Jehovah Nissi: the LORD is my banner

Jehovah Nissi means the LORD is my banner. It is the name Moses gave to an altar after Israel's very first battle as a free people, in Exodus 17:15. A banner was a flag or pole raised high so that everyone could see it, and by choosing this name Moses was saying that the victory belonged to God, the flag His people had rallied around.

An attack at Rephidim

Israel had only just left Egypt. The people were former slaves, not soldiers. They camped at a place called Rephidim, where there was no water, and they complained so bitterly that Moses named the spot after their quarreling. Their question there was Is the LORD among us, or not? (Exodus 17:7). God answered by bringing water out of a rock. A few verses later He answered again, in a different way.

Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

Exodus 17:8

The Amalekites were a desert people descended from Esau, Jacob's brother (Genesis 36:12). Years later Moses described how they had attacked. They did not meet Israel's strongest men head on. They went after the people at the back of the line.

How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.

Deuteronomy 25:18

The hindmost are the ones at the very end. Feeble means weak. Amalek picked on the tired, the old, the sick and the slow, the people least able to defend themselves.

Two fronts, one battle

Moses gave orders to a young man named Joshua. This is the first time Joshua's name appears in the Bible, and it is in a battle. Moses told him to choose fighters and go out against Amalek, and said to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. It was the same rod Moses had lifted over the Red Sea (Exodus 14:16).

So the fight happened in two places at once. Down in the valley, Joshua and his men fought with swords. Up on the hill, Moses stood with his brother Aaron and a man named Hur, holding the staff up toward heaven.

And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

Exodus 17:11

To prevail means to win or to get the upper hand. Moses was not young, and the battle went on all day. His arms began to shake.

But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Exodus 17:12

"Stayed up" means held up or supported. Even the great leader of Israel could not do it alone. By sunset, Joshua had defeated Amalek (Exodus 17:13).

An altar named for a flag

God told Moses to write the event down as a memorial, something to remember, and to make sure Joshua heard it (Exodus 17:14). Then Moses did something that says a lot about him. He could have named the day after Joshua's courage or his own raised hands. Instead he built an altar, a pile of stones for worship, and gave it a name that pointed upward.

And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi:

Exodus 17:15

Many printings of the King James add a short note in the margin that explains the name as "my banner." The message of the altar was clear: the staff was only wood, and the soldiers were only men. The LORD was the One they had really been fighting under.

Nes: the Hebrew word for banner

Jehovah is an English form of God's personal name, which the King James usually prints as LORD in capitals. Nissi is the Hebrew word nes with an ending that means "my." Strong's dictionary, a standard word list for the King James Bible, defines nes as a flag, a sail, a flagstaff or a signal. The King James translates it standard, ensign, pole, banner and sail.

In the ancient world, a nes was set up on a high place so people could see it from a long way off. It told them where to gather, which side they were on, and that the fight was not over yet. If you could still see the standard, you kept going.

Think of a crowded stadium or a big field trip, where a leader holds up a sign or a flag so the group can find each other. Without it, people scatter and get lost. Moses was saying that God Himself is that sign for His people. When everything around you is noisy and confusing, you find your place by looking to Him.

The same word shows up in two surprising places. When snakes were biting the people in the wilderness, God told Moses to put a bronze serpent on a nes, a pole, so anyone who looked at it would live:

And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

Numbers 21:8

Isaiah used the word for a coming leader from the family line of Jesse, King David's father, who would stand for an ensign of the people (Isaiah 11:10). An ensign is another word for a banner. Jesus later pointed back to that bronze serpent when He spoke of being lifted up Himself (John 3:14). And a psalm uses the word in a prayer of trust: Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee (Psalm 60:4).

Fighting under Jehovah Nissi today

Notice how Amalek fought. It went after people who were tired and lagging behind. Discouragement and temptation often work the same way. They tend to show up when you are worn out, just after a hard season, or when you feel alone at the back of the line.

This name says you do not have to fight under your own flag. When things get confusing, look up to the One who is your rallying point. It also teaches that there are two parts to every battle. Joshua still had to fight, and Moses still had to pray. Do the work in front of you, and keep praying while you do it.

And do not miss Aaron and Hur. Everyone needs people who will stand beside them when their arms get heavy, and everyone can be that person for someone else.

• Name the battle you are in right now and ask God to be your banner in it.
• Think of two people who could be your Aaron and Hur. Tell them what you are facing and ask them to pray with you.
• Look for the tired person at the back of the line, at school, at work or in your family, and stand next to them.

Jehovah-nissi is name 21 of the 70 in the book. The next name is about God setting His people apart for Himself: The LORD That Doth Sanctify You. To see how the Jehovah names fit together, visit the Jehovah names of God page.