Fifth part

Fifth Part

The Hebrew word chamishi (חֲמִישִׁי) ordinal number tells you the position or rank of something in a sequence, rather than the quantity.

ordinal number

An ordinal number tells you the position or rank of something in a sequence, rather than the quantity.

The term chamishi appears about forty-five times in the Old Testament, functioning as an ordinal number (“fifth”) or as the fraction “a fifth part.”

We can see the same thing with the ordinal “tenth” which appears about twenty-nine times in the Hebrew Scriptures with a usage clustered around three principals the breadth of which shows that the “tenth” consistently marks critical moments when the covenant people must pause, decide, or remember as actions of faith.

Cluster of usage

Its occurrences cluster around six main themes: creation, calendar, compensation, governmental order comes from the heart and mind of the people, prophetic chronology, and pastoral application.

Leviticus 19:25 instructs Israel to refrain from eating the fruit of newly planted trees for four years until the fifth year suggesting the rank of patience and a trust in reward through patient restraint.

To give an extra fifth suggest it is better to give to much rather than not give enough. Leviticus 5:16, Leviticus 6:5; Leviticus 22:14; Leviticus 27:13, 15, 19, 27, 31, and Numbers 5:7.

Thus, חֲמִישִׁי threads through Scripture as a quiet but persistent witness to God’s orderly creation, righteous compensation, covenant faithfulness, and redemptive hope.

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