The Number Five.

The life of David presents so many interesting events. We love to tell the stories of his achievements, as well as his defeats. Children marvel at David’s battle with Goliath, but the searching mind must also deal with his acts of adultery with Bathsheba, his scheming to take the life of Uriah, and his battle victories mixed with his fear and flights to escape Saul. Somewhere in all of this we know that God was looking for a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, 16:7). Certainly David was this man (1 Samuel 16:12, Acts 13:22).

Our self-righteous ego chafes at this statement. How can a man who sins so much be a man after the heart of God? But when we look at our own weakness, and our limited view of the nature of God, who are we to ask this question? A better question would be how could God love us so much that He would find a way not to destroy us all because of our sins? Yes, our salvation will always depend upon His grace.

In spite of his sins, David always had a way of turning back to God. He would quickly learn of his error and seek the heart of God again and again. Psalm 51 is a glorious example of this. We can learn valuable lessons by his example. When we fail to follow His will He is faithful to seek us and to search our spirit to find a repentant heart.

I have always been amazed by David’s approach to Goliath. In spite of his youth he was mature in the Lord beyond all others on the battlefield. Yes, he had certain skills with the sling, and he had successfully fought both lions and bear. He spoke for the Lord when he said, “who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God” (1 Samuel 17:26b)? “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Samuel 17:37a). This is the confidence that the Lord has bestowed upon David. We can have that same confidence in Christ.

Yes, it appears that Christ has His mark on David. But now consider David as he selects five stones from the brook. Why five stones, we may ask? Most Bible commentators have explained this by one of two choices: either he needed some extra stones in case he missed with the first, or he had the extra four stones because Goliath had four brothers. I find it difficult to accept these explanations. Goliath did indeed have four brothers, as revealed in 1 Chronicles 20:4-8. But there is no indication in the account of David’s battle that these brothers were present. Everyone knew that the destruction of Goliath alone was the key to winning the battle. And the thought that he would miss did not appear to be on the mind of David. It would not be in harmony with the amazing confidence that he displayed.

We have not answered the question—why five? We know that the number five in the Bible is usually associated with the goodness and grace of God. Our earthly bodies have five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot, and we have five senses. Somehow they must be in the image of God, as we were first created with that image in mind.

Other examples in the Scriptures reveal more of the grace associated with the number five. When Joseph fed his brothers he gave Benjamin five times as much (Genesis 43:34). The boards of the tabernacle were five in number on each side (Exodus 26:26,27). The leaders, under Moses, offered five rams, five goats, and five lambs (Numbers 7:17). In front of the inner sanctuary, Solomon placed five lampstands on the right and five on the left (1 Kings 7:49).

It is also evident that the hand of God is upon David. Or should we say that the five stones are a part of the mystery of Christ? Goliath is not your average warrior. He is descended from the Nephilim, who produced children with the daughters of men in the days of Noah (Genesis 6:4). They were Satan’s attempt to so corrupt the human race that God’s purpose for man, dominion over the earth and life within Christ, could not be achieved. God gave man a new beginning through the flood, but the Nephilim, being from the dark spirit world, still had ancestors that survived. If Goliath wins the battle, the forces of darkness would possess God’s Promised Land. God would be called a liar, and His purposes would be proclaimed as meaningless and false. In fact the very future of man was at risk.

God chooses His weapons, five in number. They are stones, formed from hardened clay of the earth. Earthly stones, representing the same clay from which man was made, was to be used to defeat the unearthly, the descendent of the Nephilim. God’s purpose for this earth and for man was not to be denied. One descendent of Adam, a young boy, would be guided so that his small stone would be aimed perfectly to hit a very small target on the forehead of Goliath and sink into his brain (1 Samuel 17:50). God can use the power of one youth, weak as it was by comparison to His power, to control the destiny of man.

We gather some insight into the five stones when we see David, at a later time, approach a priest named Ahimelech. He asks for the priest to give him five loaves of bread (1 Samuel 21:3). Why five we ask? It turns out that there is no ordinary bread on hand, so the priest gives him consecrated bread. We find that David, by taking the consecrated bread, is in effect also consecrated. This bread, often called showbread, is to be given only to those priests that are ceremoniously clean. Yet it is far more important to satisfy the needs of people, and Ahimelech allows this showbread to be used in this way. Jesus, Himself, refers to this act in Matthew 12:3-8, where He proclaims that “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath”. Christ can enter, and has entered, into the lives of His people across all the ages of time.

It comes to our mind that in the feeding of the five thousand a young lad offered five loaves of bread (Matthew 14:17). Here we see consecration, or the sanctifying power of Jesus, as He multiplies the loaves for our human consumption. The offering by Ahimelech is a shadow of this act by Jesus (Colossians 2:16,17). I can only conclude that David had some grasp of these things. His actions stem from his faith in God, and he is responding to a higher call that many of us ignore.

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