Why are numbers in the Torah (= in Biblical Hebrew) in base ten? (I.e., why are they represented in multiples of ten, like 127, one times ten squared plus two times ten plus seven, rather than calling that same number one times eight squared plus seven times eight plus seven (177, in base eight), for example?)
Hi! Pretty much all of humanity uses base ten, presumably because we have ten fingers, so that counting to ten and starting over seems natural to us. So, it’s not puzzling that biblical Hebrew does the same.
However, if you want to know why we have exactly ten fingers: We know from those who study the secret parts of the Torah that there are ten sephiros, facets of how Hashem deals with the world. So this may be a question going deep into the design of the universe.
Question: So you seem to be saying that, just like man-made languages, Biblical Hebrew uses base ten simply because that’s how people count on their fingers. With respect, this seems to me like attributing our silly reasons to G’d’s infinite intelligence.
Answer: I would say it the other way around. “G-d looked into the Torah and created the world.” Humanity is designed to be properly integrated with the Torah (and vice versa).
Best wishes,
Michoel Reach