Introduction Rabbi Elazar was another student of Rabbi Akiva’s. In other places in the mishnah he is referred to as Rabbi Elazar without the name of his father, Shammua.
Rabbi Elazar ben Shammua said: let the honor of your student be as dear to you as your own, and the honor of your colleague as the reverence for your teacher, and the reverence for your teacher as the reverence of heaven. Rabbi Elazar’s statement ranks the honor that a person would customarily give to others, and says that in each case one should give even more honor than is expected. A teacher should respect students as if they were teachers themselves. This is learned from Moses’s conduct, for in Exodus 17:9 he says to Joshua, “choose for us men”. He does not say, “choose for me” but rather “us” even though he is clearly Joshua’s superior. Similarly, one should treat a colleague with the same reverence one would give a teacher, who is one step higher. This is learned from Aaron who says to Moses in Numbers 12:11, “O my lord”, even though he was Moses’s brother. Finally, a person should have as much reverence for one’s teacher as he has for God. This is learned from Joshua in Numbers 11:28, who tells Moses to execute Eldad and Medad, who Joshua believes are rebelling against Moses. Joshua considers their rebellion against Moses to be like a rebellion against God, because Moses is Joshua’s teacher.