Recently I was reading a Bible study on faith which described
David, not the king of Israel with all his flaws but rather the young shepherd
boy with complete faith in his God, choosing 5 smooth stones from the creek
bed. He was preparing to go up and meet
the Philistine giant Goliath in battle, armed only with his sling and 5 smooth
stones. The study pointed out that
Goliath had four brothers, and that David had chosen a stone for each of the
giants. David had faith that God would not
only deliver Goliath into his hands, but Goliath’s four brothers as well.
I wondered after reading this what the significance of
the 5 smooth stones was? What other
instances are there of “5” specifically being included in a Bible text. The Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is
filled with number references. As I
read, I am always asking myself “what purpose did the Holy Spirit have in
inspiring the writer to include this specific information in the text?” Numbers have symbolic significance in the
Bible. For instance, the number seven is
the number of perfection or completion. Most
writings on the “numerology of the Bible” discuss the number 5 as being
symbolic of Grace. A few examples are
given, but I disagree with the conclusion.
I feel that the intentional use of the number 5 in a text is symbolic of
Faith, and many times it seems, the basis or starting point for Faith. Following, I have gathered some examples from
the Bible of the use of “5”, and what I feel it signifies or symbolizes.
The first 5 books of the Old Testament, the Torah, are
the foundation for the rest of the scripture writings. They provide the basis of Faith in a coming
Redeemer of this fallen world, of a Messiah to fulfill the Law, and of a coming
King for the nations.
Abram and Sarai became Abraham and Sarah when God changed
not just their name, but
also their role and their destiny. The 5th letter in the Hebrew
alphabet is Hey, the equivalent of
our letter “H”, and is the numerical value of 5 in Hebrew. God added the letter Hey to each of their names to change them. Both Abraham and Sarah’s stories revolve
around the concept of Faith: their joint
lack of faith in God’s pronouncement that they would have a son which led to
Hagar giving birth to Ishmael, and Abraham’s act of faith in preparing to offer
up his only son Isaac as a sacrifice to God.
