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The Spiritual Significance of Numbers in Scripture – Number 5

Grace Through Faith

[Study Aired January 11, 2025]

Beginning in Genesis the number five is connected to grace through faith. It was through faith that Joseph waited for his dreams to be fulfilled, and when they were he showed great favor to his full brother by the same mother, Benjamin:

Gen 45:22  To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.

Signifying the fruits of the work of grace, Joseph presented five of his brothers to Pharaoh:

Gen 47:2  And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.

Those five brothers in this story signify Christ presenting those His Father has given Him to His Father.

Signifying the grace and mercy we have been given and which we, as “the temple of God”, will in time extend to the whole world (Rom 11:30-32), nearly every measurement of the temple was a multiple of five.

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

There were three entrances to the tabernacle. Three signifies the process of us as we are being judged. The first part was the gate of the court which was twenty cubits wide and five cubits high hung upon four pillars:

Exo 27:16  And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.

Exo 38:18  And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.

The second was the door of the tabernacle:

Exo 26:36  And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.
Exo 26:37 And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.

The length of the court of the tabernacle was a hundred cubits:

Exo 27:9 And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits [5×20] long for one side:

The width (breadth) of the court was fifty cubits:

Exo 27:12 And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits [5×10]: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten [5×2].

The measurements of the wings of the cherubim are “five cubits”:

1Ki 6:24 And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.

2Ch 3:12 And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub.

The height of the chapiters placed on the tops of the pillars before Solomon’s temple were five cubits each:

1Ki 7:16 And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits:

The lavers in which the Levites washed themselves and the offerings were ten in total with five on either side of the temple:

1Ki 7:38  Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths [5 times 8]: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.
1Ki 7:39 And he put five bases on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward over against the south.

The candlesticks “before the oracle” were five on the right and five on the left:

1Ki 7:49 And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,

The implements of the temple were in fives:

2Ch 4:6 He made also ten lavers, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them: such things as they offered for the burnt offering they [the Levites who were not priests] washed in them; but the sea was for the priests [only] to wash in. [‘We have a sea as well as an altar, in which they that serve the tabernacle have no right to wash.]

Heb 13:10  We have an altar [the golden altar of incense within the first holy place], whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

The candlesticks which give light to all who are within the temple of God are in multiples of five:

2Ch 4:7 And he made ten candlesticks of gold according to their form, and set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left.

The tables at which the priests within the temple dined and the basins out of which they were fed were in multiples of the number five:

2Ch 4:8 He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. And he made an hundred basons of gold.

The measurements of the “molten sea”, used only for the cleansing of the priests, signifying the cleansing of all those “who first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:11-12; Rev 15:2), were all multiples of five:

1Ki 7:23  And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits [5×6] did compass it round about.

While this molten sea was literally filled with water for the cleansing of the priests, that same ‘molten sea’ becomes ‘a sea of glass mingled with fire’ in Revelation 15:

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had [by grace through faith… first] gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Both water and fire cleanse us, but the fire follows the water:

Num 31:23  Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

This all relates to the Lord’s “nation of kings and priests… who first trusted in Christ [who] will rule with Him a thousand years.” It will be “though [our] mercy they [the rest of the world] shall receive mercy” (Rom 11:30-31).

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

What we are being told is that “Ye are the temple of God” and “by grace are ye saved through faith.” The ‘mingled with fire’ is the chastening work of grace experienced by “every son He receives” (Heb 12:6).  The grace of God chastens us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live Godly lives in this present age (Tit 2:11-12). That chastening grace is the significance of the number five.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811: ‘paideuo’, chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world [G165: ‘aion’, age];

Understanding what grace does gives us a much deeper understanding of what this verse is saying:

Rom 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, [chastening] grace did much more abound:

We are self-righteous stubborn sinners, but God’s chastening overcomes us.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

That is the positive significance of the number 5. It is only “by [chastening] grace… through faith” that anyone comes to Christ, and both the grace and the faith are a gift from God.

What we are told is that the whole world is God’s “offspring” and that He will not lose a single soul:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

These are Paul’s words to the pagan Athenians:

Act 17:27  That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

All men of all time will be saved “by grace… through faith”:

Gal 2:11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
Gal 2:12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
Gal 2:13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. [hypocrisy]
Gal 2:14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before [them] all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Gal 2:15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

The wise and foolish virgins were five each:

Mat 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Mat 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

The five foolish virgins are a negative application of the number five.

The holy anointing oil was of five parts, four spices and “and a hin of olive oil.” The four spices were measured in shekels which were divisible by five:

Exo 30:22 Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Exo 30:23 Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred  shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much,  even two hundred and fifty  shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,
Exo 30:24 And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin:
Exo 30:25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.

The title ‘Christ’ (G5547) means ‘anointed.’ Christ was His Father’s anointed, meaning He had been given His Father’s spirit without measure:

Joh 3:34  For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

It was “the spirit [without] measure” that kept Christ from ever sinning. We have been “sealed with the holy spirit of promise”:

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

We have been given an “unction of the spirit” which gives us the ability to discern those who are “not… of us”, but Christ alone is referred to when we are told that ‘God gave not His spirit by measure unto Him’.

1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
1Jn 2:20  But ye have an unction [G5545: ‘krismah’, anointed] from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

This word translated as ‘unction’ here in 1 John 2:20 appears only three times in the New Testament, and the other two times are in verse 27 of this same chapter where it is twice translated as ‘anointing.’

1Jn 2:27  But the anointing [G5545: ‘krismah’] which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing [G5545: ‘krismah’] teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

The Lord’s spirit is signified by ‘the holy anointing oil.’

The incense was of five parts, the fifth being salt, translated as “tempered together.”

Exo 30:34 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, [1] stacte, and [2] onycha, and [3] galbanum; these sweet spices with [4] pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:
Exo 30:35 And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, [5 – salt] tempered together [Heb: salt- malach-4414], pure and holy:
Exo 30:36 And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.
Exo 30:37 And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD.
Exo 30:38 Whosoever shall make like unto that [another Jesus], to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

David’s faith is signified by the “five smooth stones” which he “took out of the brook”, and he put them in his shepherd’s bag:

1Sa 17:38  And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.
1Sa 17:39  And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.
1Sa 17:40  And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.
1Sa 17:41  And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.

The smoothness of the five stones signifies the trial of our faith by God’s chastening grace and the “washing of water by the Word”:

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

We are lacking five things at the time the Lord chooses us as his wife:

Eze 16:4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born [1] thy navel was not cut, [2] neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; [3] thou wast not salted [4414: malach] at all, [4] nor swaddled at all.
Eze 16:5 [5] None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. [The day we first come to Christ, while still in Babylon]

The children of Israel came out of Egypt “harnessed” which the CLV translates as “in five sections.”

Exo 13:18  But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed [H2571: ‘chomesh’] out of the land of Egypt.
Exo 13:18  Hence Elohim caused the people to turn about by the wilderness road of the Sea of Weeds. Deployed in five sections, the sons of Israel ascended from the land of Egypt. (CLV)

Some of the literal versions translate this Hebrew word H2571 ‘chomesh’ as “in the fifth generation” (ABP; CAB).

The ERR and the ECB both say ‘in ranks of five” for the word ‘chomesh’.

Exo 13:18  But God led Elohim turned the people about around , through the way of the wilderness of the Red Reed sea: and the children sons of Israel Yisra El went up harnessed ascended in ranks of five out of the land of Egypt Misrayim . (ERR)

Exo 13:18  and Elohim turns the people around, through the way of the wilderness of the Reed sea: and the sons of Yisra El ascend in ranks of five from the land of Misrayim. (ECB)

The stone cut out of the mountain without hands became a kingdom that destroyed and replaced the fifth kingdom of iron mixed with clay to become a new fifth kingdom which filled the whole earth:

Dan 2:32  This image’s [1] head was of fine gold, his [2] breast and his arms of silver, his [3] belly and his thighs of brass,
Dan 2:33  [4] His legs of iron, [5] his feet part of iron and part of clay.
Dan 2:34  Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35  Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

These five kingdoms of men signify the object of Christ’s grace which is working with His elect in this age, and will come to all “in Adam” at the great white throne. The significance of the number five is the grace and faith which the Lord has gifted to those “whom He wills.”

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Psa 65:4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [ that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

God’s temple is covered with the number five. The anointing oil is all measured in increments of five, and the components in the incense are described in multiples of five. We are the Lord’s temple, where the Lord dwells.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

The anointing oil separates to the Lord that which must be separated to Him. Nothing else can do so.

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [G1670: ‘helkuo’, drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The sweet smelling incense keeps the Lord’s people connected to their heavenly Father through our prayers and supplications with gratitude:

Psa 107:22  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

The Lord is “working all things after the counsel of His own will”, and we will do well to “declare His works with rejoicing.”