“Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.’ So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. 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 My Banner.” (Exodus 17:8-15 ESV)
A banner, also known as a standard, was carried into battle many times so that as long as the troops could see that the banner was still raised, it would give them encouragement that victory was on their side. With that understanding, we now look at the story of Moses holding up his staff in the air, with Aaron and Hur’s help, while Joshua and the Israelites were fighting the Amalekites.
Moses’ rod here was a symbolic banner for the people to see. The Jewish book, the Mishnah, which is a written collection of Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah, as well as of rabbinic literature, says this about Moses holding up the rod: “Now do Moses’ hands make war or stop it? No. But the purpose is to say this to you: So long as the Israelites would set their eyes upward and submit their hearts to their Father in heaven, they would grow stronger. And if not, they fell.” Moses holding up his rod as a war banner encouraged the warriors fighting down below him. Although they could look up the hill and see Moses holding up his rod, by looking up towards him, it was a symbolic gesture that shows us that when we look to God for our help in battle, then victory can be assured.
There are, in fact, three factors that I see here happening before God came down to help Israel win the battle:
- Moses’ willingness to lift up the banner
- Moses used common sense by not trying to stand on his own, but by sitting on the rock it gave him the ability to last longer. (Jesus is our rock in battle today to rest on.)
- The co-operative spirit that Aaron and Hur had by holding up the hands of the man of God.
How important was it to the Lord that His people had a banner when they went into war? Just look at the following Scriptures:
“May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions! Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:5-7 ESV)
“You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.” (Song of Solomon 6:4 ESV)
“Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?” (Song of Solomon 6:10 ESV)
“Lift up a banner on the high mountain, The Lord of hosts musters the army for battle. They come from a far country, From the end of heaven—The Lord and His [b]weapons of indignation, to destroy the whole land.” (Isaiah 13: 2, 4-5 NKJV)
“The Lord their God will save them in that day, As the flock of His people. For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, Lifted like a banner over His land.” (Zechariah 9:16 NKJV)
As you can see, throughout the Word of God there was a strong emphasis placed on the importance of a banner being lifted up. One of the world’s most famous war memorials is the statue of Marines raising the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima. It is a striking portrait of warriors who were willing to lift up their banner. There is another war memorial I hope you’ll recall. I believe that we can agree that the greatest banner that was ever “lifted up” was Jesus Christ hanging on the cross. As he hung there between heaven and earth, with the hatemongers yelling insults up at Him, He was hanging there as God’s banner for all to see. Truly, it was as if Solomon himself had viewed into the windows of time and saw Jesus hanging there, for he wrote these words in Song of Solomon 2:4, “His banner over me was love.”
Jesus Christ raised a blood-stained banner of victory, a victory ensuring eternal life to those who believe in Him. It is now the responsibility of all Christians to lift up the blood-stained banner of the cross as faithful warriors marching into battle. It is time we honored He who went before us; He who laid down His life; He who won the victory for us already; yes, Jesus, Jesus Christ the victorious warrior of the cross! He’s a hero worth following into any battle!