We are in chapter seventeen of Exodus with our word for today, used for the first time in the Bible. נֵס flag, standard, ensign, signal, sign. It is used 21 times in the Old Testament. Our word is used as a sail for a boat or a ship. Isaiah 33:23 Your rigging hangs loose: The mast is not held secure, the נֵ֔ס sail is not spread. It is also used as a warning in the sense of a message informing of danger. Numbers 26:10 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire devoured the 250 men. And they served as a לְנֵֽס warning sign. We also find our word used as a pole in the sense of a support for other objects. Numbers 21:8-9 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a נֵ֑ס pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a הַנֵּ֑ס pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
Most of the time our word is used as banner in the sense of an ornamental piece of cloth that typically relates identification to those in the vicinity of the banner. Isaiah 5:26 He lifts up a נֵ֤ס banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily! Psalm 60:4 But for those who fear you, you have raised a נֵּ֭ס banner to be unfurled against the bow.
Under this signal idea we see a rallying point that excites and energizes those who you are going into a fight with. Jeremiah 4:21 How long must I see the נֵּ֑ס battle standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? Jeremiah 50:2 Announce and proclaim among the nations, lift up a נֵ֔ס banner and proclaim it; keep nothing back, but say, “Babylon will be captured; Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror. Her images will be put to shame and her idols filled with terror.” Jeremiah 51:12, 27 Lift up a נֵ֗ס banner against the walls of Babylon! Reinforce the guard, station the watchmen, prepare an ambush! The Lord will carry out his purpose, his decree against the people of Babylon… Lift up a נֵ֣ס banner in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations for battle against her.
This is how our word is used in our chapter today. Exodus 17:14-16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is נִסִּֽי My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” It is YWHW the ever existing one or reality himself that is their banner, their rallying point against their enemies the Amalekites.
I’ll close with the messianic prophecy or prediction of Christ coming to earth. He is described as the banner our rallying point that excites and energizes us who are in the spiritual battle with him. Isaiah 11:10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a לְנֵ֣ס banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. Jesus is our rally point he is our banner.
