What Does Numbers 27:18 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse locates Joshua’s qualification in the breath already within him, before Moses lays a hand on him.
THE MEANING
The LORD identifies the breath already in Joshua: רוּחַ (ruach, wind or breath) is the one Hebrew word behind what the KJV renders here as “spirit.” Moses, מֹשֶׁה (Moshe, the drawn-out one), lays his hand on Joshua, יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yehoshua, YHWH delivers), and the outward act entrusts what the verse already sees within him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The hand creates the capacity it recognizes.
THE ROOT
רוּחַ
ruach
GROWS FROM
רוח
ruach
Wind or moving air; breath.
The verse describes Joshua as already containing this breath before the hand is laid on him. The same Hebrew word also names wind and what the KJV calls spirit, keeping these senses joined.
ALSO GROWS
ruach: The singular noun, rendered as wind, breath, or spirit according to its setting.
רוּחַ
Its range shows how the English word “spirit” carries the image of living breath and moving air.
ruachot: The plural form, used for winds or spirits.
רוּחוֹת
Even where English uses different words, the Hebrew form keeps them within the same word family.
יְהוֹשֻׁעַ
Yehoshua
GROWS FROM
ישע
yasha
Deliver; bring to safety.
The name joins the divine name-element with the root ישע (yasha, deliver), carrying the sense “YHWH delivers.” Joshua’s name places this appointment within deliverance, not merely succession.
ALSO GROWS
yasha: To deliver or bring to safety.
יָשַׁע
The verb gives the root carried within Joshua’s name.
yeshuah: Deliverance.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun shows how the root names not only an act of delivering but the deliverance itself.
מֹשֶׁה
Moshe
GROWS FROM
משה
mashah
Draw out.
The scriptural naming links Moses with being drawn out. Here the one drawn out lays his hand on Joshua, whose name carries deliverance, as the responsibility passes onward.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This verb is the root associated with Moses’s name.
meshitihu: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
This form appears in Moses’s naming story and makes his name’s root meaning concrete.
THE PATTERN
Scripture links entrusted work to the breath within a person, then makes that inward capacity visible through appointment or skill.
And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.THE THREAD
But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.Numbers identifies Joshua as a man with רוּחַ (ruach, wind or breath) in him; Job uses the same word in “there is a spirit in man.” Job then joins that inward ruach with the Almighty’s life-giving breath and understanding, opening Joshua’s qualification as a living capacity rather than a title alone.
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