"Once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" to Solomon (1 Kings 10:2222For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. (1 Kings 10:22)): the world's tribute to its chief, in 5 items.
Now David used but one out of the 5 stones he took and the one was effective. Necessity, therefore, did not demand 5, but he took 5: it should be seen in his own sense of his responsibility to be properly provided for the fight.
This thought of responsibility in connection with 5 will be found to have reference in chief to relations between men; it is the aspect of responsibility from one man to another. The number 10 carries much the same thought of responsibility, but it is chiefly with reference to God, and in relation to His claims.
If these two numbers are considered together, it will make their respective values clearly seen.
Gen. 14:2020And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. (Genesis 14:20) shows Abram giving to Melchizedek as the priest of the Most High God, "tithes [10ths] of all." Gen. 28:2222And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. (Genesis 28:22) shows Jacob rendering the tenth to God. So it was in Israel; while the 10 commandments are the special expression of God's claim on man. But Pharaoh in Egypt the scene of the world and its chief took a fifth (Gen. 47:2424And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. (Genesis 47:24)). That was his portion out of the increase of the field, rendered him by his people.
When the males of Israel were numbered at 20 years of age (Ex. 30:1212When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. (Exodus 30:12)), each gave a half shekel of atonement money to Jehovah; now "a shekel is twenty gerahs," i.e., 10 gerahs was the amount claimed by God as the suited sum for the acknowledgment of the person's responsibility to God. But in 1 Sam. 9, Saul cannot find his father's asses, and loses his own way. His servant tells him of the man of God hard by, who can show him the way. Saul hesitates to go because he has no present to give the man of God. The servant answers again, "Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver, that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way." Saul replies, "Well said; come, let us go." That is to say 5 gerahs (=¼ shekel) was just what was suitable between two men; whereas we saw above, that 10 gerahs were rendered from man to God.
In Matt. 25 our Lord takes 10 virgins to represent the kingdom of heaven as at first before God, but the moment they go on to act in their responsibility on earth, they divide into two fives.
The demand upon Pharaoh by God "Let my people go, that they may serve me," is enforced by a ten-fold judgment of plagues.
In the close of Num. 3 where the Levites are taken for God instead of the first-born males, man for man, more firstborn are found in the camp than Levites, by 273. For these 273, Moses takes 5 shekels each and this at first may seem a 5 used God-ward; but if it be remembered that ordinarily 10 gerahs (or a ½ shekel) were given for atonement money, as we have seen, then these special 273 give 10-fold so much, or 100 gerahs. And the character of 10 is sustained, though it looked a variation. Notice here, that a number multiplied by itself usually carries the original thought to a strong degree. And in this last instance it is so. The special price, for the 273 "to be redeemed" (v. 48), is ten times the usual amount.
The silver sockets which form the foundation of the Tabernacle are in number 100 (Ex. 38:2727And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. (Exodus 38:27)), the figure of Christ the only foundation now (1 Cor. 3:1111For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)). And whereas 10 simply has the character of responsibility God-ward, the special responsibility of supporting God's habitation, which Christ alone is equal to, may be seen in the 10 times 10 of this appointment. It may be observed in passing, that 1 Peter 1:18,1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19) goes to show the moral value of silver as redemption by blood, and so, while the figure of foundation is clear as a whole of Christ as such, the additional thought of full responsibility met by His blood lies close at hand also.
In the arrangements of the court of the Tabernacle another illustration is found in connection with this multiplication of a number by itself. The linen curtains forming the enclosure are 5 cubits high, and the pillars on which they are carried are 5 cubits apart, if set out equidistant from each other; so that a single pillar supports 5 x 5 cubits of fine twined linen. Now, as a board in the building illustrates a believer in God's spiritual house in the enjoyment of many privileges, so a pillar of the court illustrates him before the world (towards the camp), responsible to display 5 x 5 cubits of white linen to it; i.e., to show Christ in practical righteousnesses to such an extent. It is the emphatic figure of a man in responsibility towards men; and it is 5 cubits multiplied by 5.
Connect this with the measure of the brazen altar. In this vessel, Christ is seen sustaining fire, i.e., the judgment of God. And its horizontal measure is 5 x 5 cubits (Ex. 27:11And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. (Exodus 27:1)). For responsible man, as a fact, failed to display the appointed linen. He totally failed. "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," is a Divine sentence (Isa. 64:66But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)). And so 5 x 5 has now become the figure measure of a man's guilt. The linen he should have upheld in purity has, in his hands, gone to rags and become filthy too. This is true of every one of us naturally. But when at the place of judgment, God sets before us a figure of Christ, blessed be His name, bearing that judgment, then the measure in which He is presented as bearing it is precisely the emphatic measure, 5 x 5, which expresses my responsibility and my failure (or guilt) at the same time. How holy is Jehovah, and how grace reigns now through righteousness at the Cross of Christ!
Responsible man has defiled every thread which he ought to have held up in purity linen 5 x 5 and God declares to him a Savior who accurately bore the penalty and met God's holy claims. The intense expression of the sinners guilt has a perfect counterpart provided by God Himself through the Lord Jesus; so that the Holy, Holy, Holy One can be "just and the justifier of him that is of the faith of Jesus." Is it not blessed to own 5 x 5 guilt and know the absolute 5 x 5 answer of Christ which God has received already?
Another use of 5 in this character of responsibility is found in the pillars of the court. They are in all 60, i.e., 12 x 5: the number of the nation 12, according to its tribes, multiplied by 5, when figured in responsibility before the world, whereas the boards of the building are 12 x 4 where the nation is figured before God in the fullness of privilege on earth.
At the door of the Tabernacle, where by Christ man is introduced into the presence of God, the two numbers 5 and 10 will be found: the door being hung on 5 pillars, but these ranging with the boards would be 10 cubits high. This height of the boards is full of value, for it is a figure as well as a fact, the boards actually before God, as believers now are God's spiritual house and responsible before Him according to the privileges of the place.
Once more, the twenty boards of the south side are held together by rings of gold, with 5 bars passed through them; and it is 5 bars also, taken to hold together the six boards of the west end. This apparent disproportion (5 for six boards, and the same number 5 for twenty boards) suggests a cause which lies in the number 5 itself. And the solution is easy, if 5 be here as elsewhere the expression of the man-ward view of responsibility. Inside, the boards before God stand their clear ten cubits high; and outside 5 bars on each side (also of wood) show believers acting together before the world in the true character of their responsibility, as forming the one habitation of God.
The 10 curtains of the tabernacle (Ex. 26) are put together in two 5's, and then united by 5 x 10 taches of gold, and under those taches the veil was hung. All is Christ primarily (Col. 2:16,1716Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. (Colossians 2:16‑17)): 10 curtains, Christ in full responsibility before God, displaying the glories which the decorations may illustrate, but 5 outside the veil seen by the priest when he entered the "holy" on service. And then 5 x 10 = 50 gold taches over the veil, presently to be rent that man may enter the holiest, speak again of all responsibility man-ward and God-ward taken up by the Lord Jesus. So the moment of His death the veil of the temple was rent in two and God Himself rent it "from top to bottom" so clearing the approach to Himself, the instant His holiness was met by Him who would take up 5 and 10 and 50 and 100, yea, and all their multiples too, and exceed every figure and shadow and numeral, outstripping all multiplication: when addressed as a Lamb "as it had been slain," 1,000's and 10,000's times 10,000's cried "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing."
In the trespass offering will be found the appointment that a fifth part of the holy thing about which the trespass was committed was to be given to the priest, and similarly in case of trespass against a neighbor. So if an unclean beast were vowed to Jehovah and the owner desired to redeem it, then he was to add one fifth to the priest's estimation to do so (Lev. 27:1313But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation. (Leviticus 27:13)). This seems a variation from the rule of a tithe.
Josh. 10:5,265Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it. (Joshua 10:5)
26And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening. (Joshua 10:26). The 5 kings of the Amorites slain by Joshua and hung on 5 trees.
Josh. 13:33From Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites: (Joshua 13:3). The 5 lords of the Philistines, who in Judg. 3:33Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath. (Judges 3:3) were "left to prove Israel."
1 Sam. 6:44Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. (1 Samuel 6:4). Their emerods and mice were 5 accordingly. Gen. 14:2-92That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. 3All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. 4Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 6And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness. 7And they returned, and came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar. 8And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim; 9With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five. (Genesis 14:2‑9) presents 5 cities of the plain.
The special image of responsibility committed to man was composed of 5 materials: gold, silver, brass, iron and clay (Dan. 2).
1 Sam. 25:1818Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. (1 Samuel 25:18). Abigail takes multiples of 5 to David: 200 (5 x 40) loaves, 5 sheep, 5 measures of parched corn; 100 clusters of raisins, 200 cakes of figs. And (v. 42) she took 5 damsels as her personal servants when she became David's wife.
The testimony to Israel was in 5 Books, the Pentateuch. And the Psalms, the Testimony to the Remnant, are divided into 5.
Before leaving the Old Testament turn to Ex. 13:1818But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. (Exodus 13:18) again; "harnessed" is in ranks of 5, i.e., the people went forth in good order and in a sense of proper responsibility. This word is used only three other times: Josh. 1:14,4:12, "armed," and in Judg. 7:1111And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. (Judges 7:11) "the armed men." In the former two the Gadites &c. were to go properly ordered in ranks of 5; and they did so, and in the last passage, all the host of Midian, however well trained in responsibility, shown by its ranks of 5, is routed by a barley cake, if God use it.
Gold is represented as coming from 5 places: Havilah, Ophir, Sheba, Parvaim and Uphaz.
There is a kindred 5 in 1 Tim. 4:1212Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12), "be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in purity." (The editors are agreed generally to leave out "in spirit," as it is not found in the oldest MSS.)
"Whosoever hath, to him shall be given," &c. (which is the principle of responsibility in its degrees) is 5 times recorded: Matt. 13:12, 25:29; Mark 4:2525For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. (Mark 4:25); Luke 8:18, 19:26.
Matt. 20:1-61For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. 2And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? (Matthew 20:1‑6). The householder goes out 5 times to get laborers, i.e., he acts up to his proper responsibility in the care of his property.
The parable of the "talents" (Matt. 25) shows each servant entrusted "according to his several ability," and there, the highest amount is 5 talents. But in the parable of the "pounds" (Luke 19), each servant has the same amount of means put at his disposal and their ability is proven to be unequal by the result, one making a 10-fold gain.
This leads us to a feature not yet mentioned, viz., that sometimes 10 is used to express special stress of responsibility between men. Thus:
Dan. 1:1414So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. (Daniel 1:14). The princes were proved on pulse for 10 days, and (v. 20) found 10 times better than all in the realm.
Before leaving number 5, there is one other use of it which is peculiar the smiting "under the fifth rib." We have seen that there are 4 instances of this recorded and its effect in each case is death. Is it not the place of the heart? Now the heart is the true seat of responsibility; for out of the heart "are the issues of life" and "with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." It is, "My son, give me thy heart" not thy head. And there is real significance in the expression "fifth rib" as connected with the heart where responsibility lies.
In 1 Cor. 14:2626How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. (1 Corinthians 14:26), a psalm, a doctrine, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation are the 5 forms by which responsibility expressed itself at Corinth.
Paul 5 times received 40 stripes, save one.
In Matthew's gospel the "kingdom of God" is 5 times mentioned: 6:33 introduces it; 12:28 gives proof and hints its character of power; 19:24 shows who cannot go in; 21:31 shows who can; 21:43 shows it taken away in judgment.
Turning now to 10 a little further, notice the difference between the gate and the door to the Tabernacle. The gate is stated to be 20 cubits long and 5 high = 100 superficial cubits in area. And the door appears to be the same in area, or it would not close in the end of the building; but the shape is altered to 10 x 10 to do this. So Christ has two characters: as gate 5 cubits high, He is the alone One by whom man has the least of privilege shown him and the gospel as at the brazen altar is shown him; but as the door (10 x 10) He brings man right in to God, not merely to outward privilege (means of grace) but "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."