The Number Five: Wisdom of Kahana

As some of you are already aware, several weeks back I was once again awoken by a loud thundering voice that was no more than a silent whisper. It was not totally unexpected. As you will read in the Journey Unto Shiloh series, voices in the night has not been that uncommon an occurrence in my life. The fact that I wasn’t expecting anything until 2016 meant that this message had to be of special significance; in other words an urgent ‘txt’ from above. Trying to decipher its meaning is always the difficult part. It wasn’t a very long message, but the manner in which it was delivered told me that nonetheless it was a very important one. The words were clear enough, even simple, “MY NUMBER IS FIVE.” Five is definitely a number, so nothing unusual about that. But why would that matter to the Almighty? Was it a statement of fact? Was it a warning? Was it an offer as in the case of Abraham in order to save Sodom and Gomorrah? Find five righteous people and our civilization will be saved? That was clearly being left to me to decipher but where does one start? My only point of reference was the word ‘MY’. The number obviously had a specific meaning to the Lord and the only reference material we’ve been offered is our Tanach. Therefore, that’s where I decided the investigation had to begin. If I could determine the significance of the number in the past, then perhaps I could determine its significance in future events as well. It was a stab in the dark, but every investigation has to begin somewhere. So bear with me as I stumble around in the dark, and any insights that you can provide will be greatly appreciated. After all, the messenger is only here to deliver the message, what is done with it is up to you.

Surprisingly, the number five is far more significant in Jewish traditions than I had ever given it credit. Of course, we all immediately think of the five books of the Torah and that fact alone holds great significance but it is not until one starts looking at the relevance of five throughout our religious texts and history that we come to recognize there is a message and five is truly the number of the Lord. It is often said that the Psalms are the poetic commentary of the Torah. That they summarize everything that we must learn from the Torah in a simplistic and poetic manner. That being the case, then we can appreciate that similarly, there are five sections in the books of Psalms. They are a reflection of main text, almost as if they were a book of abstracts for reference purposes. But this is all common knowledge and hardly a reason to rouse me from my sleep to proclaim the significance of the number five.

The Tanach speaks of five stages in the life of Israel, from its inception during the Exodus to its early existence as a kingdom under the Judges and Kings. This is followed by the return from Persia during the second Temple Period and then once more we will be exiled and scattered to the four corners of the world according to the prophecies. Lastly there will be a time well into the future when the in-gathering occurs, when God will return us to the land of our forefathers and restore us permanently, once and for all. Again, the uncovering of the number five behind our life stages as a people is not a shattering revelation and therefore I cannot believe it was the reason I was sent the message.

What might not be so obvious is that the Torah indicates that the Lord has imbued us with five positive characteristics as displayed by our leaders and our prophets. The first is as teacher, to guide us, educate us and steer us in the path of the Lord. The second is that of holy preacher as either priest or prophet, men that can actually hear the voice of God and know immediately what He demands of us. Third is the healer, the ability to save both body and soul, a characteristic displayed by many of our holiest leaders and prophets, some like Elisha who even brought a girl back from the brink of death. Fourth is that of artist, characteristics such as musician epitomized by David, or poet as seen with Solomon. Alternatively, perhaps the literary expertise of a Hezekiah or a Josiah is more to the credit of an artist. And lastly, the Lord has imbued our leaders with the spirit and characteristics of the warrior, generals like Joshua, Saul, David and so many others. Combine these five characteristics into a single person and in most likelihood we have a messiah. Thus, five is the recipe for our redemption. Perhaps this message may have had something to do with my awakening? That it was a way of telling me that the restoration, our redemption is at hand. That still would be considered rather vague and I don’t believe there was any intention to be vague at all when this message was delivered.

Repeatedly we are given evidence in the Tanach that there are five points in the heavens. Four which are the corners of the universe but if we were to draw lines from these corners they would intersect at the midpoint, and that is the point wherein the Host of Hosts resides But the corners of the universe are far more than a physical “directions” of this reality, for the point of intersection is a spiritual dimension in addition to the physical corner posts and all that lies in between. The fifth point is the spiritual core of our existence, and it is from that single point, that dot in the centre of the cosmos from which the entire universe is infused with a purpose. We might easily overlook this very significant view of the universe if it were not for the fact that God reminds us every time we write the number five in Hebrew using the letter hay ה. Its shape conveys the five dimensions of this cosmos, for it is composed of the miniscule letter yod י – which connotes the essence of God – inside the letter dalet ד, which is also the number four and therefore symbolic of the four directions. One might even notice that the dalet ד is in fact a corner or the model of a corner. Coincidence? I hardly think so. More so, the letter yod י is a very unique letter. On its own, it is the only letter in Hebrew which doesn’t touch the base line and is essentially no more than a small mark floating high above the line. As such, it represents an almost intangible, spiritual existence all on its own and here it is contained within the corner, at the centre if we were to surround it by three other dalets ד. Therefore, the significance of the written number cannot be overlooked and it does proclaim that number of the Lord actually is five. Perhaps this had more to do with my awakening and the urgency of the message. As some of you are aware, scientists in Europe are eagerly seeking the God-Particle. Higgs boson particle for those that prefer the more technically accurate name. But the real question that no one seems to be asking is, "what will mankind do with it?" Now that it has been detected on July 4, 2012, will mankind try to capture it, harness it, control it? If so, what does that actually mean in real-life terms. If you ask the scientists directly they will tell you that as yet, there are no known immediate technological benefits of finding the Higgs particle. But they believe practical uses, which can take decades to emerge will be found. They are asking me to believe that the world nations spent billions of dollars to find something that they had no justifiable reason to find in the first place. No known advantages, no guarantees of returned profits, no evidence of benefits to mankind, but instead all the countries were suddenly interested in the pure pursuit of science for science sake. Which infinite world of reality has that come from because it certainly isn’t a reflection of this one and mankind has never been that philanthropic to spend that much money without any apparent benefit. I have to believe that they do have some knowledge of what this particle will do if it can be captured and I’m afraid that it won’t be a pretty picture. As Einstein said, “If he knew in advance what his theories would be used for, he never would have released them.”

I can’t tell you if the reason I was awaken in the middle of the night was because it was a warning of imminent destruction. That once again mankind was on the verge of causing a biblical flood or tower of Babel. All I can tell you was that there was an immediate seriousness behind the message. I will continue to explore it, leaving this as only one possibility for you to contemplate. I am certain that there is more to this episode and therefore in the next article I will continue to reveal more findings from the Tanach concerning the number five. Little did I realize when I began this research, that I would be finding enough references and materials to fill a small book. But what I can definitely tell you is the number of the Lord is truly FIVE.

Shalom Aleichim

Avrom Aryeh-Zuk Kahana