The Lord is Our Banner
In reading through Genesis-Deuteronomy recently, I was struck by the story of Israel’s battle with the Amalekites in Exodus 17:8-16. This battle occurred in the very early days of Israel’s existence, just months after escaping Egypt and crossing the Red Sea. The Israelites were hungry, homeless, and weary, and the Amalekite army sought to take advantage of their circumstances. But God would protect them from this enemy.
The story is told with only a few verses compared to surrounding accounts in Exodus, and its brevity helps give a sense of the speed and intensity of the events. The Amalekite army approaches Israel, and the Israelites rush to defend themselves in order to survive. Upon seeing the army, Moses commands Joshua to choose men to go out and fight while he watches the battle from a nearby hill. In giving his instructions, Moses adds the detail that the staff of God will be in his hand. This is an important detail. As Moses tells Joshua to prepare Israelite men for battle, he too is preparing to intercede for their protection and
The next day, the Israelites meet the Amalekites in the field. No detail from the battle is given. The entire narrative focuses on what happens with Moses on top of the hill. Verse 11 says “Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.” This simple sentence gives a vivid image from Moses’ vantage point. Moses, as Israel’s leader and representative before God, faithfully prays for God to deliver His people, with raised hands, much like they were when parting the Red Sea. He says his prayer, lowers his hands, and watches the battle. Then, he sees the Amalekites begin to gain ground, and so he prays again, with arms reverently raised: “God, deliver them.” God hears his prayers, and Israel prevails. Moses lowers his hands and watches. The Amalekites prevail. Moses prays again, but this time he perceives that as long as his arms are raised in intercession, God gives Israel victory. So, he doesn’t lower his arms. Israel’s fate, in a very real sense, rests on his shoulders.
“Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.”
But, Moses’ hands grow weary, as verse 12 says. He is a mere man, with shoulders that can only endure so much strain before succumbing to gravity. His strength wains, and he can no longer keep his arms raised, regardless of how much he may desire. Fortunately, Aaron and Hur, his companions on the hill, give him a stone to sit on and hold his arms up for him. Notice that they don’t let Moses rest and start to hold up their arms in Moses’ place. Moses is God’s chosen leader. He is the one that carried the staff God gave him, and he alone is the one who can beseech God for Israel’s victory. The text says that Aaron and Hur remained there with Moses, holding up his arms, until sunset. At the end of the day, Israel finally overwhelms the Amalekites.
After the battle, God commands Moses to record these events for Israel to remember (which is why we have it today). Moses also builds an altar there to commemorate God’s deliverance and called the place “The Lord is My Banner” (v14-15), evoking imagery of God constantly being with them in battle as a flag in the hands of banner men.
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The reason this text stood out to me so much was how vividly it reminded me of Christ. Allow me to tell the story in more general terms to make the comparison. God’s people are caught in a battle with an enemy. Meanwhile, God’s chosen one watches the battle, and as he intercedes for God to deliver them, with his arms raised and while enduring great pain, God’s people are given victory. Moses, in this story, is a clear foreshadowing of Christ. His upheld arms evoke the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross. Though there are countless references to Christ before His coming in the Old Testament, this is one of very few allusions to the actual cross (to my knowledge).
“Moses, in this story, is a clear foreshadowing of Christ. His upheld arms evoke the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross.”
Great meaning is seen in the similarities between Moses and Christ, but I think even greater meaning is seen in two key differences. The first difference is between Moses and Christ’s pain. When Moses grew tired, his companions brought him something to sit on. When he could no longer keep his arms outstretched, his companions held them up for him. Jesus’ arms were pinned to a cross by Roman soldiers. He couldn’t drop them even if He wanted to. In fact, He had to fight gravity, constantly pushing against the nails in his hands and feet in order to keep from suffocating. There was no one there to give Him rest. But, He was God’s chosen one—the only one who could intercede for God’s people. He struggled against the weight of His own body until He couldn’t anymore and breathed His last breath. His pain was great, and He endured it for you and me.
The second difference is between the banners that Moses and Christ raise. From what the narrative says, the Israelites had no idea what Moses was going through during the battle. They probably supposed he was praying for their victory, as they’d heard him make similar supplications before, but they didn’t know the pain he endured to do so. It was only after the fact that the Israelites were told how their victory was won. Afterward, the Israelites erected an altar and named that place “The LORD is My Banner” as a reminder that God fights with them.
In contrast, when we battle our enemies, we can see the One interceding for us. When we fight against sin, temptation, fear, doubt, or apathy, we can actually look to Christ, crucified for us and with outstretched arms, and know that in Him, our enemies are already defeated. We have something the Israelites didn’t have. We can look to our great Intercessor, see Him on the cross on the hill, and gain the confidence, assurance, and courage to defeat our enemies. We too have been given a reminder that “The Lord is Our Banner.”
A banner is a symbol or signal meant to rally people for battle. It’s meant to remind people who they fight for and why they fight. A banner remains with an army as long as the banner men are able to carry it. Our banner is the Son of God crucified on a Roman cross and raised from the dead so that we could be delivered from the penalty and power of sin. When we see Him raised, we are reminded that the Lord is always with us, and that we fight our enemies for God’s glory and for our joy in Him. We’re reminded that no matter how grueling our fight may be, none of us has endured temptation to the point of death, because we didn’t have to. Because it was already done for us. What greater Banner can we ask for?