Numbers 36:13

Verse 13. These are the commandments, c.] See these different terms analyzed and explained, Clarke "Le 26:15".

THUS ends the book of Numbers, containing a series of astonishing providences and events. Scarcely any piece of history in the sacred writings is better calculated to impress the mind of a serious reader with a sense of the goodness and severity of God. In every transaction his holiness and justice appear in closest union with his benevolence and mercy. From such a Being what have the wicked not to fear! From such a Father and Friend what have the upright not to hope! His justice requires him to punish iniquity, but his mercy inclines him to pardon all who truly repent and believe in the Son of his love.

The journeyings of this people, from the time they left Egypt, exhibit a series of providential wonders. Every where, and in every circumstance, God appears: and yet there is no circumstance or occasion that does not justify those signal displays of his GRACE and his JUSTICE. The genuine history of God's providence must be sought for in this book alone and as every occurrence happened as an example, we have authority to conclude that in every case where his own glory and the salvation of man are interested, he will interfere and give the fullest proofs that he is the same to-day that he was yesterday, and will continue unchangeable for ever and ever. Reader, are these matters ensamples to thee? Art thou, like the Israelites, come into the plains of Moab, on the very verge of the promised land? Jordan alone separates thee from the promised inheritance. O, watch and pray, that thou come not short of the glory of God. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death; see then that the sting of death, which is sin, be extracted from thy soul, that, being justified by Christ's blood, thou mayest be made an heir according to the hope of an eternal life. Amen, amen.

"I will bring you into the WILDERNESS of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face, like as I pleaded with your fathers in the WILDERNESS of the land of Egypt. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and bring you into the bond of the covenant," Eze 20:35-37.

"He (Christ) is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance," Heb 9:15.

SECTIONS In the Book of Numbers, carried on from Leviticus, which ends with the THIRTY-THIRD.

The THIRTY-FOURTH, called במדבר bemidbar, begins Nu 1:1, and ends Nu 4:20.

The THIRTY-FIFTH, called נשא nasa, begins Nu 4:21, and ends Nu 7:89.

The THIRTY-SIXTH, called בהעלתך behaalothecha, begins Nu 8:1, and ends Nu 12:16.

The THIRTY-SEVENTH, called שלח shelach, begins Nu 13:1, and ends Nu 15:41.

The THIRTY-EIGHTH, called קרח korach, begins Nu 16:1, and ends Nu 18:32.

The THIRTY-NINTH, called חקת chukkath, begins Nu 19:1, and ends Nu 22:1.

The FORTIETH, called בלק balak, begins Nu 22:2, and ends Nu 25:9.

The FORTY-FIRST, called פינחס pinechas, begins Nu 25:10, and ends Nu 30:1.

The FORTY-SECOND, called מטות mattoth, begins Nu 30:2, and ends Nu 32:42.

The FORTY-THIRD, called מסעי masey, begins Nu 33:1, and ends Nu 36:13.

MASORETIC Notes on NUMBERS.

The number of verses in this book is 1,288, of which ארפח is the symbol: for א aleph stands for 1,000, ר, resh for 200, פ phe for 80, and ח cheth for 8.

The middle verse is Nu 17:20. And the man's rod whom I shall choose shall blossom. (N. B. In our English Bibles this is Nu 17:5.)

Its pareshioth, or larger sections, are 10, expressed by the letters of the word בדד badad, alone: The Lord ALONE did lead him, De 32:12. ד daleth stands for 4, repeated here, 8, and ב beth for 2.

Its sedarim, or Masoretic sections, are 32, expressed by the word לב leb, heart, Ps 51:12: Create in me a clean HEART, O God; in which word ב beth stands for 2, and ל lamed for 30.

Its chapters are 36, expressed by the word לו lu, O! De 32:29: O that they were wise! in which word ל lamed stands for 30, and ו vau for 6.

The number of its open sections is 92; its close or shut sections, 66; together 158; expressed in the memorial word חלקך chelkecha: I am THY PORTION; in which word ק koph stands for 100, ל lamed for 30, ך caph for 20, and ח, cheth for 8.

Though this sort of notations may appear trifling to some, yet to an upright Jew they were of much consequence. The very technical words used in such cases put him always in mind of something in which the glory of God and the happiness and salvation of his own soul were concerned. See the note at the end of Genesis, See Clarke on Ge 50:26, and see the concluding notes on the Book of Deuteronomy. See Clarke on De 34:10.

Revised and corrected for a new edition, August 4th, 1827. - A. CLARKE.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

36:13 Commands and regulations might refer to legal pronouncements from the whole book (cp. Lev 27:34) or only to those given on the plains of Moab (Num 26–36). • All that remained to make the Israelites ready to enter Canaan was for Moses to remind them of their history and covenant obligations—the subjects of the book of Deuteronomy.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Touching the ceremonial and judicial laws.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

These are the commandments and the judgments, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab--The Israelitish encampment was on an extensive plateau north of the Arnon, which, though wrested from the Moabites by Sihon and Og, still retained the name of its original possessors. The particular site, as indicated by the words "Jordan near Jericho," is now called El-Koura--a large plain lying not far from Nebo, between the Arnon and a small tributary stream, the Wael [BURCKHARDT]. It was a desert plain on the eastern bank, and marked only by groves of the wild, thorny acacia tree.

Next: Deuteronomy Introduction

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13. A subscription appended to the series of priestly laws related to have been given during the time that Israel was in the land of Moab, i.e. between Num_22:1 and Num_36:12. A similar subscription is appended, in Lev_27:34, to the laws given at Sinai. But after that subscription further laws at Sinai are collected in Numbers 1 ff. It has therefore been conjectured that both subscriptions were added by a scribe, when the Pentateuch was divided into five books.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. Commandments… judgments — Referring to all the legislation in the plains of Moab, (chaps. 25-30,) as well as the laws and rights contained in Num_33:50, to the end of the book. This conclusion in no way implies that the exposition of these laws, their further development, and enforcement by exhortations, which follow in Deuteronomy, are not Mosaic, as recent destructive criticism asserts.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The commandments, twOxMih. This is one of the words which recur so continually in Deuteronomy and in Ps 119. It is found four times in chapter 15, and in a few other passages of the earlier books, including Lev_27:34. The judgments. A similar formula is found at the conclusion of Leviticus, (Lev_26:46) where, however, "the commandments" represents a different word ( and a third term, "the laws" (trowOTh), is added. It is difficult to say confidently what is included under the "these" of this verse. Comparing it with Num_33:50, it would seem that it only referred to the final regulations and enactments of the last four chapters; but as we have no reason to believe that the later sections of the Book are arranged in any methodical order, we cannot limit its scope to those, or deny that it may include the laws of chapters 28-30. For a similar reason we cannot say that the use of this concluding formula excludes the possibility of further large additions having been subsequently made to the Divine legislation in the same place and by the same person, as recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy. All we can say is, that the Book of Numbers knows nothing about any such additions, and concludes in such sort as to make it a matter of surprise that such additions are afterwards met with. The continuity, which so clearly binds together the main bulk of the four books of Moses, ends with this verse. This fact does not of course decide any question which arises concerning the fifth book; it merely leaves all such questions to be determined on their own merits.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

plains

a large area of flat land

translationWords

decree

Moab

Jordan River

Jericho

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.