David "chose him five smooth stones out of the brook" (1 Sam. 17:40).
"The children of Israel went up harnessed" (by 5 in rank, margin) "out of the land of Egypt" (Ex. 13:18).
"Once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks" to Solomon (1 Kings 10:22): the world's tribute to its chief, in 5 items.
"The height five cubits of fine twined linen" (Ex. 27:18).
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. 14:20 shows Abram giving to Melchizedek as the priest of the Most High God, "tithes [10ths] of all." Gen. 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. 47:24). 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. 30:12), 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. 38:27), the figure of Christ the only foundation now (1 Cor. 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 1:18,19 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. 27:1). 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. 64:6). 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. 2:16,17): 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. 27:13). This seems a variation from the rule of a tithe.
The Gentiles are found in fives in the following group of instances: Num. 31:8. The 5 kings of Midian slain by Moses.
Josh. 10:5,26. The 5 kings of the Amorites slain by Joshua and hung on 5 trees.
Josh. 13:3. The 5 lords of the Philistines, who in Judg. 3:3 were "left to prove Israel."
1 Sam. 6:4. Their emerods and mice were 5 accordingly. Gen. 14:2-9 presents 5 cities of the plain.
Gen. 47:2. Joseph took 5 of his brethren to Pharaoh.
Gen. 43:34. Joseph sent Benjamin 5 times more than he sent to his other brothers.
The special image of responsibility committed to man was composed of 5 materials: gold, silver, brass, iron and clay (Dan. 2).
In Lev. 26:8, it says "five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight." (The latter is a 5 times greater proportion than the former.)
Judg. 18:2. Dan sends 5 men to spy out the land.
Each wing of a cherub stretches 5 cubits horizontally (1 Kings 6:24); and the cherub is the administrator towards man.
2 Kings 7:13. One proposes in a proper sense of responsibility, to send 5 horses to test the lepers report. In their wretched condition they send but 2.
"At the rebuke of five shall ye flee" (Isa. 30:17).
1 Kings 4:33. Solomon spake of "trees," "beasts," "of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes." In v. 32, his songs were a 1000 and 5. Why?
Isa. 19:18. "In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan."
1 Sam. 21:3. David asks 5 loaves of bread from the priest, Ahimelech.
1 Sam. 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.
The reward of labor, Sol. 8:11-12, was one fifth of the owner's profit, for Solomon the owner was to have 1000 of silver and the keepers 200. (May this be any clue to a practical application of "Masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal" Col. 4:1?)
Before leaving the Old Testament turn to Ex. 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. 7:11 "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 5-fold presentation of "wickedness" in Jer. 44:9.
When Israel desired a king, Samuel protests his own past integrity towards the people, by 5 questions: "whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith?" (1 Sam. 12:3).
There is a kindred 5 in 1 Tim. 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.)
In John 5:2,5 porches were built to the pool of Bethesda, i.e., in proper sense of responsibility to take advantage of the remnant of blessing at the troubling of the water.
Paul says, "I had rather speak five words...that... I might teach," &c. (1 Cor. 14:19).
"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 4:25; Luke 8:18, 19:26.
In Luke 16:28, the rich man has still 5 brothers responsible on earth.
Matt. 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:
Gen. 24:55. Laban would keep Rebekah 10 days.
Gen. 31:41. Jacob tells Laban he has changed his wages 10 times.
Gen. 24:10. The servant takes 10 camels in the energy of his fidelity, to endeavor his best.
Gen. 45:23. Joseph sends his father 10 asses and 10 she-asses laden, in his devoted love and care.
2 Sam. 18:11. Joab, in his strong anxiety to get rid of Absalom for David's sake, says he would have given 10 [shekels] of silver for his death.
2 Sam. 18:15. Ten young men bare Joab's armor. Job 19:3. "Ten times have ye reproached me."
Dan. 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 the New Testament, in Mark 16:17-18, five signs are to follow them that believe.
In 1 Cor. 14:26, a psalm, a doctrine, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation are the 5 forms by which responsibility expressed itself at Corinth.
In Eph. 4:11, responsibility is shown from the other side in the 5-fold gifts to the assembly.
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."