The 40 Day Journey - Day 30 (Jehovah Nissi)

***Another disclaimer - you will need your thinking caps today! I'm a little all over the place with this post. It is not even close to being exhaustive, just a glimpse of a cool truth God showed me today.

Jehovah Nissi - The Lord is my Banner, has always intrigued me. Mostly because I don't understand it and because I like pretty things, and banners are pretty right? I figured I'd go for it and hope God would speak. I knew this hour would be spent listening to God through His Word. I have a paper of scribbled notes that I will try to unravel here.

Exodus 17:15 says, "And Moses built an altar, and named it The LORD is My Banner,"

I like to look up words in their original language to see if that helps me understand a verse better. I looked up banner and in Hebrew it is the word "nec". This means: a thing lifted up, a token to be seen far off; a banner set up high in the mountains in case of an invasion, showing the people where to assemble.

I also try to look at the context of a passage. So, I backed up a few chapters to see what was happening with Moses. He had the less than pleasant job of trying to convince Pharaoh to let all of his free slave labor go. Then he lead over a million people through the Red Sea. He also had to deal with the grumblings of these hungry and thirsty Israelites.

In each of these instances, Moses used the staff of God. The Lord told Aaron and Moses to throw down the staff in front of Pharaoh and it would become a serpent. The Lord told Moses to lift up his staff and stretch out his hand over the sea and divide it so the Israelites could pass through. And in Exodus 17:5-6 Moses is to take his staff and strike the rock so water would come out of it.

In addition to looking at the original language and the context, I like to look up other verses with the same word I am studying. So I looked up where the word "nec" is  used. Almost all of them are in battles. Instead of banner, "standard" or "signal" or "pole" were used for "nec".

I started looking ahead to passages after Exodus and found something interesting in Numbers 21. The Israelites were grumbling once again. So God sent serpents that bit the people and many died. They of course apologized again. God had Moses fashion a bronze serpent and attach it to the top of his standard. When the people were bit, if they looked up to the standard (nec) they would live.

I then found Isaiah 11:10 that speaks of the root of Jesse (Jesus)..."who will stand as a signal (nec) for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious".

Are you seeing the connection yet? Here is one more.

Back to the Exodus 17 passage where God is named Jehovah Nissi, Amalek came and fought against Israel. Moses had Joshua and some men go fight in the battle.  Moses then went up to the top of the hill with the staff (not nec to my surprise, but matteh) of God in his hand. Basically, when Moses' hands, holding the staff, were lifted they prevailed. If Moses put his hands down Amalek prevailed. Aaron and Hur helped keep Moses' arms raised so that Joshua and his men overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

To keep this short and sweet, I think 'The Lord is my Banner' is not referring to some fabric flying in the wind as I imagined. I believe this Banner is a pole of some sort that was used as a signal for battle.

The staff Moses used with Pharaoh and the Israelites, was "matteh". The first time "nec" is used is when God's name, Jehovah Nissi is revealed. And this was right after this battle is won. And then it is used about 20 times after that to point to Jesus all in the Old Testament!

Moses had been using his staff (his matteh) to gain victory against Pharaoh, to gain victory in escaping Egypt, for victory over the thirst of the Israelites. But after that battle against an evil man, Moses is acknowledging that the battle is the Lords, that He is victorious, He is the banner (nec). No man made stick can save, only God.

And this all leads to Jesus, lifted up on that cross, showing us where to assemble to defeat our greatest enemy, sin. This is no man made fabric flowing in the wind, no this is God made flesh. This is Jesus. The One that is victorious over death (remember the staff with the serpent?). The Lord is My Banner. When we look to Jesus, we know the battle is won, He is victorious.

Now death, where is your sting? Our resurrected King has rendered you defeated. Forever, He is glorified. Forever, He is lifted high. (From Forever by Kari Jobe.)

The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the name of the Lord is My Banner, you are safe.