Q. “C. Somerset.” What does the number five signify in Scripture?
A. Five seems to be used to signify that which is relatively small; the number characterizing weakness. In Lev. 26:8, we read, “Five of you shall chase a hundred.” The very smallness of Israel, if faithful, would easily discomfit their enemies in power. In Isaiah 30:17, on the other hand, it is said of them in the time of their judgment, “At the rebuke of five shall ye flee; till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.” In the Parable of tile Ten Virgins, we find that after the midnight cry they were broken up into fives — weakness — in the interval between the hope of the Lord’s coming being revived in the Church, and the shutting of the door. We find the Lord (Matt. 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, and John 6) feeding the multitude from five loaves and two fishes. He is equal to the demand, no matter how scanty the supply, at times of peculiar moment in the gospel history. Paul says, “I had rather speak five words with my understanding than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue” (1 Cor. 14:19).
There are many other places “five” is used in Scripture, but these passages will help to an understanding of its meaning as a symbol.