of celebration in the traditions of our people. In other words, the original 12 days following the birth of Jesus weren’t days of special significance other than the normal adjustments that come to any family with the birth of a new child. A couple of millennia of tradition, however, have given us deep layers of meanings that have been assigned after the fact to the days of Christmas.
The number 10 is used a lot in the Bible. Like some other numbers, it is sometimes used to refer to completion. Numerologists, who spend a lot of time counting things, report that the words “God said,” appear ten times in the first chapter of the book of Genesis. The passover lamb is to be chosen on the tenth day of the first month. The tenth day of the seventh month is set aside as the day of atonement. There are ten plagues visited upon Pharaoh and Egypt in order to obtain freedom for the Hebrew slaves. And Moses receives 10 commandments from God to give to faithful people of all generations.
Ten is an easy number for humans to remember. We have ten fingers and ten toes. Our fingers can be used as memory devices to assist in remembering lists of up to ten items.
So it makes sense, in a kind of backwards way, to devote part of the tenth day of Christmas to a reflection upon the ten commandments even though they come from the Exodus story of our people and Jesus represents a new chapter and a new way of God’s extending of freedom to people.
The song about the twelve days of Christmas, referred to often in this series of blogs, comes out of the late 18th Century. It is possible that the origins of the song are French, but the common versions are in English. The song is simply one of many carols. It understands that the tradition of celebrating Christmas for 12 days and the assigning of the visit of the magi to the 12th day of Christmas is a Christian tradition. It probably was not developed as a teaching device with carefully thought-out lessons for each day of Christmas. Still, we tend to add meanings to our traditions with hindsight as often as the meanings are inherent in the traditions.
There are many different versions of the song that emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries. Not all have the same gifts for each number. There are versions with 10 pipers piping, 10 ships a sailing, ten lords a leaping, 10 drummers drumming, 10 cocks a crowing, and 10 asses racing. Most of the various items appear associated with different numbers in different versions of the song.
Thus the tenth day of Christmas, whether with lords or pipers or ships or drummers or whatever, seems like a good day to reflect on the ten commandments which provide an excellent guide for a life of freedom. If the “true love” of the song is God - certainly a true love for all humans - then recalling gifts that God has given us each day for twelve days of Christmas makes sense and one of those gifts is the commandments that provide the basic rules of the lives of free people.
It seems to me that one of the benefits of devoting a dozen days to careful contemplation of God’s love in the gift of Jesus is that it gives us time to recall many different ways in which God seeks meaningful relationship with people of faith. God stuck with our people when we strayed away from God. When we were enslaved by our own ideas and mistakes, God provided leadership for an Exodus. When we were wandering aimlessly in the wilderness, God provided basic rules for lives of freedom. When we confused money and power and privilege with the true blessings of God, God sent us Jesus to remind us of the unending call of love and service. Ours is a story of God’s persistence in the face of our tendency to stray from our true calling.
So ten times “Merry Christmas” to you today. May the tenth day of Christmas remind you of God’s unending love and commitment to you.
There are many problems with trying to read too much into the numbers that are found in Biblical literature, however. First is is important to remember that the Bible did not come to us in a single form, all in the language that is most familiar to us. Rather, the Bible has arisen from a complex network of cultures, languages and traditions. In modern English we use what are commonly called Arabic numbers. Our base ten system is probably more accurately labeled Hindu-Arabic, referring to the origins of our numerical system in early Indian mathematicians. This system was adopted throughout the Middle East and was developed and refined by Arabic scholars.
The Old Testament of the Bible was originally written with the Hebrew number system, which assigned numerical meanings to the letters of the alphabet and used the same characters to convey numbers as were used to convey other words. It sounds more complex than it is in practice, but it takes some knowledge of the language to translate ancient biblical texts into meaningful prose in our language.
It is likely that most of the interpretations of the meanings of the twelve days of Christmas are not inherent in a particular set of days, but rather are meanings that have been added on over years of celebration in the traditions of our people. In other words, the original 12 days following the birth of Jesus weren’t days of special significance other than the normal adjustments that come to any family with the birth of a new child. A couple of millennia of tradition, however, have given us deep layers of meanings that have been assigned after the fact to the days of Christmas.
The number 10 is used a lot in the Bible. Like some other numbers, it is sometimes used to refer to completion. Numerologists, who spend a lot of time counting things, report that the words “God said,” appear ten times in the first chapter of the book of Genesis. The passover lamb is to be chosen on the tenth day of the first month. The tenth day of the seventh month is set aside as the day of atonement. There are ten plagues visited upon Pharaoh and Egypt in order to obtain freedom for the Hebrew slaves. And Moses receives 10 commandments from God to give to faithful people of all generations.
Ten is an easy number for humans to remember. We have ten fingers and ten toes. Our fingers can be used as memory devices to assist in remembering lists of up to ten items.
So it makes sense, in a kind of backwards way, to devote part of the tenth day of Christmas to a reflection upon the ten commandments even though they come from the Exodus story of our people and Jesus represents a new chapter and a new way of God’s extending of freedom to people.
The song about the twelve days of Christmas, referred to often in this series of blogs, comes out of the late 18th Century. It is possible that the origins of the song are French, but the common versions are in English. The song is simply one of many carols. It understands that the tradition of celebrating Christmas for 12 days and the assigning of the visit of the magi to the 12th day of Christmas is a Christian tradition. It probably was not developed as a teaching device with carefully thought-out lessons for each day of Christmas. Still, we tend to add meanings to our traditions with hindsight as often as the meanings are inherent in the traditions.
There are many different versions of the song that emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries. Not all have the same gifts for each number. There are versions with 10 pipers piping, 10 ships a sailing, ten lords a leaping, 10 drummers drumming, 10 cocks a crowing, and 10 asses racing. Most of the various items appear associated with different numbers in different versions of the song.
Thus the tenth day of Christmas, whether with lords or pipers or ships or drummers or whatever, seems like a good day to reflect on the ten commandments which provide an excellent guide for a life of freedom. If the “true love” of the song is God - certainly a true love for all humans - then recalling gifts that God has given us each day for twelve days of Christmas makes sense and one of those gifts is the commandments that provide the basic rules of the lives of free people.
It seems to me that one of the benefits of devoting a dozen days to careful contemplation of God’s love in the gift of Jesus is that it gives us time to recall many different ways in which God seeks meaningful relationship with people of faith. God stuck with our people when we strayed away from God. When we were enslaved by our own ideas and mistakes, God provided leadership for an Exodus. When we were wandering aimlessly in the wilderness, God provided basic rules for lives of freedom. When we confused money and power and privilege with the true blessings of God, God sent us Jesus to remind us of the unending call of love and service. Ours is a story of God’s persistence in the face of our tendency to stray from our true calling.
So ten times “Merry Christmas” to you today. May the tenth day of Christmas remind you of God’s unending love and commitment to you.