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Jehovah-Nissi – “The Lord My Banner”

by Chris Simmons

We read in Psalms 91:14-16, “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him, and let him behold My salvation.” It’s those who know God’s name that He will “set … securely on high” and will “answer,” “rescue,” “honor” and allow to “behold My salvation.” God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in ways that help us understand who He is and how our relationship to Him is to be defined. In prior articles, we have studies the names:

This week, we turn to the context of Exodus chapter 17 to find the name, Jehovah-Nissi, “The Lord my banner.” It’s important to understand the context in which this name is revealed.

In Exodus chapter fourteen, we read of the deliverance of the Israelites across the Red Sea as Moses had obeyed the Lord’s command to lift up his staff and stretch it out over the sea. Just a short time after crossing the sea, they came to Marah where the water was bitter. Moses followed God’s commands to make the water drinkable and God there revealed Himself as “Jehovah-Rophe” – the Lord will heal. From Marah the Israelites traveled to Elim where they were blessed with both food and water (Exodus 15:27). From there they set out into the wilderness of Sin where the Israelites again grumbled about the lack of food (Exodus 16:1-3). This is where God began to bless them with manna and quail every day (Exodus 16:4-36). From the wilderness of Sin, the Israelites journeyed to Rephidim where again, there was no water to drink. They again complained to Moses who followed God’s instructions to “strike the rock.” That place was named “Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us, or not?’” (Exodus 17:7). It is immediately following this that Amalek came and fought against Israel (17:8). It’s incredible to note how often, in such a short period of time after their deliverance from captivity, that the Israelites doubted God and His ability to care for them and complained to Moses. They had forgotten God’s ability to deliver them from even the direst of circumstances. It’s shocking that they would even dare to ask “Is the Lord among us, or not?”

Never before had the Israelites as a nation been in a physical battle. Never had they faced an enemy other than their own doubts and fears. Their journey to the Promised Land now included a fleshly foe in the descendents of Amalek who was a grandson of Esau, meaning both the Israelites and Amalekites were descendents of Isaac. As fellow descendents of Isaac, it would’ve seemed appropriate for them to have supported and assisted the Israelites. Rather, they would in fact prove to be, over the generations to come, a recurring thorn in Israel’s side. Much later, Moses called upon Israel to “remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. Therefore it shall come about when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget” (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Many years later, Samuel would deliver God’s charge to King Saul to “utterly destroy” the Amalekites so that nothing of them would remain, “for what he did to Israel” (I Samuel 15:2-3). Saul would fail to obey the command given to him and thus bring about his rejection as king and condemnation from God. It’s ironic to note that when Saul died in battle against the Philistines on Mt. Gilboa (I Samuel 31:1-5), that it was actually an Amalekite who Saul had called upon to finish his death (II Samuel 1:5-10). Saul’s failure to utterly destroy the Amalekites was finally reversed during the reign of King Hezekiah, as God fulfilled His word to “blot” them out (I Chronicles 4:39-43; Exodus 17:14).

The scriptures do not reveal why the Amalekites not only refused to support the Israelites but “came and fought” against them, but fight they did. Their strategy however is revealed to us as they sought to attack the weak and tired and defenseless in the rear, as noted in the reference above from Deuteronomy 25:17-19. Moses’ response was to commission Joshua to select those for battle whom he deemed appropriate while he said he would “station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand” (Exodus 17:9). As long as Moses raised the same staff used to impart the plagues in Egypt and to part the Red Sea, the Israelites prevailed. As Moses grew weary, his arms would begin to fail and when his arms dropped, Amalek would begin to prevail. The solution was to have Moses sit down and rely on Aaron and Hur to support each of his arms. Thus Israel was given the victory by God. Moses, in crediting God with the victory, built an altar to the Lord and proclaimed it “The Lord is my banner” or “Jehovah Nissi” in the Hebrew.

What was Moses referring to when he referred to God as “my banner”? We read in Psalms 60:4, “Thou hast given a banner to those who fear Thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.” The word banner there carries the meaning “not, in the English sense of the term, an arbitrary token to distinguish one band or regiment of Israel from another, but a common object of regard, a signal of observation, a rallying point to awaken men’s hopes and efforts” (Fausset’s Bible Dictionary). It is also noted that “a banner, in ancient times, was not necessarily a flag such as we use nowadays. Often it was a bare pole with a bright shining ornament which glittered in the sun. The word here for banner means to glisten, among other things. It is translated variously pole, ensign, standard, and among the Jews it is also a word for miracle. As an ensign or standard it was a signal to God’s people to rally to Him. It stood for His cause, His battle (I Samuel 17:47; Deuteronomy 20:1-4). It was a sign of deliverance, of salvation, as we shall see by the use of that word for the pole on which the brazen serpent was raised in the wilderness” (Names of God). The idea is that with every battle to be faced, God’s people are to rally around God as an army would rally around its standard, flag or banner and to understand our complete reliance and dependence on Him for our success and victory. What was the point then of Amalek’s temporary success when the rod in Moses’ hand was lowered? It was to impress upon each of us, all the more, that solely upon God must we depend for the victory and that under His raised banner we can overcome, no matter the odds if we remain humbly obedient to His command.

There is much more for us to learn about “The Lord My Banner” that we’ll hopefully be able to address in a subsequent article.

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