Moses built an altar and named it The LORD is My Banner; and he said, “The LORD has sworn; the LORD will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.” (Exodus 17:15–16)

Banners in the ancient world showed prominently during war. They were the rallying symbol, the flag if you will. As long as the banner was up and moving forward the armies pressed on. When it fell, someone else would pick it up and carry it forward. The person carrying it, though obviously limited in his own personal engagement with the enemy, was performing a task much greater than himself. For if the banner fell and stayed down, that meant there was no one who believed in the effort enough to pick it up again; the will to fight was lost, every man fended for himself, and that was when the cause was lost. Some armies collected the banners of their defeated foes as prizes.

When Moses named an altar “The LORD is my Banner” he was acknowledging that Yahweh was the rallying flag. As surely as there is a God above and His name is Yahweh, there could be no defeat for Israel. The problem was that often Israel didn’t really believe that. They wanted God as their banner only when a battle turned against them; then they cried out for His help. But they often strayed and worshipped other gods, like the golden calves of Egypt.

The back story to our passage today takes place during the exodus trek from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan. Moses’ understudy, Joshua, was commanding the troops in a fight against their perennial enemies, the Amalekites (possibly descendants of Esau, brother of Jacob, as seen in Genesis 36:12). Moses stationed himself on a hilltop in sight of the troops, holding his hands up. When Moses’ hands were up, the battle went in Israel’s favor. When down, the Amalekites prevailed. Moses was a kind of banner, a rallying symbol. We are not told whether the troops would occasionally look over their shoulder to see if Moses’ hands were up, or whether God responded to Moses’ hand position.

What we do know is that after Israel won the battle, Moses put it all together clearly. He himself was not the banner, “The LORD is my Banner.” And as the leader of Israel, this meant the LORD was Israel’s banner. Today, our banner is the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus lifted the bread and cup and said, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” He presented Himself as our banner, our rallying point, with the Lord’s Supper being our symbol by which we remember Him. We do well to follow the early church, of whom it is written, “They were continually devoting themselves …to the breaking of bread” (Acts 20:42).

Lord, when I am feeling defeated, I have only to set my mind on You, my banner.