What is the meaning of Jehovah-Nissi?

Je ho’vah nis’si Jehovah my banner

Name, signifying 'Jehovah my banner,' which Moses gave to the altar he built after the defeat of Amalek. Ex. 17:15.

"And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi," i.e., The Lord is my Banner (Ex. 17:15). You will be a worshipper now. I think that is what leads the soul into worship. The Lord is my Banner! If the Lord is your Banner, victory is certain. Well, that is the way God opens up the history of His people. Clean out of Egypt, and tested in the wilderness. The more you are tested, the more you learn what God's grace is. You have Christ to feed on, and the Spirit of God to sustain you, and carry you on to victory, coupled with the wonderful truth of the intercession of the blessed Lord Jesus, now at God's right hand. Happy people are all those who walk in these precious truths.

Joshua gained the victory over Amalek and his people. Then the Lord instructed Moses to write in a book as a memorial, and impress upon Joshua the fact that God would utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven (v. 14). Many times after this Israel had trouble from Amalek, just as the saints of God today suffer from attacks by the lusts of the flesh. Thank God this obnoxious enemy will eventually be totally banished by God, its remembrance blotted out. The place was called “Jehovah-nissi” meaning “the Lord my banner.” Attention is focused, not on the enemy, but on the One who overcomes the enemy.

On the site of the victory Moses built an altar to Jehovah, and called it Jehovah-nissi, Jehovah my banner. Not such a banner, with emblems of their gods, as the Egyptian armies rallied around, but an altar of burnt sacrifice, the tribute of worship to the unchangeable I AM. And in connection therewith Moses said, "A hand is lifted up upon the throne of Jah! A war of the Lord against Amalek from generation to generation" prophetic words, indicating the final victory of the people of God, for the mighty hand of the Intercessor is laid upon the divine throne, and at the sundown, as it were, of this world's day, victory shall remain with the soldiers of God. And thus stands the record, written by the divine command in the Book of God; the war proceeding still, the final victory still to come.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi: for he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." (vv. 14-16.)

Two things were combined in this memorial — the record of their deliverance from Amalek, and the pledge of his final overthrow. Every display of the Lord's power on behalf of His people bears this double character. If He step in and vindicate them from the assaults of their enemies, He, by that same act, assures them of His continual protection and care. Every interposition therefore of His between them and their foes should be rehearsed in their ears, and written on their hearts, both as the memorial of the past, and as the guarantee of His immutable defence. Hence when the Psalmist celebrates a past deliverance, he exclaims, "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." (Ps. 27:3.) In the same confidence Moses built an altar. By it he gratefully owned the divine hand, as well as expressed that the praise of the victory belonged to the Lord. It is precisely here that so many fail. The Lord vouchsafes help and deliverance, but they forget to build their altars. Driven into the Lord's presence in their straits, they too often neglect to praise Him when relieved from their pressure. Not so with Moses. By building the altar he declared before the whole of Israel, It is the Lord who has fought for us and secured the victory. This is proclaimed by the title he affixed to it — "The Lord our banner." He therefore it was who led our hosts, and He it is who will lead our hosts; for His controversy with Amalek will never cease. As long as He has a people on the earth, so long will Satan seek to encompass their overthrow. We need to remember this, but with all the prospect it involves, our hearts will be confident, if we can but grasp in power the truth of Jehovah-nissi. The battle is the Lord's, we fight under His colours, and hence — whatever the stubborn persistence of the foe — the victory is assured.

We have died to sin, and hence it has no claim over us. "He that has died is justified from sin." "Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified together, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." (Rom. 6:6) "And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword." All was victory; and Jehovah's banner floated over the triumphant host, bearing the sweet and heart-sustaining inscription, "Jehovah-nissi" (the Lord my banner). The assurance of victory should be as complete as the sense of forgiveness, seeing both alike are founded upon the great fact that Jesus died and rose again. It is in the power of this that the believer enjoys a purged conscience and subdues indwelling sin. The death of Christ having answered all the claims of God in reference to our sins, His resurrection becomes the spring of power, in all the details of conflict, afterwards. He died for us, and now He lives in us. The former gives us peace, the latter gives us power.

In verse 14 we have the first command to Moses to write. Not so long ago critics claimed that writing at Moses' time was unknown. The tablets of Lachish and Tel-el-Amarna have silenced this foolish assertion. The memorial altar, "Jehovah Nissi," the Lord is my banner, tells us of victory. "The assurance of victory should be as complete as the sense of forgiveness, seeing both alike are founded upon the great fact that Jesus died and rose again. It is in the power of this that the believer enjoys a purged conscience and subdues indwelling sin. The death of Christ having answered all the claims of God in reference to our sins, His resurrection becomes the spring of power in all the details of conflict afterwards. He died for us, and now He lives in us. The former gives us peace, the latter gives us power."

So it is found that "in the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided" (Gen. 22:14; see R.V.); and so the place is named JEHOVAH-JIREH. The name Jehovah was taken by God as showing the relationship which He would maintain by faith: it means I AM, and whatever is needed can be, by faith, added to that "I am — ." It is like a signed cheque which is left for the possessor to fill in the amount as he requires. Thus we find the word Jehovah linked with qualifying terms several times, and on each occasion the qualifying term grows out of the character of the circumstances and suits it. In the passage before us, there is a position of extreme need, — Where is … ? and therefore we find JEHOVAH-JIREH, I am thy provider. In Ex. 17, the people of Israel, unorganised and undisciplined, was attacked by a powerless and ruthless foe; and they required a rallying point, a banner, JEHOVAH-NISSI. Again, in the beginning of the book of Judges, the position is one of continual turbulence: in the sixth chapter "the mighty man of valour" was threshing "a handful of wheat by the winepress "to hide it from the Midianites." When he sees the departing angel, he cries in an agony of fear, "Alas, O Lord God!" But the Lord said, "Peace … fear not:" so the name of the altar is JEHOVAH-SHALOM =I am thy peace. Then in Jeremiah 23 the sin complained of is so great that the very pastors are seen to be wholly corrupt — "Woe be unto the pastors!" there is no hope when the rulers have thus become vile, until a heavenly light shines forth from the well-known and well-loved words JEHOVAH TSIDKENU. [ That is, It is from the verb br. los. to be; it means self-existence.]

When Amalek has been conquered, the first thing; to be established is naturally an altar. The principle of organised public worship is to be the distinguishing characteristic and most salient feature of the Pilgrim Nation, so Moses calls the altar Jehovah-Nissi, "the Lord my banner."

For a fighting army always needs a standard, which forms, not only a rallying point and expression of unity, but an inspiring emblem of the Cause for which it is contending, and a public demonstration of the same. There are few evidences of the power of sentiment and symbolism so great as the banner — a mere piece of silk or bunting, with a name or rough figure on it, intrinsically worth only a few shillings; yet warriors will grapple in deadly fray around it, the young ensign's eye glaze in death as he tries to hold it, and one man after another will spring forward and pour out his heart's blood in its defence. For this reason all that sentiment can do to invest a banner with every accessory that can awaken and sustain enthusiasm is usually accomplished: sovereigns personally present the regimental flags, while the chief religious dignitaries pronounce their benedictions on them amid circumstances of the utmost pageantry. On Israel's banner is inscribed the august name of JEHOVAH, and it requires no addition of party name, symbol or shibboleth. It is great enough for us all to fight under — so be it that we fight not one another, but Amalek. Nor shall we be allowed either to monopolise it or to rip it into sections (this is an abnormal taste truly, which would prefer a section of a flag to the whole, yet, strange to say, the taste exists). And we can rest assured that, like the battle flag of the old Norse champion, which, though fatal to him that carried it, ultimately led all that followed it to victory, this banner of the Lord shall advance from strength to strength, until it waves on the ramparts of Zion.