Moses built an altar, and called its name “Yahweh our Banner”.
Parallel Translations
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Moses built an altar, and called its name “Yahweh our Banner”.
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And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi:
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And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Adonai-nissi.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Exodus 17:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 22:14 Abraham called the name of that place “Yahweh Will Provide”. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.”
- Judges 6:24 Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it “Yahweh is Peace.” To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
- Psalms 60:4 You have given a banner to those who fear you, that it may be displayed because of the truth.
- Genesis 33:20 He erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Israel.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, the Lord is my banner as he…
That is, the Lord is my banner as he declared by holding up his rod and his hands.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 17:15 And Moses built an altar, and called…
Exo 17:15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:
Ver. 15. And Moses built an altar.] As a lasting monument of God’s great mercy in that first victory. The Romans had a custom, that the conqueror in his triumphant chariot rode to the capitol, and offered a white ox to Jupiter. {a}
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{a} Liv., lib. vi. decad. 3.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Moses built an altar, both for the offering of…
Moses built an altar, both for the offering of sacrifices of praise unto God, and to be a monument of this victory, and of the author of it. The name of it, viz. of the altar, which he so calls metonymically, because it was the sign and monument of Jehovah-nissi; even as circumcision is called God’s covenant, Gen 17:13, and the lamb, the passover, Exo 12:11, and the cup, the new testament, Luk 22:20, because they were the signs of them. Or the word altar is to be repeated out of the former member, which is frequent, and the place to be is read thus,
he called the name of it the altar of
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Jehovah-nissi. Or the name given to it signifies only the inscription engraven upon it, which was not the single name of God, but an entire sentence, the lord my banner. By which words he takes all the praise of the victory from the Israelites, and gives it to God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Moses built an altar,.... On Horeb, as Aben…
And Moses built an altar,.... On Horeb, as Aben Ezra; on the top of the hill, as Ben Gersom, where sacrifices of thanksgiving were offered up for the victory obtained, or however a monument erected in memory of it:
and he called the name of it Jehovahnissi; which signifies either "the Lord is my miracle" who wrought a miracle for them in giving them the victory over Amalek, as well as, through smiting the rock with the rod, brought out water from thence for the refreshment of the people, their children and cattle; or "the Lord is my banner": alluding to the hands of Moses being lifted up with the rod therein, as a banner displayed, under which Joshua and Israel fought, and got the victory. This may fitly be applied to Christ, who is both altar, sacrifice, and priest, and who is the true Jehovah, and after so called; and who is lifted up as a banner, standard, or ensign in the everlasting Gospel, in order to gather souls unto him, and enlist them under him, and to prepare them for war, and encourage them in it against their spiritual enemies; and as a token of their victory over them, and a direction to them where they shall stand, when to march, and whom they shall follow; and to distinguish them from all other bands and companies, and for the protection of them from all their enemies, see Isa 11:10. These words were inscribed upon the altar, or the altar was called the altar of Jehovahnissi, in memory of what was here done; from hence it has been thought (a), that Baachus, among the Heathens, had his name of Dionysius, as if it was Jehovahnyssaeus.
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(a) Vid. Bochart. Canaan, l. 1. c. 18. col. 440.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain And Moses built an altar, and called it Jehovah-niffi…
And Moses built an altar, and called it Jehovah-niffi - The Lord is my banner. The presence and power of Jehovah was the banner under which they were lifted, by which they were animated, and kept together, and therefore which they erected in the day of their triumph. In the name of our God we must always lift up our banners: He that doth all the work should have all the praise. Write this for a memorial - This is the first mention of writing we find in scripture; and perhaps the command was not given till after the writing of the law on tables of stone.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. Jehovah-nissi] Jehovah is my ensign or banner.…
Verse 15. Jehovah-nissi] Jehovah is my ensign or banner. The hands and rod of Moses were held up as soldiers are wont to hold up their standards in the time of battle; and as these standards bear the arms of the country, the soldiers are said to fight under that banner, i.e., under the direction and in the defence of that government. Thus the Israelites fought under the direction of God, and in the defence of his truth; and therefore the name of JEHOVAH became the armorial bearing of the whole congregation. By his direction they fought, and in his name and strength they conquered; each one feeling himself, not his own, but the Lord's soldier.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 17:15. And Moses built an altar, and called…
Exo 17:15. And Moses built an altar, and called it Jehovah-nissi — The Lord is my banner. The presence and power of Jehovah was the banner under which they were listed, by which they were animated and kept together, and therefore which they erected in the day of their triumph. In the name of our God we must always lift up our banners: he that doth all the work should have all the praise.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Jehovah-nissi - See the margin, “Jehovah my banner.” As…
Jehovah-nissi - See the margin, “Jehovah my banner.” As a proper name the Hebrew word is rightly preserved. The meaning is evidently that the name of Yahweh is the true banner under which victory is certain; so to speak, the motto or inscription on the banners of the host. Inscriptions on the royal standard were well known. Each of the Pharaohs on his accession adopted one in addition to his official name.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Exaltation. He has given me the victory. He has…
Exaltation. He has given me the victory. He has supported my hands on high, holding the rod as a standard. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. Built an altar — The first of which…
15. Built an altar — The first of which we have any record since the time of Jacob. How consistent is this action with the unique and peculiar national character that was now beginning to be developed! Other nations would have built a monument to Moses or Joshua; but the Hebrew leader builds an altar and calls it JAHVEH-NISSI-JAHVEH My Banner. The reason of this is now given.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. Moses erects an altar, to offer upon it…
15. Moses erects an altar, to offer upon it a sacrifice of thanksgiving to Jehovah, and to preserve the memory of the victory for the future. For other examples of commemorative altars, with names, see Gen_33:20 (unless, as the verb used here suggests, ‘standing-stone’ (ch. Exo_24:4) should be read for ‘altar’), Exo_35:7, Jos_22:34, Jdg_6:24.
Yahweh-nissi] i.e. Yahweh is my banner, as though to say, He is our Leader; we fight under His banner (Psa_20:5 [the Heb. for ‘banner’ different], 7); His name is the motto on our standards (Kn.).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) Moses built an altar.—Primarily, no doubt, to sacrifice…
(15) Moses built an altar.—Primarily, no doubt, to sacrifice thank-offerings upon it, as an acknowledgment of the Divine mercy in giving Israel the victory. But secondarily as a memorial—a monument to commemorate Israel’s triumph.
And called the name of it Jehovah-nissi.—Jacob had named an altar “El-Elohe-Israel” (Gen_33:20); but otherwise we do not find altars given special names. When an altar was built as a memorial, the purpose would be helped by a name, which would tend to keep the event commemorated in remembrance. Jehovah-nissi—“the Lord is my banner”—would tell to all who heard the word that here there had been a struggle, and that a people which worshipped Jehovah had been victorious. It is not clear that there is any reference to “the rod of God” (Exo_17:9) as in any sense the “banner” under which Israel had fought. The banner is Jehovah Himself, under whose protection Israel had fought and conquered.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Moses built an altar. An altar naturally implies a…
Moses built an altar. An altar naturally implies a sacrifice, and Moses may well have thought that the signal victory obtained required to be acknowledged, and as it were requited, by offerings. In giving his altar a name, he followed the example of Jacob, who called an altar which he built, El-Elohe-Israel. (Gen_33:20) Moses" name for his altar, Jehovah-nisi, meant "the Lord is my banner," and was intended to mark his ascription of the entire honour of the victory to Jehovah but had probably no reference to the particular mode in which the victory was gained.
Vers. 15, 16. Jehovah-Nissi.
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The use of this name by the Church bespeaks
1. Her militant condition. "The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
2. The side on which she fightsMy banner.
3. The name round which she rallies "One Lord, one faith,one baptism". (Eph_6:5)
4. The confidence by which she is inspired. The inscription on a bannerfrequently sets forth the ground of confidence. "God and my right.
5. The certainty she has of victory. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Jehovah-nissi, the Lord my banner.
Exo_17:15
Jehovah-nissi, the Lord my banner.
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I. The fight with Amalek was Israels first battle, and God made it to them the revelation of the mystery of all battles--the unseen spiritual things on which depend the final issues of all struggles and the progress of the world.
1. The main purpose of Israels history is the revelation of the unseen influences which mould the character and guide the progress of all people or minister to their decay and death.
(1) The first apparent condition of success was the courage and skill of the commander and of the troops. The successes of life are to the capable, the brave, the enduring; but--and here is the great lesson of Rephidim--they are to capacity, courage, and energy married to, and not divorced from, the fear and the love of God.
(2) There was a second and higher condition. Joshua fought while Moses was praying, and while he knew that Moses was praying. The people had a conscious hold on the strength of the arm of God.
2. It may be fairly asked if in all battles the victory is with those who can not only fight, but pray. The answer is that it is only on a very large scale that we can trace the ways of God. Yet we may say that in any conflict the best reinforcement, that which stands a man in best stead and raises our surest hope of victory, is the assurance that God is on his side.
II. The text is the revelation to us of the mystery of the great battle in which we are all combatants, the battle of life. Jehovahnissi must be our watchword, if we would not doom ourselves to go down before the foe.
1. The Lord is our banner against self, that baser part of us which is ever ensnaring, enslaving, and dragging us down into the pit.
2. The Lord is our banner against the world.
3. The Lord is our banner against the devil. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)
Jehovah-nissi
I. The altar a memorial of an historic fact. Great battle of Rephidim. One of the most remarkable. The enemy--crafty, cruel, cowardly--attacked the rear where the young, aged, women, etc. (Deu_25:17-18). Israelites unarmed, unused to warfare. Taken by surprise in the rear. They could succeed only by the help of God.
II. The altar a record of religious duty.
1. The duty of diligently using the means at hand in doing our proper and appointed work. Moses chose the general. Joshua chose the fittest men. The men chose their weapons.
2. The duty of encouraging those who may be in peculiar danger. Moses to Joshua (verse 9).
3. The duty of rendering willing sympathy and aid. Israel hastening to the rescue of the feeble, etc., who were attacked.
III. This altar an expression of pious sentiments.
1. Of faith. Flushed with success, remembering much individual prowess, they acknowledge that their victory was from another source.
2. Of gratitude. The altar left behind would teach all desert travellers to trust in the Lord.
3. Resolution for the future. They would only fight for the right, and under this banner. We too have a banner (Isa_11:10). Must be united (Isa_11:12-13), and rally round it (Psa_60:4; Son_2:4). (J. C. Gray.)
Jehovah my banner
There are two names in Scripture conspicuous above all others, the names Jehovah and Jesus; the one stamped upon the Old Testament, the other upon the New. Jesus is the name which is above every name; it is the crowning word of Revelation. And the title Jehovah is that which lies beneath and sustains every other name, that on which all teaching about God contained in the Bible, and all true knowledge of Him, virtually rest. It is the foundation name of Scripture. With the name of Jesus we are very familiar. But the other word, the proper name of the God of Israel and of our Lord Jesus Christ, is too much overlooked and forgotten by the Church. And this greatly to our loss; for in declaring it to Moses God said, This is My name for ever, and My memorial unto all generations. And this oblivion betokens the neglect of not a little belong-Lug to the fundamental teaching about God contained in Scripture; to which in turn we may attribute certain grave defects, painfully manifest in the religious life and experience of our times. I mean the lack of reverence, the decay of that sober, serious piety, that fear of Jehovah in which true wisdom begins. It is in rude and violent surroundings that great spiritual principles are often first asserted, and out of the throes of fierce conflict they come to birth. Upon this battle-field, with routed Amalek disappearing over the edge of the desert, Moses built his altar, and called the name of it Jehovah my banner. So he lifted up this mighty name and flung it forth as the ensign under which Gods Israel should march through all its pilgrimage and warfare in the time to come. This great name of our God was, however, in later times overlaid and almost destroyed by superstition. After the age of prophecy had closed, when spiritual faith died down in Judaism, it ceased to be a living word in the mouth of Israel. Through fear of taking the name of Jehovah in vain, the people no longer dared to pronounce it; and it is a saying of the rabbis that he who utters the name as it is written, has no place in the world to come. But what does this mysterious word mean? I cannot give an answer beyond all dispute. Its origin goes back to the very beginnings of Hebrew speech and religion. The differences of interpretation, after all, lie within a narrow compass. Most interpreters have taken it to signify He is. Others render it He is becoming, He goes on to be, or will be. Others again, He creates, He makes to be. I have little doubt that the first is the proper, or, at least, the principal sense of the word, although no very clear or sharp line can be drawn in Hebrew between this and the second interpretation. But the third application, if it were certainly established, is at any rate subordinate to the first. He is, therefore He makes to be. Creation rests upon the being of God.
I. By the name Jehovah, therefore, God is declared as the supreme reality. So the Greeks render it, He who is; and John, in the Apocalypse, Grace and peace to you from Him which is, and which was, and which cometh. No grace or peace, verily, from things that are not! Say unto the children of Israel--so He authenticated Moses--I AM hath sent me unto you. The finite demands the Infinite; the chain of causes and effects hangs upon the Uncaused; all creatures unite to point to their Creator, and by their very being proclaim His, in whom they live, and move, and are. But I hear some one saying, This is metaphysics; this is very obscure and transcendental doctrine, this talk about the Absolute and Uncaused. How could ideas of this sort ever have existed or been entertained in these early and barbarous times? But everything depends on the way in which you take notions of this kind. To ancient Israel--the true Israel of spiritual faith--this was no philosophical abstraction, arrived at by a process of difficult reasoning: it was the revelation of an immediate and self-evidencing fact. Behind all sensible objects, the forms of nature, the movements of human affairs--there He is! They discerned, they felt the presence of Another--the real, the abiding, the living God, breathing on their spirits by His breath, searching their hearts with holy eyes, as of flame; He who said to their souls, I AM, and concerning whom they could say, as neither of their mortal selves nor of the fleeting world, Yea, and of a truth, He is. Hence this name was a standing protest and denouncement against all idolatry. The name of Jehovah, so their proverb ran, is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe. I am Jehovah, says the Lord in Isaiah, that is My name; and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. You see the argument. If He is, then they are not. His very name annihilates them. It was this sublime and solid faith in the unity and sovereignty and spiritual reality of God, that lifted the Jewish people above superstition and the fear of worldly power. See the whole history of Israel gathered into a single incident. Thou comest unto me, said David to Goliath, with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of Jehovah of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied! Here is the one immortal certainty, the Rock of Ages.
II. This glorious name proclaims the eternity of God. His reality is our strength; His eternity our consolation. If you turn to the French Bible you will find Jehovah translated, in place of our English Lord, by lEternel, The Eternal. This rendering is often singularly apt and true, as for instance in Psa_102:1-28., where the Psalmist in melancholy mood is sighing, My days are as a shadow that declineth, and I am withered like grass. But he remembers the name of his God, and he continues: But Thou, O Eternal, sittest King for ever; and Thy memorial is unto all generations. And from that point in his song he mounts up as on the wings of eagles. Gods name is the He Is--a timeless present, a perpetual now. John expands it backwards and forwards into the everlasting past and future: Grace and peace to you from Him which is, and which was, and which cometh. Men live and die; empires rise and fall; worlds and systems of worlds run through their courses, and dissolve and vanish like a puff of smoke; still He Is; always He Is; the unchanged, the abiding God, whose being fills and constitutes eternity. There is no thought so sublime and overwhelming to the human mind as that of the eternity of God. But there is none more restful, more soothing and satisfying. We which have believed, it is written, do enter into rest. Here we touch the calm of eternity, the Sabbath of God. We have found a haven which no storm can ruffle, a rock to build upon which no earthquake will ever move. You find great religious minds, like that of St. Augustine in his Confessions, constantly returning to this thought as their solace and shelter, hovering round it as birds about their nest; here they find an ever-renewed spring of mental strength, of spiritual joy and courage. The Jews have been not unfitly called the people of eternity. Their monumental endurance, the toughness and indestructible vitality of their national fibre, are due, to no small extent, to the force with which the doctrine of Jehovah has possessed them. It would seem that the revelation of personal immortality was not made in the early ages to the men of Israel, that their souls might be the more completely filled and absorbed with the thought of God Himself--His being, His character; that they might find in Jehovah the portion of their inheritance and their cup.
III. Jehovah is the specific name, the proper and personal name of the God of revelation and redemption. It is, so to speak, the Divine autograph written across the face of Scripture; it is nothing less than the signature of the Eternal attached to His covenant of grace; its very presence on the page, the sublimity of its import, and the transcendent dignity and force with which it is employed, fill the mind with awe, and compel one to say as he reads and listens, Surely God is in this place. To the believing Israelite this name was a summary of revelation past. The call of Moses, the judgment upon Pharaoh, the passage of the Red Sea, the lawgiving on Sinai, the conquest of Canaan--all these and a thousand glorious recollections clustered round this immortal name, and served for its verifying or illustration. And it was at the same time the basis and starting-point of future revelations. Having learnt to say He Is, they could go on to say: He is just, He is wise, He is faithful, He is merciful and gracious--Jehovah of Hosts, Jehovah our Righteousness, Jehovah our Peace, Jehovah our Banner. In Himself unchangeable, in His manifestations to mankind God is perpetually new. He is ever advancing and unfolding Himself to His creation. The He Is of the Bible is no frozen, silent Impersonality, like the Pure Being of Greek philosophy, or like Spinozas Infinite Substance. This is the name of the living, self-declaring God, whose revelation is the single stream that runs through all cosmical and human history, the working of whose counsel forms the process of the ages. His name, like His mercies, is new every morning.
IV. Finally, this glorious name of God is a creed, a confession of faith. God says to Moses, through Moses to Israel, through Israel to the world, I AM: faith answers back, He Is; and this is His name for ever, and His memorial unto all generations. Pronouncing it in spirit and in truth, we set to our seal that God is true. It is the communion of heaven and earth, the dialogue between man and his Creator; it is the Churchs Amen answering back to Gods self-affirming Yea. And Ye are My witnesses, saith Jehovah, even Israel whom I have chosen. Despite its apostasies and its chastisements, nay, even by virtue of them, the Jewish nation has proved itself the people of Jehovah, the witness of the true God. Israel has made the nations hear the voice of her God; and now they are sitting at the feet of her prophets, learning of His ways. It is the flag of conflict, the symbol of a faith which has the world to overcome. So our text continues, with a prophetic symbolism that has proved itself all too true: And Moses said, Jehovah hath sworn that He will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. All nations compassed me about, said Israel, in worldly power the smallest and least considerable of the peoples--Yea, they compassed me about; but in the name of Jehovah I will destroy them! And what is more, she has done it; her faith, her Christ have done it I Those gigantic and cruel empires of the East, with their vile and sensual idolatries, have passed away for ever. Isaiah sang their doom ages before: They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise. Therefore hast Thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. Fact is stranger than fiction. The true God has lived down the false ones. The He Is must displace the are nots. As it has been, so it will be. Moloch and Belial and Mammon--the gods of hate and lust and greed, the gods of this world that still rule in the nations and blind the souls of men--oldest of all false gods, which men formed out of their own evil passions, before they set them up in wood and stone--as the Lord liveth, they shall surely perish! If the Church is worthy of her faith, she will say like David, In the name of Jehovah I will destroy them. And these latest idols, which our fathers knew not, of modern nature-worship and scientific materialism, will they fare any better, do you suppose? The name Jehovah, we have said, is a confession of faith. It is a personal confession, which only personal experience qualifies us properly to make. It is not enough to read it in the Bible, to understand and assent to its theological and historical import; God Himself must pronounce His own I AM, must speak into our soul His name. Jesus is to us the revealer of Jehovah. I have declared unto them Thy name, He said to the Father in leaving this world, and will declare it. The name Jehovah--the Absolute, the Eternal, the Creator, the living God--Christ has rendered into the tender yet no less awful name of Father. (G. G. Findlay, B. A.)
Jehovah-nissi
A flag is in itself a simple thing enough. A piece of bunting, or of silk, having on it an emblematic device--that is all I and, when so regarded, it is nothing in the world. But when we view it as a symbol, it forthwith acquires transcendent importance. It becomes then the mark of nationality, and all the sentiments of patriotism are stirred in us by the sight of it. We think of the struggles of our fathers, when for the first time it fluttered over them in the breeze, as they resisted injustice and oppression. We recall the many bloody fields over which, amidst the smoke of battle, its streaming colours waved their proud defiance. The memories of centuries have woven themselves into its texture; and as it floats serenely over us, we see in it at once the aggregated result of our history in the past, and the bright prophecy of our greatness in the future. Now, it is quite similar with the banner which God has given us, that it may be displayed because of the truth, and which, as this inscription declares, He is Himself.
I. Jehovah is our token of decision. In the opening days of the first French Revolution, it is said that a timid trimmer fixed a cockade beneath the lappel of his coat on one breast, and a tricolour in the corresponding portion on the other; and that when he met a royalist he exposed the cockade, and shouted, Long live the king! but when he met a republican he showed the tricolour, and cried, Long live the Republic! That, however, sufficed only for a short time: for as the strife increased, every man was forced to make a decision between the two. So sometimes, in times of indifference, it has been possible for men to seem to combine the services of God and mammon; but happily, as I think, for us, we have fallen on an earnest age, in which it is becoming impossible even to seem to be neutral. Everywhere the cry is raised, Who is on the Lords side? and it becomes us all to hoist our flag, and display to the world in its expanding folds this old inscription, Jehovah-nissi--the Lord is my banner. When Hedley Vicars, the Christian soldier, was converted, he knew that he should be made the butt of much ridicule, and the victim of much petty persecution by his comrades; so he resolved to be beforehand with them, and in the morning on which he made his decision he took his Bible and laid it down open on his table. Very soon a fellow-officer came in, and, looking at the book, exclaimed, Hallo, Vicars! turned Methodist? To which he made reply, That is my flag; and, by the grace of God, I hope to be true to it as long as I live. That was his Rephidim, and there he, too, conquered Amalek by raising the banner of the Lord. So let it be with you.
II. Jehovah is our mark of distinction. When, in travelling through England, one comes on the stately residence of some duke or earl, and sees the flag floating in quiet dignity from its turret, he knows from that indication that the proprietor is himself within the walls. Now, the distinguishing peculiarity of the Christian is that God, to whom he belongs, is, by His Spirit, dwelling within him, and that shows itself in many ways. It is apparent in the love by which he is animated for all who are in suffering, sorrow, or want. It is seen in the purity of speech and conduct which he maintains; in the earnestness of his devotion to the will of Christ; and in the eager efforts which he makes to attain to that perfection of character which he sees in his Lord.
III. Jehovah is our joy. When we make demonstration of our enthusiasm, we raise a whole forest of flagstaffs, and fix on each an appropriate banner. Let it be the commemoration of some victory, or the welcome to some foreign prince visiting our shores, and the whole city is gay with flags, while the emblems of many nationalities are seen fluttering in friendly fellowship from the mastheads of the ships in harbour. So we are reminded, by the inscription on this altar, that the joy of the Lord is the strength of the Christian. His life is one of constant gladness; his characteristic is what I may call a calm enthusiasm, or, to use the phrase of Jonathan Edwards, a quiet rapture.
IV. God is the protector of His people. There is nothing of which a nation is so jealous as the honour of its flag, and he who is in reality a citizen has a right to the protection of the government. Great Britain has few prouder chapters in her recent history than that which tells of the expedition to Abyssinia some years ago. A great force was landed on the Red Sea shore; a large, troublesome, and dangerous march of many days was made into an enemys country; a fierce assault was successfully attempted on a hitherto impregnable fortress; many lives were lost, and fifty millions of dollars were spent--and all for what? Because a brutal tyrant was keeping in horrid imprisonment two or three men who had a right to the protection of the British flag; and you can hardly conceive what an outburst of joy broke forth from the nation when the news came that they had been set free, and that the insulting monarch had been made to bite the dust. But what is the power of the British Empire, in comparison with Omnipotence? Yet he who sincerely raises this banner has Gods pledge that He will protect him (see Joh_10:28-29; Joh_16:33; Isa_41:10; Isa_54:17). (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The Lord my banner
I. In the first place, this covenant banner is a wonderful banner when looked at with reference to its antiquity. It is very easy indeed to tell, for ourselves individually, when we were first made acquainted with this banner. With some it was in the lessons of earliest childhood. With others, it was later on in life, when our knowledge of it began. When this banner was first unfurled, for any of our race to gaze upon, it is easy enough to tell. We go back to the garden of Eden. But this is only the date of its first unfolding. The design of it was not first formed then. To get at this, we must go back far, far beyond that distant date. That takes us indeed to the farthest shores of time. Standing there we gaze upon the ocean that lies before us. It is the shoreless ocean of an unmeasured eternity. Far back in its hidden depths the design of this banner was formed.
II. But now, let us take another look at this banner, and we shall see that it is not less wonderful in its material than in its antiquity. The material of which our flags or banners are ordinarily composed is a coarse woollen substance known as bunting. True, we sometimes see banners made of more costly materials, as silk or satin. And gold and silver, and jems and jewels, are not unfrequently employed to enrich and adorn the material employed in making the banner. These things, of course, very greatly enhance the value of the banners on which they are employed. But when we speak of the Lord as our banner, and think of His revealed truth as the material of which this banner is composed, and then contrast it with the material of which our ordinary banners are made, how unspeakable the difference! Jehovah-nissi--the Lord my banner. All the names, or titles, or symbols applied to God in Scripture, are the elements of truth that make Him known. And so it is when He is spoken of as the covenant banner, unfurled over His people. The folds of this banner are woven out of the truth of His blessed word--the truth as it is in Jesus. This constitutes the material of which this banner is composed.
III. But in the third place, it is a wonderful banner when we consider the mottoes inscribed upon it. The banner of England has in French the words--God and my duty. The idea thus embodied is, My duty to God--and my duty to my country. This simply expresses what should be the foremost thought and desire with every Christian patriot. And the mottoes on the banners of other nations are of a similar character. They are expressive, for the most part, of some sentiment of honour, or some principle of duty to the country over which they float. But the contrast is very striking, when we compare this banner of the covenant with other banners in regard to the mottoes which they bear. Each other banner bears but a single motto--while this bears many: those mainly refer to some matter of personal obligation and duty--while these refer to matters of high and glorious privilege. Every page of the volume of revealed truth may be regarded as a distinct fold of this covenant banner; and emblazoned on each fold is one or more of these inspiring mottoes.
IV. It is a wonderful banner, in the fourth place, when considered with reference to its influence on the hearts and lives of men. Doubtless the flag of every nation has a history, in this respect, that would be deeply interesting if the incidents connected with it could be collected and written out. But who can tell how many hearts have been stirred, and how many enterprises of great pith and moment have been started, and led on to successful issues, by the influence of this blessed banner? Every motto emblazoned on its waving folds, or, in other words, every passage of saving truth within the leaves of the Bible, has a history of its own. How wanderers have been reclaimed!--how slumbering consciences have been aroused!--how anxious inquiries have been directed!--how depraved hearts have been renewed!--how sorrowing spirits have been comforted!--how listless energies have been quickened and consecrated!--how useless lives have been ennobled land lost souls have been saved, through the influence of the mottoes on this banner--or of particular passages of Gods Word--who can tell!
V. And then, lastly, this is a wonderful banner in view of its durability. This is a quality which cannot be imparted to our national banners. The materials of which they are made is frail--and subject to decay. But how different it is with the banner of the covenant of our salvation! This is something which the hand of violence cannot rend. Time, with his effacing finger, can make no impression upon it. (R. Newton, D. D.)
Jehovah-nissi
Jehovah my banner. We acknowledge and honour Him as such four ways.
1. By voluntarily and inflexibly adhering to Him as our Leader and Commander.
2. By confessing Him the author of every success with which we have been crowned.
3. By our courageously trusting in Him to enable us to overcome in every future conflict.
4. By looking to Him for the remuneration of victory at last. As Jehovahs banner floated over the triumphant host, bearing the sweet and heart-sustaining inscription just explained, so should the assurance of victory be as complete as the sense of forgiveness, seeing both alike are founded upon the great fact that Jesus died and rose again. (A. Nevin, D. D.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain
Exodus
JEHOVAH NISSI
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Exo 17:15.
We are all familiar with that picturesque incident of the conflict between Israel and Amalek, which ended in victory and the erection of this memorial trophy. Moses, as you remember, went up on the mount whilst Joshua and the men of war fought in the plain. But I question whether we usually attach the right meaning to the symbolism of this event. We ordinarily, I suppose, think of Moses as interceding on the mountain with God. But there is no word about prayer in the story, and the attitude of Moses is contrary to the idea that his occupation was intercession. He sat there, with the rod of God in his hand, and the rod of God was the symbol and the vehicle of divine power. When he lifted the rod Amalek fled before Israel; when the rod dropped Israel fled before Amalek. That is to say, the uplifted hand was not the hand of intercession, but the hand which communicated power and victory. And so, when the conflict is over, Moses builds this memorial of thanksgiving to God, and piles together these great stones-which, perhaps, still stand in some of the unexplored valleys of that weird desert land-to teach Israel the laws of conflict and the conditions of victory. These laws and conditions are implied in the name which he gave to the altar that he built-Jehovah Nissi, ‘the Lord is my Banner.’
Now, then, what do these stones, with their significant name, teach us, as they taught the ancient Israelites? Let me throw these lessons into three brief exhortations.
I. First, realise for whose cause you fight.
The Banner was the symbol of the cause for which an army fought, or the cognizance of the king or commander whom it followed. So Moses, by that name given to the altar, would impress upon the minds of the cowardly mob that he had brought out of Egypt-and who now had looked into an enemy’s eyes for the first time-the elevating and bracing thought that they were God’s soldiers, and that the warfare which they waged was not for themselves, nor for the conquest of the country for their own sake, nor for mere outward liberty, but that they were fighting that the will of God might prevail, and that He might be the King now of one land-a mere corner of the earth-and thereby might come to be King of all the earth. That rude altar said to Israel: ‘Remember, when you go into the battle, that the battle is the Lord’s; and that the standard under which you war is the God for whose cause you contend-none else and none less than Jehovah Himself. You are consecrated soldiers, set apart to fight for God.’
Such is the destination of all Christians. They have a battle to fight, of which they do not think loftily enough, unless they clearly and constantly recognise that they are fighting on God’s side.
I need not dwell upon the particulars of this conflict, or run into details of the way in which it is to be waged. Only let us remember that the first field upon which we have to fight for God we carry about within ourselves; and that there will be no victories for us over other enemies until we have, first of all, subdued the foes that are within. And then let us remember that the absorbing importance of inward conflict absolves no Christian man from the duty of strenuously contending for all things that are ‘lovely and of good report,’ and from waging war against every form of sorrow and sin which his influence can touch. There is no surer way of securing victory in the warfare within and conquering self than to throw myself into the service of others, and lose myself in their sorrows and needs. There is no possibility of my taking my share in the merciful warfare against sin and sorrow, the tyrants that oppress my fellows, unless I conquer myself. These two fields of the Christian warfare are not two in the sense of being separable from one another, but they are two in the sense of being the inside and the outside of the same fabric. The warfare is one, though the fields are two.
Let us remember, on the other hand, that whilst it is our simple bounden duty, as Christian men and women, to reckon ourselves as anointed and called for the purpose of warring against sin and sorrow, wherever we can assail them, there is nothing more dangerous, and few things more common, than the hasty identification of fighting for some whim, or prejudice, or narrow view, or partial conception of our own, with contending for the establishment of the will of God. How many wicked things have been done in this world for God’s glory! How many obstinate men, who were really only forcing their own opinions down people’s throats because they were theirs, have fancied themselves to be pure-minded warriors for God! How easy it has been, in all generations, to make the sign of the Cross over what had none of the spirit of the Cross in it; and to say, ‘The cause is God’s, and therefore I war for it’; when the reality was, ‘The cause is mine, and therefore I take it for granted that it is God’s.’
Let us beware of the ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing,’ the pretence of sanctity which is only selfishness with a mask on. And, above all, let us beware of the uncharitableness and narrowness of view, the vehemence of temper, the fighting for our own hands, the enforcing of our own notions and whims and peculiarities, which have often done duty as being true Christian service for the Master’s sake. We are God’s host, but we are not to suppose that every notion that we take into our heads, and for which we may contend, is part of the cause of God.
And then remember what sort of men the soldiers in such an army ought to be. ‘Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.’ These bearers may either be regarded as a solemn procession of priests carrying the sacrificial vessels; or, as is more probable from the context of the original, as the armour-bearers of the great King. They must be pure who bear His weapons, for these are His righteous love, His loving purity. If our camp is the camp of the Lord, no violence should be there. What sanctity, what purity, what patience, what long-suffering, what self-denial, and what enthusiastic confidence of victory there should be in those who can say, ‘We are the Lord’s host, Jehovah is our Banner!’ He always wins who sides with God. And he only worthily takes his place in the ranks of the sacramental host of the Most High who goes into the warfare knowing that, because He is God’s soldier, he will come out of it, bringing his victorious shield with him, and ready for the laurels to be twined round his undinted helmet. That is the first of the thoughts, then, that are here.
II. The second of the exhortations which come from the altar and its name is, Remember whose commands you follow.
The banner in ancient warfare, even more than in modern, moved in front of the host, and determined the movements of the army. And so, by the stones that he piled and the name which he gave them, Moses taught Israel and us that they and we are under the command of God, and that it is the movements of His staff that are to be followed. Absolute obedience is the first duty of the Christian soldier, and absolute obedience means the entire suppression of my own will, the holding of it in equilibrium until He puts His finger on the side that He desires to dip and lets the other rise. They only understand their place as Christ’s servants and soldiers who have learned to hush their own will until they know their Captain’s. In order to be blessed, to be strong, to be victorious, the indispensable condition is that our inmost desire shall be, ‘Not my will, but Thine be done.’
Sometimes, and often, there will be perplexities in our daily lives, and conflicts very hard to unravel. We shall often be brought to a point where we cannot see which way the Banner is leading us. What then? ‘It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait’ for the salvation and for the guidance of his God. And we shall generally find that it is when we are looking too far ahead that we do not get guidance. You will not get guidance to-day for this day next week. When this day next week comes, it will bring its own enlightenment with it.
‘Lead, kindly Light, . . .
. . .One step enough for me.’
Let us take short views both of duty and of hope, and we shall not so often have to complain that we are left without knowing what the Commander’s orders are. Sometimes we are so left, and that is a lesson in patience, and is generally God’s way of telling us that it is not His will that we should do anything at all just yet. Sometimes we are so left in order that we may put our hand out through the darkness, and hold on by Him, and say, ‘I know not what to do, but mine eyes are towards Thee.’
And be sure of this, brethren, that He will not desert His own promise, and that they who in their inmost hearts can say, ‘The Lord is my Banner,’ will never have to complain that He led them into a ‘pathless wilderness where there was no way.’ It is sometimes a very narrow track, it is often a very rough one, it is sometimes a dreadfully solitary one; but He always goes before us, and they who hold His hand will not hold it in vain. ‘The Lord is my Banner’; obey His orders and do not take anybody else’s; nor, above all, the suggestions of that impatient, talkative heart of yours, instead of His commandments.
III. Lastly, the third lesson that these grey stones preach to us is, Recognise by whose power you conquer.
The banner, I suppose, to us English people, suggests a false idea. It suggests the notion of a flag, or some bit of flexible drapery which fluttered and flapped in the wind; but the banner of old-world armies was a rigid pole, with some solid ornament of bright metal on the top, so as to catch the light. The banner-staff spoken of in the text links itself with the preceding incident. I said that Moses stood on the mountain-top with the rod in his hand. Now that rod was exactly a miniature banner, and when he lifted it, victory came to Israel; and when it fell, victory deserted their arms. So by the altar’s name he would say, Do not suppose that it was Moses that won the battle, nor that it was the rod that Moses carried in his hand that brought you strength. The true Victor was Jehovah, and it was He who was Moses’ Banner. It was by Him that the lifted rod brought victory; as for Moses, he had nothing to do with it; and the people had to look higher than the hill-top where he sat.
This thought puts stress on the first word of the phrase instead of on the last, as in my previous remarks. ‘The Lord is my Banner,’-no Moses, no outward symbol, no man or thing, but only He Himself. Therefore, in all our duties, and in all our difficulties, and in all our conflicts, and for all our conquests, we are to look away from creatures, self, externals, and to look only to God. We are all too apt to trust in rods instead of in Him, in Moses instead of in Moses’ Lord.
We are all too apt to trust in externals, in organisations, sacraments, services, committees, outside aids of all sorts, as our means for doing God’s work, and bringing power to us and blessing to the world. Let us get away from them all, dig deeper down than any of these, be sure that these are but surface reservoirs, but that the fountain which fills them with any refreshing liquid which they may bear lies in God Himself. Why should we trouble ourselves about reservoirs when we can go to the Fountain? Why should we put such reliance on churches and services and preaching and sermons and schemes and institutions and organisations when we have the divine Lord Himself for our strength? ‘Jehovah is my Banner,’ and Moses’ rod is only a symbol. At most it is like a lightning-conductor, but it is not the lightning. The lightning will come without the rod, if our eyes are to the heaven, for the true power that brings God down to men is that forsaking of externals and waiting upon Him which He never refuses to answer.
In like manner we are too apt to put far too much confidence in human teachers and human helpers of various kinds. And when God takes them away we say to ourselves that there is a gap that can never be filled. Ay! but the great sea can come in and fill any gap, and make the deepest and the driest of the excavations in the desert to abound in sweet water.
So let us turn away from everything external, gather in our souls and fix our hopes on Him; let us recognise the imperative duty of the Christian warfare which is laid upon us; let us docilely submit ourselves to His sweet commands, and trust in His sufficient and punctual guidance, and not expect from any outward sources that which no outward sources can ever give, but which He Himself will give-strength to our fingers to fight, and weapons for the warfare, and covering for our heads in the day of battle.
And then, when our lives are done, may the only inscription on the stone that covers us be ‘Jehovah Nissi: the Lord is my banner’ ! The trophy that commemorates the Christian’s victory should bear no name but His by whose grace we are more than conquerors. ‘Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 17:15 This banner was a battle flag. In Isa…
17:15 This banner was a battle flag. In Isa 5:26, God lifted up a banner to call the nations to war against Israel. In Isa 11:10, 12, the Messiah would be the banner calling the nations to bring his people home.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.