Numbers 27 · a question people ask
What did Moses' hands give Joshua?
Two verses speak to it. Before any hand is laid on him, the LORD calls Joshua "a man in whom is the Spirit" (27:18). Deuteronomy, after Moses' death, says, "Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him" (Deuteronomy 34:9). The Hebrew word is ruach in both verses; the capital letter in one and not the other is the translation's choice. Everyone agrees that the LORD chose Joshua (27:18) and that the people then listened to him (Deuteronomy 34:9).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The Spirit was in him already
Those who hold this view start from the order in 27:18: the LORD names him as "a man in whom is the Spirit" and only then says, "lay your hand on him". They note that what follows the hand in 27:19-20 is about the people: "commission him in their sight" (27:19), "that all the congregation of the children of Israel may obey" (27:20). On this reading, the hands set before everyone a man the Spirit was already in, and Deuteronomy 34:9 looks back on that same Spirit.
Numbers 27:18-20
The hands brought the spirit of wisdom
Those who hold this view start from Deuteronomy 34:9, which gives the laying on of hands as the reason: "full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him". On this reading, Joshua was already a man of the Spirit (27:18), and when Moses laid his hands on him he was filled with the spirit of wisdom for the task.
Deuteronomy 34:9 · Numbers 27:18 · Numbers 27:23
The verses
“The LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.”
“Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. The children of Israel listened to him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.”