Thou shalt not now use him as a servant, as thou hast done, but as a brother and thy partner in the government, showing respect to him, and causing others to do so, and thou shalt impart to him the ensigns and evidences of thy own authority, whatsoever they be. Some understand this honour of those spiritual endowments which did adorn Moses, which Moses was now to confer upon him. But this Joshua had before, for in him was the spirit, Numbers 26:18; and he received a further measure of the spirit by Moses's laying on of hands, from both which this honour is distinguished; and, had he meant this, he would not have expressed it in so dark and doubtful a phrase, but have called it a putting not of honour, but of the spirit, upon him, as it is called, Numbers 11:17. And seeing the word honour here may very well be properly understood, why should we run to figurative significations?
Related Commentaries of Numbers 27:20
Numbers 27:20
20 And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.