Pointing to Jesus

Exodus 17:15 -And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner.

Jehovah Nissi is another one of God’s names. It means the Lord is my Banner. It can also mean the Lord my warrior or victory. We see Moses calling God this name in Exodus 17:15 after the Israelites defeated the Amalekites when they were traveling through the wilderness.

The story is told in Exodus 17:8-16. Moses was standing on the top of the hill with his staff in his hands. Aaron and Hur were up there with him, and when Moses would lift up his hands with his staff, the Israelites would be winning. When Moses would lower his hands, the Amalekites would be winning. Moses’s hands got tired, so Aaron and Hur stood on either side of him and lifted his hands up, and Israel ended up defeating the Amalekites that day.

Moses built an altar and called it the Lord is my Banner. By building the altar, Moses was showing that He recognized God as the Israelites’ source of victory. It was a place of remembrance.  It was also an expression of gratitude for God’s blessings.

The Israelites were not trained soldiers. They were slaves that God was setting free. God was the One who led them into battle. God fought for them. God protected them. God was their banner.

There is also something significant in the staff Moses lifted up in his hands. It represents God’s miracle working power. When God was talking to Moses about leading the Israelites out of Egypt in Exodus 4:1-5, God turned the staff into a snake and back into a staff again. In Exodus 4:20, it is called the  staff of God. Exodus 14 talks about the Israelites crossing of the Red Sea. In verse 16, God tells Moses to lift his staff, and stretch it over the sea to split it so that the Israelites could cross on dry land, and we see this miracle happen a little later in the chapter. In Exodus 17, the Israelites complain that they are thirsty, and God tells Moses to strike a rock with his staff, and water came out of the rock for the people to drink.

When I think of Jehovah Nissi and the winning of the Israelites as Moses lifted  up his hands, I think of lifting our hands in worship or prayer. Lifting our hands is a sign of surrender, honor, and glorification. It’s to God we surrender, and it’s God we honor and glorify because of what He’s done, what He’s doing, and what He’s going to do. We also lift God up when we proclaim and acknowledge Him as the source of all things.

God is our banner. God fights for us. God gives us victories. We don’t go into battle alone. The more we surrender to Him, honor Him, glorify Him, proclaim, and acknowledge Him, the more assured and secure we are that He is our Jehovah Nissi.

Many blessings,

Desiree