5 and 2 - Noticing a Pattern

A Curiosity Journey

In my congregation, I’m working on a summer reading plan. The plan is for all of us to read the Gospels, one chapter per day, throughout the summer. I add a simple reflection question to guide the reading.

As I was working through developing the questions earlier this week, I saw this pattern emerging from Luke’s Gospel. So I dove down the rabbit hole and went on a curiosity journey.

The numbers 5 and 2 were paired together several times. Here are a few examples of the pattern.

In the feeding of the 5,000 miracle, Jesus uses 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish (Luke 9:13).

A few chapters later, Jesus asks “Are not 5 sparrows sold for 2 pennies?” (Luke 12:6).

A couple chapters later there is a parable in which one of the characters talks about having bought 5 yoke of oxen. A yoke is always 2. So it’s a 5 times 2 situation. (Luke 14:19).

In the parable of the minas, it is the 2nd servant who comes and says, “Lord, your mina has made 5 minas” (Luke 19:18).

And, perhaps not as obviously fitting into the pattern are these:

Jesus tells a parable about a money lender, who has 2 debtors one who owes 500 and one who owes 50 denarii (Luke 7:41).

Jesus talks about division within houses where there are 5 people, divided 2 against 3 (Luke 12:52).

In the parable of the dishonest manager, that manager takes the bills of two people and cuts them by measures of 50 and 20 (Luke 16:6-7).

In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the man in torment wants 2 people—Abraham and Lazarus—to warn his 5 brothers of the torment to come (Luke 16:28).

What makes this most interesting to me is that other than the feeding of the 5,000 story (and a similar story to the minas parable in Matthew 25 called the parable of the talents), none of the other examples take place in the other Gospels.

These are unique material to Luke’s Gospel. Which leads me to wonder…why? Do the numbers 5 and 2 have meaning when paired together that I am not aware of? Is it a cultural thing that Luke’s mostly Gentile audience would have understood?

Which then leads me to look at the book of Acts (also written by Luke)…where I find no examples of this pattern. And then I look at the rest of the New Testament where I find only one possible use of the pattern in Revelation 17:10, where there are 7 kings. 5 have fallen. 2 have not (1 is present, 1 is in the future). And in the Old Testament there is one possible connection with the Joseph and the famine in Genesis 45, and another with the sacrifice of peace offerings in Numbers 7. Perhaps if I dug more, I’d find more.

But, all in all, I’m left confused. I see this pattern, but I do not see the point or purpose to it. I’m guessing that some biblical commentator has picked up on the pattern, and I’ll keep my eyes open for a helpful explanation.

But sometimes that’s where a curiosity journey leads: to no definitive answer.

In a world that emphasizes answers, it is my hope that people see how curiosity is worth it even if it does not lead to an answer. To wonder and dig deeper is good in and of itself. Maybe there is no answer as to why this pattern is here. Maybe it is complete coincidence and there is no pattern. Maybe I’ll find an answer in a few weeks or years. Maybe I won’t. But this curiosity has led me all over through the Scriptures, searching and wondering.

That is the reason biblical curiosity is so valuable. Not because it leads to answers, but because it leads to more time in God’s Word.

Thanks for joining me on the curiosity journey today.

Andy