God's Hand and the Number 5

 Look down at your right hand. Now your left. What do you see? Now look at your right foot. And your left. What do you see?

For most people, the answer will be five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot. Of course, some folks may not have five digits, for reasons ranging from accidents to genetics, but most people on Planet Earth have five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot.

Why? Remember, God made man in His image: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them’” (Gen. 1:26-27).

If humans have two hands with five fingers each and two feet with five toes each, and if humans are also made in the image of God, then it stands to reason that God also has two hands with five fingers each and two feet with five toes each. Indeed, the Bible describes Him as having “the appearance of a man” (Ezek. 1:26-28), albeit with infinitely more power and glory!

Now, the Hebrew alphabet uses letters for numerals. So the fifth and tenth letters of the Hebrew alphabet represent the numbers 5 and 10, respectively. Interestingly, both are linked to hands.

The fifth letter, the number of fingers on one hand, is “he”: ה. Like other languages, including Egyptian and Chinese, Hebrew was once written with pictographs, and the “he” pictograph depicted a stick figure holding his hands up: .

The tenth letter, the number of fingers on two hands, is yod: י. In the ancient pictographs, this letter appeared as an arm and hand: . Furthermore, the very name of this letter, yod, is related to the Hebrew word for “hand”: yad. Whenever we read the phrase “hand of God” in the Old Testament, “hand” is translated from yad (Strong’s # H3026).

Our hands give us the ability to work: “You also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you” (1 Thes. 4:11). The hand represents power: “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, with all his people and his land’” (Num. 21:34).

With our hands, we give: “You shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs” (Deut. 15:7-8). And with our hands, we take responsibility for what we ourselves have been given: “Moreover they did not require an account from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be paid to workmen, for they dealt faithfully” (2 Kings 12:15).

Of course, we use our hands for many other things as well, but these examples give us the main idea. And since our hands can do all these things, how much more can our Creator’s hands?

God’s hands have wrought mighty works: “Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands” (Psa. 102:25). God’s hand possesses power: “In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all” (1 Chron. 29:12).

God’s hand bestows blessings and mercy: “You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Psa. 145:16). With His hand, God helps His people: “Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me” (Psa. 139:10). And with His hand, God punishes the wicked: “But the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors” (1 Sam. 5:6).

Thus God’s hand can be upon someone either for good or for harm. He will set the righteous at His right hand, and the wicked at His left (Mat. 25:33).

Now it’s obvious that man has no power at all apart from the God who creates and sustains life, and so we must associate the number 5 more with God’s hand than with man’s. God warned Israel not to “say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth” (Deut. 8:17-18).

So let’s look at a few examples of the number 5 in Scripture. This continues a series on Biblical numbers and their meaning.

On the 5th day of Creation, God created the first living creatures: birds and sea creatures (Gen. 1:20-23). With His hand, God gave the gift of life, and by His hand He sustains it: “What You give them they gather in; You open Your hand, they are filled with good” (Psa. 104:28).

When Joseph gave gifts to his brothers, he opened his hand especially wide toward his younger brother Benjamin, giving him 5 times as much as his other brothers (Gen. 43:34) and also 5 changes of garments (Gen. 45:22). The name Benjamin, by the way, means “son of the right hand.”

In the fifth commandment, God commanded us to honor our parents (Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16). The people through whom He has given us the gift of life.

God proclaimed to the Israelites that, if only they obeyed Him, His hand would be with them against their enemies. By the hand of God, five Israelite men would put 100 enemies to flight (Lev. 26:8).

The fifth Holy Day listed in Lev. 23 is the Day of Atonement. This day pictures, in part, God’s gift of forgiveness, for the entire ceremony of Lev. 16 pictures the removal of sin. And on this day, God also gives the gift of liberty: “Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants” (Lev. 25:9-10).

When David went out to fight Goliath, he picked 5 stones for his sling (1 Sam. 17:40). And by the hand of God, David prevailed, for God delivered the Philistine into his hand (v. 46).

But when God’s people turn away from Him, His hand no longer bestows blessings. When the people of Judah turned away from God, Pharaoh Shishak came up from Egypt and captured Jerusalem in the 5th year of King Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:25; 2 Chron. 12:2). God had warned Judah, saying, “You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak” (2 Chron. 12:5).

Centuries later, King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, captured the city, destroyed the temple, and carried the people away captive. This happened in the 5th month (2 Kings 25:8; Jer. 1:3; 52:12) by the hand of God. Because of Judah’s sins, God delivered the people “into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants” (Jer. 46:46).

But God’s favor always returns to those who repent and who diligently seek Him. After God had freed many of the Jews from exile in Babylon and brought them back to Jerusalem, Ezra, a devout scribe and servant of God, set out for Jerusalem to teach the people. “On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him” (Ezra 7:9).

In the Book of Esther, God delivered His people from the hand of Haman and all those who hated them. In the city of Shushan, we read that the Jews killed five hundred of their enemies (Est. 9:6).

In the Gospels, we read that Jesus Christ took food in His hands, blessed and broke it, and fed a vast multitude with it. Namely, He fed five thousand families with 5 loaves of bread (Mat. 14:17-21).

And, for our final example, Jesus told a parable of ten virgins (Mat. 25:1-13). Five were wise, and five were foolish. The five wise were chosen and received favor; the five foolish were banished. One might say that He set the five wise on His right hand, and the five foolish on His left hand.

Of course, there are many, many more passages in Scripture that use the number 5. Far more than we have time or space to examine here.

But hopefully this gives us a deeper understanding of passages where we encounter the number 5. In most cases, such passages are telling us something about the hand of God. Either His hand is punishing sinners to turn them back to Him, or else bestowing grace and favor upon those who please Him.

Thoughts? Input? Questions? Any factors I may have overlooked? Let me know in the comments below!