And the LORD replied to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man with the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him.
18. And the Lord said unto Moses. We here see that Joshua was given in answer to the prayers of Moses, which is not stated elsewhere. But, in order that he may obtain his dignity with the consent of all, he is honored with a signal encomium: for, when God declares that the Spirit is in him, He does not merely intimate that he has...
Here, I. Moses prays for a successor. When God had told him that he must die, though it appears elsewhere that he solicited for a reprieve for himself (Deu 3:24, Deu 3:25), yet, when this could not be obtained, he begged earnestly that the work of God might be carried on, though he might not have the honour of finishing it.
Commenting on Numbers 27:15-23
And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation,.... Declaring before them all that he was his successor, and that they might be witnesses of what was said and done unto him, and receive and acknowledge him as such, and as having power and authority over them, which it became them to submit unto: and give him a charge in their sight...