On the Edge of the World: The Final Briefing Text: Numbers 36:13
Introduction: The Constitution of a Kingdom
Every book has a final sentence. Every story has an end, which is really just the setup for the next story. We have come to the end of the book of Numbers, a book of wanderings, of rebellion, of judgment, but also a book of staggering grace and covenant faithfulness. A whole generation that came out of Egypt with cowardly unbelief in their hearts has fallen in the wilderness. Now, a new generation stands poised, looking across the Jordan River at the high walls of Jericho. They are on the plains of Moab, on the very edge of their inheritance.
And what does God give them in this final moment, before the conquest begins? He does not give them a pep talk in the modern sense. He does not give them a rousing bit of sentimental fluff. He gives them law. He gives them commandments and judgments. He concludes this grand, messy, 40-year story with a summary statement that functions as a colophon, a final stamp of divine authority. This is God's way. Before the battle, you review the terms of engagement. Before you build a nation, you must have the constitution of that nation. Before you take possession of the gift, you must know the Giver and the rules of His house.
Our secular age thinks of law as an arbitrary imposition, a restriction on our personal freedom. We want a god of vague love, not a king who issues binding statutes. But the Bible knows nothing of this. God's law is a gift of grace. It is the architectural blueprint for a sane and prosperous society. It is the trellis on which true freedom grows. To reject God's law is to reject God, and to reject God is to embrace chaos. What we see here in this final verse of Numbers is not an afterthought. It is the foundational claim upon which the entire conquest of Canaan, and by extension, the entire project of Christendom, is built.
This verse is a summary, a location, and a commission. It tells us what was given, where it was given, and through whom it was given. It is the final briefing on the eve of invasion, and it has everything to do with us, who also stand on the edge of a promised inheritance, facing our own Jerichos.
The Text
These are the commandments and the judgments which Yahweh commanded to the sons of Israel by the hand of Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
(Numbers 36:13 LSB)
The Substance of the Covenant (v. 13a)
The verse begins by defining what has been delivered.
"These are the commandments and the judgments..."
This is a comprehensive summary. It refers not just to the immediate context of inheritance laws for the daughters of Zelophehad, but to the entire body of instruction given in the latter part of Numbers. The distinction between "commandments" and "judgments" is an important one. The commandments are the broad, foundational moral principles, the timeless statutes that flow from God's own character. Think of them as the constitution. The judgments, or ordinances, are the case-law applications of those principles. They are the specific rulings that show how the constitution applies to the nitty-gritty of everyday life, property disputes, civil order, and ceremonial cleanliness.
This is crucial. God is not a distant, abstract deity. He is intensely interested in the particulars. His law covers everything, from worship in the temple to fences between pastures. This demolishes the sacred/secular distinction that has so neutered the modern church. For God, all of life is sacred. All of life is to be brought under His authority. By giving both commandments and judgments, God provides Israel with a complete legal framework for a new society. He is not just saving their souls for the sweet by-and-by; He is establishing His kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven. This is the foundation of theonomy, the simple recognition that God's law is good for men, and is the only true standard of justice for nations.
And notice the source: "...which Yahweh commanded." This is not the "Suggestions of Moses" or the "Collected Wisdom of the Elders." This is the Word of the sovereign Lord. Yahweh is the covenant name of God. He is the God who makes promises and keeps them. The authority of this law rests not on its reasonableness to us, or its cultural utility, but on the bare fact that God spoke it. Our response is not to be negotiation, but obedience.
The Mediator and the People (v. 13b)
Next, the text identifies the agent and the recipients of this law.
"...to the sons of Israel by the hand of Moses..."
The law was given "to the sons of Israel." This was a covenant made with a particular people at a particular time. And yet, this is not some dusty tribal code with no relevance to us. The church is the new Israel, grafted into the olive tree (Rom. 11). We are the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). While the specific ceremonial and civil applications have been fulfilled and transformed in Christ, the underlying moral law, the equity of these judgments, remains our standard. We are the people of God, and this is the law of our King.
The law comes "by the hand of Moses." Moses is the great mediator of the Old Covenant. God speaks to Moses, and Moses speaks to the people. He stands in the gap. In this, Moses is a magnificent type of the Lord Jesus Christ. God raised up a prophet "like unto me," Moses said, and to Him we must listen (Deut. 18:15). Jesus is the mediator of a new and better covenant. But where Moses brought the law written on stone, a ministry of death that exposed sin (2 Cor. 3:7), Christ brings the law written on the heart by the Spirit, a ministry of life that empowers obedience. Moses stands on the edge of the promised land but cannot enter. Jesus, our Joshua, leads us all the way in.
The Location of the Commission (v. 13c)
The final clause of the verse grounds this entire transaction in a very specific time and place.
"...in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho."
This is not just geographical data. This is theology soaked in geography. They are "in the plains of Moab." Moab was born of incest (Gen. 19), a perennial enemy of Israel. They are receiving the holy law of God while camped in enemy territory. This is a picture of the Christian life. We are resident aliens, living in a world that is not our home, a world hostile to our King and His law. And it is precisely here, in the plains of Moab, that we are to live out His commandments.
They are "by the Jordan." The Jordan is the river of death and transition. It is the final barrier between the wilderness and the inheritance. To cross it is to leave the old life of wandering behind and to enter the new life of conquest and settlement. This entire generation was born in the wilderness; now they must cross the Jordan. This is a picture of our own conversion and sanctification. We have been brought through the waters of baptism, leaving the wilderness of our sin, and are now called to the fight of faith, to take dominion in the promised land of our lives and culture.
And they are "opposite Jericho." They are looking right at it. Jericho is the first and most formidable obstacle. It is a fortress of paganism, its walls representing the proud and defiant self-sufficiency of man. And it is here, staring the enemy in the face, that God gives them His law. This is a profound statement of spiritual warfare. God's law is not a defensive measure for a holy huddle. It is an offensive weapon. It is the battle plan. How will the walls of Jericho fall? Not by battering rams, but by a liturgical act of obedience, by marching around the city according to the precise commands of God. The conquest of the world is a legislative and liturgical conquest. We overcome the world by obeying the Word of God in the face of the world.
Conclusion: Our Jericho and Our Jordan
So, this final verse of Numbers is far more than a simple historical footnote. It is our story. We too live in the plains of Moab, in a culture hostile to our faith. We stand at our own Jordan, called to leave the failures of the past behind and to press into the inheritance that Christ has won for us. And before us stand our own Jerichos, the towering strongholds of secularism, rebellion, and unbelief that seem impenetrable.
What is God's instruction to us in this moment? The same as it was to Israel. He gives us His commandments and His judgments. He gives us the perfect law of liberty in the Holy Scriptures. He does not call us to invent a new strategy, to accommodate the spirit of the age, or to make peace with the inhabitants of the land. He calls us to believe His Word and to obey His Word.
The book of Numbers ends here, on the precipice. The book of Joshua begins with the action. This is where we live. We have been given the complete and sufficient Word of God. We have a greater Mediator than Moses in the Lord Jesus. We have a greater promise of a global inheritance. The question is, what will we do? Will we grumble and shrink back like the first generation? Or will we take God at His Word, arm ourselves with His law, and by faith, march on our Jerichos until the walls come tumbling down?