Catholic Commentary
Closing Colophon: Commandments Given in the Plains of Moab
13These are the commandments and the ordinances which Yahweh commanded by Moses to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
Numbers 36:13 serves as a colophon concluding the legal material in Numbers by affirming that Yahweh commanded comprehensive laws and ordinances to Israel through Moses as mediator in the plains of Moab. The verse functions as an official seal authenticating the entire legislative deposit and emphasizing Israel's communal reception of divine law at the threshold of entering Canaan.
At the Jordan's edge, Israel receives the complete deposit of the law before inheriting the land—a threshold moment that reveals the law as preparation, not destination.
From a Catholic theological perspective, Numbers 36:13 enshrines several interlocking doctrines concerning divine revelation, Mosaic mediation, and the unity of Scripture.
Divine Revelation and Its Transmission: The Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum (§14) teaches that "God, the inspirer and author of the books of both Testaments, wisely arranged that the New Testament be hidden in the Old and the Old be made manifest in the New." This colophon, which closes Numbers by emphasizing the divine origin and Mosaic mediation of the law, illustrates precisely this arrangement. The "commandments and ordinances" given here are not abrogated but fulfilled and elevated in Christ (CCC §§1961–1964).
Moses as Type of Christ: The Church Fathers consistently interpreted Moses as a type of Christ. St. Gregory of Nyssa (Life of Moses) reads Moses' entire career as a progressive illumination of the soul's journey toward God. Origen notes that Moses could see the Promised Land but not enter — a typological sign that the Law points toward but cannot itself bestow the inheritance. It is Joshua (Yehoshua — the same name as Jesus) who leads the people across. This hermeneutical key, endorsed by the Catechism (§§128–130), means this colophon is not merely archival but prophetic.
The Pedagogy of the Law: The Catechism (§1963) calls the Old Law "a preparation for the Gospel" and "a pedagogy and a prophecy of things to come." Numbers 36:13, by closing the book at the Jordan's edge, canonically enacts this pedagogy: Israel has been schooled in the wilderness; now they are ready for what only God's grace — symbolized by crossing the Jordan — can give. The law prepares; grace fulfills. This is the heart of Catholic moral theology's understanding of the relationship between the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount.
For contemporary Catholics, Numbers 36:13 offers a profound meditation on the relationship between the Word received and the life not yet fully lived. Every Catholic stands, in some sense, in the plains of Moab: we have received the fullness of divine revelation in Scripture and Tradition, sealed and transmitted by the Church's magisterium ("by the hand of Moses" — now by the hand of the Church), yet we have not yet entered the full inheritance of eternal life. The Jordan — our Baptism — has been crossed, but the conquest of our interior Canaan remains underway.
Practically, this verse calls Catholics to reverence the deposit of faith — the "commandments and ordinances" — not as a burden but as a gift received at the threshold of something far greater. It challenges us to ask: Have I received the Church's teaching as truly coming from God, mediated through authoritative human instruments? Do I treat the Catechism, Scripture, and papal teaching as b'yad Moshe — "by the hand" of God's appointed mediators — or do I filter them through personal preference? This colophon invites fidelity at the frontier: trust the Word you have received, step toward the Jordan, and expect the inheritance.
Commentary
Numbers 36:13 — Verse by Verse Commentary
"These are the commandments and the ordinances which Yahweh commanded by Moses to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho."
"These are the commandments and the ordinances" — The Hebrew terms mitzvot (commandments) and mishpatim (ordinances or judgments) are two of the principal legal categories in the Pentateuch. Mitzvot refers to direct divine imperatives, while mishpatim typically denotes case-law and civil ordinances derived from applying divine principles to particular situations. Their pairing here is deliberate: together they signal the comprehensiveness of the legal deposit given to Israel. This is not merely a reference to the immediately preceding legislation on tribal inheritance (Num. 36:1–12), but serves as a retrospective seal over the entire second block of legislation in Numbers, encompassing chapters 26–36 and, in a broader literary sense, the entirety of what has been communicated "in the plains of Moab." The phrase functions like a notarial stamp — a scribal convention in the ancient Near East that closed a legal document with a colophon establishing its authority, origin, and binding force.
"which Yahweh commanded by Moses" — The preposition b'yad Moshe — literally "by the hand of Moses" — is a recurring formula throughout the legal sections of the Pentateuch (cf. Lev. 26:46; Num. 15:23). It is theologically precise: Moses is not the legislator but the mediator. The authority is Yahweh's; Moses is the instrument of transmission. This distinction is crucial. The Catholic tradition, following patristic exegesis, reads this Mosaic mediation typologically: as Moses mediates the old covenant law from Sinai and from the plains of Moab, so Christ the New Moses mediates the new and everlasting covenant (cf. Matt. 5:17; Heb. 9:15). The "hand" of Moses, which received and transmitted the law, prefigures the incarnate Word through whom the fullness of divine teaching reaches humanity.
"to the children of Israel" — The law is not given in a vacuum. It is communal, ecclesial in its structure. Israel as a covenant people receives these commandments together. No individual Israelite stands alone before the law; the whole community is bound and blessed by it. This communal dimension anticipates the Church as the New Israel, the community gathered by the Word and formed by it.
"in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho" — This geographical precision is theologically loaded. The plains of Moab () represent the liminal space of preparation — Israel is not in the wilderness, nor yet in Canaan. They are poised at the border, on the eastern bank of the Jordan. Jericho, the first city of Canaan, lies directly across the river. This setting gives the colophon an eschatological flavor: the law has been received; the inheritance is immediately before them. The book closes not with entry but with anticipation. The Jordan itself, in Catholic typology rooted in the Fathers (especially Origen, ), prefigures Baptism — the passage through water that constitutes the People of God and enables entry into the inheritance Christ has won. The entirety of Numbers — wilderness journeys, rebellions, purifications, and laws — has been preparation for this crossing.