Numbers 27:20-21

2 0, 21 .

Put some… honour upon him “The eminence and authority of Moses were not to be entirely transferred to Joshua, for they were bound up with his own person alone, (Numbers 12:6-8,) but only so much of it as he needed for the discharge of the duties of his office. Joshua was to be neither the lawgiver nor the absolute governor of Israel, but to be placed under the judgment of Urim with which Eleazar was intrusted so far as the supreme decision of the affairs of Israel was concerned.” Keil and Delitzsch.

Who shall ask Eleazar shall ask God for Joshua. But the Septuagint reads “and they shall ask him,” that is, Joshua and the princes shall ask Eleazar, “the judgment of manifestations.”

Of Urim Abridged from Urim and Thummim. See Leviticus 8:8, and Joshua 1:1, notes.

At his word Grammatically, either the Lord’s or Eleazar’s; probably the latter, by virtue of the oracle placed in his keeping. Ordinarily, the priest’s mouth and Jehovah’s. See 1 Samuel 23:9-12. It is a rule among Hebrew doctors not to ask counsel by the priest who speaketh not by the Holy Spirit and the divine majesty residing in him.