“The LORD Is My Banner”
Exodus 17:15
Foreign wordSettledNarrator
And Moses built an altar and named it The LORD Is My Banner. (Exodus 17:15 BSB)
* Hebrew: YHWH Nissi; a nes was the standard or rallying flag raised on a pole in battle. After defeating Amalek, Moses makes the LORD Himself the banner the army rallies to.
What it sounds like today
Moses gives his altar a poetic name after a battle.
The cultural key
A nes was the military standard, the flag or emblem lifted on a pole around which troops rallied and toward which they rushed in battle. After Israel defeats Amalek while Moses' hands are held up, Moses names the altar 'The LORD Is My Banner' (YHWH Nissi): the rallying point of the army is not a flag or a general but God Himself. Like Jehovah-Jireh at Moriah, it is a place-name that freezes an act of God into memory.
Recovered meaning
The victory belonged to God, so Moses makes God the banner Israel fights under. The standard the nation rallies to is not an emblem on a pole but the LORD who fought for them.
Parallels: Exodus 17:11; Psalm 20:5