Let the honor of your students be as precious to you as your own. We see how Moshe Rabbeinu treated Yehoshua. With Yehoshua, he didn't tell him when they were going to war with Amalek. He didn't say, “Choose men for me.” What did he say? “Choose men for us.” He put Yehoshua on the same level as himself. He treated his student, Yehoshua, with a tremendous amount of respect.
Talmidim (students) provide a tremendous amount of knowledge to their teacher. As in the famous statement of Rabbi Chanina in Masechet (tractate) Taanit, daf (page) zayin (seven), amud (column) Aleph (one), Rabbi Chanina said, “I learned a tremendous amount from my rabbis. And from my colleagues, from my friends, I've learned even more than my rabbis. But most of all, from my students, I've learned the most of all, more than anybody.” Students have the ability to poke and prod a teacher with questions. Those questions sharpen the mind and allow a teacher to solidify their understanding of something. And they have the proper context because of all the questions their students ask them. So a rabbi, a teacher, has to honor their students on a very high level.
And let the honor of your friend be as precious to you as the awe you have for your teacher. We see this with Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon. Moshe Rabbeinu is the younger brother of Aharon. But still, Aharon calls him, “Bi adoni, my master.” So even though Aharon was older, he treated his younger brother Moshe, the greatest man of all time, of course, with a tremendous amount of respect. So you have to, no matter what, treat your colleagues, your friends, with a tremendous amount of respect, as if they're your teacher.
Let the awe you have for your teacher be as precious to you as the awe, the respect, the wonder you have for the Shamayim (Heaven). When somebody disrespects your teacher, you should be concerned with your teacher's respect as much as you are with the respect of Hashem. We learn this in Parashat Beha'alotecha: when Eldad and Medad were mitnab'im ba-machaneh, they were prophesying in the camp, and they were showing Moshe Rabbeinu disrespect. And Yehoshua ben Nun said, “Adoni Moshe Kela'em, let's jail them, let's put them away, let's be very harsh with them. They're rebelling.” And he treated them with that type of harshness because Yehoshua looked at these people who were rebelling against Moshe Rabbeinu as if they were rebelling against the Shechinah (Divine Presence), against HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So a person has to regard the respect of his rabbi as if it were the respect of Hashem. So therefore, Yehoshua ben Nun had such harsh feelings towards Eldad and Medad.