How seriously should a student revere a teacher? The Mekhilta answers with a statement that sounds almost blasphemous: the fear of one's teacher is to be equated with the fear of Heaven itself.
The proof comes from Joshua, the devoted attendant of Moses. When rogue prophets began prophesying in the camp without authorization, Joshua was incensed. He turned to Moses and cried out: "My lord, Moses — destroy them!" (Numbers 11:28). The language is extraordinary. "Destroy them" is the kind of command one directs at God, not at a human being. Just as the Lord has the power to annihilate, Joshua spoke to Moses as though he possessed the same authority.
The Mekhilta reads Joshua's words literally: "Just as the Lord can destroy them, so can you." Joshua was not being hyperbolic. He genuinely equated Moses' authority with divine power. And rather than rebuking Joshua for the comparison, the rabbis hold it up as a model.
The principle extends beyond Moses and Joshua to every teacher-student relationship. A student who truly understands what a teacher represents — the living transmission of Torah from Sinai — will naturally feel the same awe standing before a rabbi that one feels standing before God. The teacher is not God, but the teacher carries God's Torah. And the vessel that holds the sacred must be treated as sacred itself.