Honour as gift; Grace as defense

what did it mean for the Lord to ask Moses to put "some of thine honour upon" Joshua [Numbers 27:20].

Ponderings:
- is honor different than honour? (different spelling)
- how does one put some of our honour on someone else?
- what is this honour? is it general respect, meaning to introduce someone and give them a good send off?
- is it clothing?
- is it the holy spirit?
- is it to delegate one's authority or responsibilities?
- is it an assignment, prescient in nature, meaning to prepare Joshua for the position of honour Moses already had?

We clearly see the justification ("that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient") and it suggests the last (training Joshua as Moses's replacement) and this is further verified by the following passage, where it indicates that, "he (Joshua) shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel" (so Joshua will intercede on behalf of the children of Israel) and that "at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in". So we have the children of Israel respecting Joshua as they respect Moses. This is further validated in the last verse of the chapter, where Moses lays hands on Joshua, and "gave him a charge."

Of interest is the separate use of the word "honor" from Proverbs 11:16. In particular it says that "a gracious woman retaineth honour...."

So we have honour referring to something that can be given freely and from this proverb we see that honor can be lost.

Of interest is that there are 16 different words in the Hebrew and Greek that refer to honour. So the concept isn't simple, nor of simplistic nature.

The 'honour' referred to in Numbers 27:20 is that of "howd" (pronounced hode), meaning splendour, majesty, and vigour; also glory, majesty, beauty, comeliness, glorious, and goodly.

The 'honour' referred to in Proverbs 11:16 is that of "kabowd" (pronounced kaw-bodé) meaning dignity, reputation, reverence, glory, and abundance.

Clearly, there is an overlap, but it is interesting that the same word relates to such fundamentally different things.

From Numbers, I retain the idea that it relates to God asking Moses to prepare Joshua as his replacement. This means the children of Israel likely were given a great deal of time to prepare for Joshua to be Moses' replacement.
And from Proverbs, that if a woman is gracious, she will retain her glory and dignity.

So, if you are a man, keep your eye out for your Joshua, while hearkening to the Lord - for you never know when you'll need to be that strong man of Proverbs 11:17, who keeps his riches, and when you'll, instead, be needing to train you replacement.
And, if you're a woman, focus on grace - for, along with a multitude of counselors, it provides a safety net of God's wisdom.