Strength in Numbers

The title of this post is meant as more than just a pun on the title of the Bible's fourth book. It is meant to convey what I think is the key theme of Numbers: a test of strength. The book starts with a census of all military eligible men among the Israelites. It proceeds to continue the narrative begun in Exodus, with the Israelites heading out from Sinai and moving toward the promised land so that they can move in and conquer it. Just as the Israelites are about to enter, the central crisis of the book unfolds. They send spies to scope out the land, and all the spies but Caleb and Joshua come back with an unfavorable report about the gigantic Anakites. Thus the people doubt God's mission for them to enter the land of Canaan, and many try to escape back to Egypt. It is at this moment that God desires to be rid of all the Israelites and start over with Moses, and Moses responds with this plea:

"Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for in your might you brought up this people from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people; for you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you will this people all one time, then the nations who have heard about you will say, 'It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them that he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.' And now, therefore, let the power of the Lord be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying,

'The Lord is slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love,
forgiving iniquity and transgression,
but by no means clearing the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children
to the third and the fourth generation.'

Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now."

Numbers

One of the most profound thing about numbers is how absolute they are. That is, they are absolute in their relationship to one another. "Two plus two is always four" is kind of a standard thing people say when they want to make a reference to the fact that certain truths are absolute.

I believe that by meditating on certain numbers we can better understand the world we live in. With our minds we can pierce through the chaos and confusion of a world where words often fail to have absolute meaning, and reach for a world of fact and reason. It is here that we will find liberty.

So what numbers am I meditating on?

• 730 billion - that's 730,000,000,000 - the number of dollars the federal government will spend on Social Security in 2011
• 491 billion - that's 491,000,000,000 - the number of dollars they will spend on Medicare
• 297 billion - that's 297,000,000,000 - the number of dollars they will spend on Medicaid
• 549 billion - that's 549,000,000,000 - the number of dollars they will spend on the Department of Defense
• 719 billion - that's 719,000,000,000 - the number of dollars they will spend on national security, including defense plus other agencies
• 3.834 trillion - that's 3,834,000,000,000 - the number of dollars they will spend total
• 1.267 trillion - that's 1,267,000,000,000 - the number of dollars they will spend over-budget, that is, the deficit they expect to accrue for the year 2011.
• 15.299 trillion - that's 15,299,000,000,000 - the expected GDP of the United States in the year 2011
• 10.498 trillion - that's 10,498,000,000,000 - the anticipated public debt owed by the United States in the year 2011.

Contemplate these numbers with me. What might they say about the world we live in?

An honest comparison

Today's XKCD comic--irreverent, but true.