Komentarz do Liczb 27:23

ויסמך את ידיו AND HE LAID HIS HANDS [UPON HIM] — generously (in full measure), even more than he had been commanded, for the Holy One, blessed be He, had said, (v. 18) “Lay thy hand [upon him]”, but he did this with his two hands (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 960), and so made of him a full and heaped up vessel (Sifrei Bamidbar 141:3) and filled him generously with his own wisdom.

ויסמך את ידיו, he placed both his hands, etc. The word ויצוהו in our verse is derived from צות, team, association; the Torah tells us that Joshua became part of the leadership team, or in a more abstract sense that he now was able to radiate some of Moses' royal authority along the lines I have explained earlier on the word וסמכת. כאשר דבר ה׳ ביד משה, as G'd had said by means of Moses. This part of the verse makes sense only in connection with the way we have explained the word ויצוהו, as Moses had not been commanded to place both his hands on Joshua. Besides, why would the Torah not have written: "as G'd had said to Moses, instead of ביד משה?" The meaning therefore must be that Moses was the instrument through whom this הוד, royal authority, was transferred to Joshua. The word ויצוהו is also an allusion to Royalty as our sages have taught us in connection with Samuel I 13,24 where the prophet records: ויצוהו ה׳ לנגיד, "G'd gave him (Saul's replacement David) authority over His people. Another nuance that we can derive from the word ביד משה, is that G'd had said for royal authority to reside in the hand of Moses in lieu of the anointing oil (used to crown kings of the tribe of Yehudah formally.)

ויסמוך את ידיו עליו, “he leaned (both) his hands upon him.” Although G’d had commanded Moses that he needs to place “a hand” upon Joshua, Moses put both his hands on him to indicate that he harbored no ill will over handing over his authority to someone else (compare Rashi). According to Sifri 141 the meaning is that he filled Joshua with wisdom as one fills a container right to the top of its capacity.

Generously. Here also there is also the difficulty as to why was it necessary to write [that he laid his hands] as I explained above (v. 22).

ויסמוך את ידיו, “he laid his hands upon him.” This was similar to people offering animal sacrifices placing their hands and weight on these animals prior to their being slaughtered. The owner of the animals symbolically transferred his essence to the animal which would take his place instead, seeing that he really should have been the sacrifice. From this action it became clear that Moses transferred his authority to Joshua willingly, as instead of placing only one hand on him as G-d had commanded him, he did so with both of his hands. Army commanders in the future would also be appointed by their superiors placing their hands on their juniors when promoting them. Compare author on Numbers 2,2.

כאשר דבר ה׳ AS THE LORD SPAKE, in respect also of the glory: he put some of his glory upon him.