Rally to the Banner | Exodus 17:8-16
There are a few things that have been used across history, across cultures, and across the world that have given people a shared identity and a symbol of pride. Flags have long delineated who we are as individuals, what groups we belong to, and what we want to claim as our own. For the military flags have historically been used largely during battle to rally the troops together to re-organize and to find strength to continue their advance.
Therefore, some men would be enlisted as flag bearers to carry their regiment’s colors into battle to signify where the strength of the regiment was since many could get lost on the field of war amongst the roar of artillery and the smoke from the heat of the battle.
This was a dangerous job though. These flag bearers had to be courageous since they were unarmed, leading the regiment from the front, and they stood out as a large target for enemy lines to see. If one flag bearer would get wounded or killed another soldier nearby would drop their rifle to pick up their regiment’s flag instead so that they all could carry on in battle together.
During the first day of the battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, there was one Confederate regiment that was said to have 10 different flag bearers in 10 minutes. In total that regiment lost 14 flag bearers that day. Despite how dangerous the job of a flag bearer was… every single person on the battlefield, friend and foe alike, understood how important the job of the flag bearer was. All the soldiers were trained to follow the flag.
For the people of Israel, they had just experienced the salvation of the LORD as they walked through the Red Sea on dry ground while Pharaoh’s armies were crushed and swallowed up in the waters behind them. Experiencing such a rich gift of deliverance you’d expect to see grateful hearts and passionate praise to God who led them out of Egypt. And yes, we did see that in the Song of Moses at the end of Exodus 15, but it didn’t last long.
But Israel was now delivered out of the known circumstances of Egypt and brought into the unknown circumstances of the wilderness. We then read 3 scenes in the last two weeks about Israel’s grumbling, complaining, and blasphemous claims against the LORD in the wilderness. The people of Israel had lost sight of the banner. Their salvation from slavery in Egypt faded out of their view as they grumbled about their present circumstances.
We ended the third scene of their complaining in the wilderness in Exodus 17:7 with the Israelites asking the question, “Is the LORD among us or not?” And it is with that context that I invite you to stand together with me as we read Exodus 17:8-16.
As you can see in our text this morning, Israel was going to find out very quickly whether the LORD was among them or not. And to be sympathetic to the Israelites circumstances, I too would be asking where the water or the food was going to come from! And now faced with an army coming to attack you in the middle of the wilderness I’d start to wonder… can God really be trusted right now?
What is the flag or the banner that you look to or lose sight of during the heat of life? Who or what is your banner when sin or suffering clouds your view of the battlefield and you can no longer fight on your own?
Everyone has a banner. Maybe it’s trusting in themselves… maybe it’s their financial security… maybe they just try to think enough positive thoughts as an to get them through the battle! But in the end… none of those banners will give you the hope, the strength, or the direction that you need when you are at the end of yourself and in the depths of your sin like the people of Israel were.
Therefore, my aim this morning is to encourage you that God mercifully fights for you despite your sin against him.
Israel was at one of the lowest places that they would be during their wilderness wanderings. Moses as the representative leader of the people responded in faith in two ways that should be instructive for us this morning. He modeled for the people of Israel and for us, Relying on the Power of God and Trusting in the Promise of God. So that is where we will spend our time this morning. Let’s follow Moses to see what it looks like to Rely on the Power of God.
Relying on the Power of God
Following the grumblings in the wilderness Israel is faced with a greater physical challenge. The Amalekites. Amalek was a known descendant of Esau and Edom (recorded in Gen. 36:12, 16). There isn’t any reason given for the Amalekites sudden aggression towards the Israelite company, and there is nothing in the text to suggest that Israel did anything to provoke the sudden attack. Deuteronomy 25:18 merely states that the Amalektites “did not fear God” when they attacked the Israelites on their way out of Egypt.
Little to their knowledge, by attacking the Israelite company, the Amalekites were actually setting themselves up against the LORD. Looking at the context of this passage it should be no surprise to us why this section is placed here. Moses recounted what happened at Massah and Meribah in chapter 17:7 when the people questioned, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
In the very next verse, what falls next before the people of Israel? Overwhelming opposition, uncontrollable evil, and the largest external difficulty that they would have to face in the wilderness. The people would soon have their question answered. They soon would know if the LORD was among them or not. Would God fight for His people?
It’s often when we ask questions like the Israelites did that the LORD will respond in a way that we didn’t expect. For Israel, some writing in the sky that said “I’m here” would have been a bit less painful than a battle against a hostile army! Maybe you’ve prayed that the LORD would humble you or open up an opportunity for you and He has answered that prayer in a way that you did not expect or see coming. It might have been painful, but aren’t you able to look back and see that the way in which he answered that prayer was for your good? The LORD often works in ways that in the end it is only possible for him to receive the glory.
God in His mercy would in fact answer their question with a glorious display of His power in their first military endeavor on their way to the Promised Land. Verses 9-10 say, “So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out to 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.”
The plan was that some of the men of Israel, chosen by Joshua, would take action and would go out to fight with Amalek. At the same time, Moses, Aaron, and Hur would go to the top of the hill overlooking the battle.
Since talking with God at the burning bush in Exodus 3, Moses had now experienced the tangible power of God numerous times. He took with him to the top of the hill his staff which symbolized God’s active presence, authority, and power. And going to stand on top of a nearby hill was often an act by a king or military leader of taking up a position of authority or control over a battle. Yet, Moses was not the one who would be taking control of this battle.
There isn’t anything listed here about how the battle ensued, there is nothing stated about the soldiers who were engaging in combat against one another, we read nothing about the Israelite casualties. Attention is solely focussed on Moses, Aaron, and Hur on top of the hill. And what we see in the text is that what happened on the battlefield below was determined by what happened on the hilltop above.
When Moses would raise up his hands towards the heavens, Israel would prevail over Amalek. When Moses would lower his hands, Amalek and his armies would prevail over the Israelite army. And Moses noticed the correlation between his actions on top of the hill and his people’s success in battle.
When I was in college my least favorite class was by far statistics. But if I did learn something in that class it was when my statistics professor would make it painfully clear every single class period that correlation does not always equal causation… and that is true! But when you are seeing a strong correlation you have to be able to have evidence to prove that a certain cause resulted in a certain event.
Moses was probably better at statistics than I was… he tested this correlation! He’d raise his hands and see the success they were having so he would drop his arms and observe. Once they started to get overwhelmed in battle again he would shoot his arms up and they would again experience success. This wasn’t a magic light switch by any means.
But during this battle with the Amalekites, it was God’s power through Moses’ actions that would directly correlate to the Israelites' success. Moses’ raised his hands up to appeal to God, signifying their dependence upon him to fight for them in battle. He was appealing to God to not only defend his people, but to help them destroy their enemies. He very well knew that it would be God’s present power that would be the difference between victory and defeat. But would the LORD save and mercifully fight for His people despite their sin against Him?
I have been consistently meditating on Psalm 103:6-14 the last couple weeks while we’ve been reading about Israel’s wilderness wanderings. In that Psalm David praises the LORD saying, “The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”
Isn’t that so kind of the LORD? He knows we’re dust. And he shows such rich compassion and mercy towards us in our weakness and when we are neck deep in our own sin. That is who the LORD is. He comes alongside us and before us as our banner to lead us through the battle. And He has promised that he would never leave us nor forsake us as he goes to war with all the enemies of God on our behalf. It was mercy from the LORD that He would fight for His people that day in the wilderness.
But there was a BIG problem… Moses' hands grew heavy and weary. There was no way that he was going to be able to keep his hands raised up until the end of the battle at the going down of the sun. And Moses likely realized that his actions would determine whether the Israelite army would live or die that day on the battlefield. The stakes were heightened with the protection of God’s people in the balance. So as all good friends do… Aaron and Hur found a rock. They helped Moses by propping him up on a rock while they would hold his hands up for the rest of the day. With this stability verse 13 says that “Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.”
Now, there is nothing significant about Moses’ arms here in this passage. The one thing that it does show us is that Moses, the leader of the people of Israel, was weak, frail, and lacked the strength in himself to keep his arms raised for the entirety of the battle. Moses wasn’t strong enough to fulfill his role in the battle alone. God seeks to strengthen us when we are weak and inadequate to fight the battle alone, but he also uses means to provide that strength.
One of those means employed here for Moses is through the community of Aaron and Hur standing by his side. Strength can be found for you too in community. Just looking around this room I can think of numerous stories including my own of how God has used this community to strengthen someone’s faith, to strengthen someone’s resolve to do the right thing, strengthen someone’s marriage or their parenting, or to strengthen someone’s grasp on the truths of the gospel.
Moses was not standing up on the hill shouting at Aaron and Hur to stand away at a distance because as a good Israelite he was going to handle this battle on his own. NO! He availed himself to the grace that being connected in community can give. It’s my prayer that you too are availing yourself to the grace that community will give to you. And if you haven’t yet, start today by saying hello to the people sitting around you after the service and soon you will find that God is imparting grace and strength to you through being connected in to a community.
I also can’t help but hear Paul’s words to the church in Corinth when I read about Moses’ weakness. Paul says in 1 Cor. 2:1-3, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
In our weakness may we pray and seek to live in a way that our lives would be a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that others' faith might not rest in us and our strength but rather in the power of God.
Are you in the midst of a battle right now? Are you battling against your own indwelling sin that keeps fighting its way to the surface? Are you battling against debilitating sickness that leaves you weak and feeling helpless? Are you battling any suffering right now that has left you bruised and beat up? Have you considered how your weakness might serve to magnify the mercy, power, and glory of God?
Seeing God’s display of his present power for the Israelite army should make us rejoice that God didn’t need a break due to weakness. As soon as Moses’ hands were raised again with some help, Israel found victory and prevailed over Amalek and his army. The weakness of Moses served to magnify the mercy. power, and glory of God.
God fought for His people that day despite their sin. And Moses and the people acted by faith, fully relying on the present power of God. That was step 1 for the Israelites. They then looked to Trusting in the Promise of God.
Trusting in the Promise of God
Following the conclusion of the battle the LORD speaks to Moses saying, “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” (17:14).
Remember that God’s promises are always linked and connected with God’s commands. He promises that he will deal with Amalek and his enemy armies so that their opposition will not hinder Israel’s progress towards the promised land. He is going to deal with their army in such a way that there will be no memory left of them and their cruelty. What are the commands linked with this promise? To write and recite.
Moses was to write down this promise so that it could be read and remembered for generations to come. The people who would come to read this promise later knew that the LORD would bring it about since he had already had victory in war against the Amalekites. Moses was also to recite this promise in the ear of Joshua. Joshua would later take Moses’ place as the leader of Israel. God wanted his people to never forget how he had and how he would mercifully fight for His people despite their ongoing grumbling and sin.
How do you seek to continually memorialize God’s saving work in your lives? Maybe you make it a habit to read and discuss Gospel truths around the dinner table with your kids each evening. Maybe you make it a point to encourage others when you talk to them about how you see God’s saving acts getting work done in their lives. Maybe you share with your missional community about a gospel conversation that you had with a coworker or a neighbor where it finally seemed like things were starting to click for them and breakthrough might be on the horizon. Take the time to celebrate those things! Oh may we never go a day without remembering and rehearsing God’s saving mercies to us in Christ. The people were to be encouraged by reading and hearing this good news of the LORD’s protection. In their wilderness wanderings, they had been through a lot.
The purpose of remembering and writing it down and reciting it was meant to continually bring the people’s attention to the comforting truth of: a God of providential care, foreseeing our needs, planning ahead for our welfare, and awaiting us with his solutions, sufficiency, and salvation.
Commentator J Alec Motyer says,
“In a word, the trials of the pathway may take us by surprise, but never him. They may catch us unprepared, but never him. Left to ourselves, they would be more than we could bear, but we are never left to ourselves. By ourselves we would not know which way to turn, but we are not by ourselves. God has planned the course we are to take and walks with us. We can say with David, “As for God, his way is perfect… and he keeps my way secure [perfect] (Ps. 18:30, 32)”.
And that is what Moses would celebrate on that hill. Moses built an altar there and he called it “The LORD is my banner, saying, ‘A hand upon the throne of the LORD! The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (17:16) A banner in war was a place where soldiers could rally to on the battlefield to regroup, refocus, re-strategize, and find strength. Soldiers always looked to their banner. It establishes their identity and helps them to know who they are. As long as the banner is still flying high, they know that the battle is not lost. Moses is saying, that is what the LORD is for us! He is not outside the fray, but he is decidedly within the fray with us.
The LORD is whom we look to when the enemy surrounds us and we have nowhere to go. The LORD is who we come to for mercy and grace when we have sinned against Him and doubted His presence. The LORD is our rallying point when we are in the heat of the battle and we are taking blows from threats outside of us and the threats inside of us. The LORD was still indeed among his people despite their sin.
And how much more for us! Despite your sin and rebellion against God each and every day the LORD hasn’t distanced himself from you. Christian, He has already died to save you. Paul writes to the church in Rome, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - through perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8). It was at the same time when we had received bountifully from the LORD one day and then turned and grumbled against Him the next… Christ died to pay the penalty for that. That’s mercy!
Moses repeats the promise as they commemorate what the LORD had done for them at the altar on the hill saying, “The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” Moses had confidence that God will do what he said. He will fight for His people through all generations. He knew that whenever the people were under attack that they could rally to his side.
We too know that this promise will be fulfilled when we look to the end in God’s Word. Revelation 19:11-16 says, “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war… From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” All the harm that the enemies of God have done to His people will all be dealt with through God’s righteous judgment. And all the pain, loss, suffering, fear, and despair will one day be healed and redeemed.
Several verses later Revelation 21:3-7 says, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold I am making all things new.” Also hee said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”
This glorious finale is what all those who are in Christ will enjoy. God would surely dwell among his people. And it is promises like the one in our text today that The LORD will have war with his enemies from generation to generation as our Banner that echo other promises about our Banner.
Phillip Ryken helpfully says, “The LORD is our banner too, but in a way that Moses could hardly have imagined. The prophet Isaiah promised a day when “the root of Jesse… shall stand as a signal for the peoples - of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10). That word “signal” translated in Isaiah 11:10 is the same Hebrew word as “banner” in our text. The LORD wouldn’t just be the banner for the people of Israel in the wilderness… but he would one day be the banner for all peoples, nations, and languages that He calls into His ranks.
Isaiah’s promise is fulfilled now in Jesus Christ. He is the root of Jesse who stood as a signal, a banner, for the peoples to rally to him from every nation. The peoples of the earth who have yet to be redeemed from their sin and rebellion are lost and without a banner that can lead them through the battle to victory. The decisive blow has been delivered. And Jesus, the root of Jesse, now stands as the banner welcoming all his children whom he has predestined to be called to him to fall in line and to follow Him as the LORD’s chosen and Spirit-led King. Just like when victory came for the Israelites from the LORD through Moses when his hands were outstretched on the hill SO TOO were Christ’s arms outstretched wide upon a hill as he was nailed to the cross where he would accomplish the greater and final victory over sin and death for his people. Now dead hearts with no desire to know Him from all across the world will come alive and will seek to know Him and to do His will.
The LORD will have war with every evil people, every destructive ideology, every lustful thought, every prideful action, every bit of vain speech, and every discontented gaze. The LORD’s judgment is just and he will punish all wickedness on the earth.
Yet, when you follow and cling to The Banner, Jesus Christ, he stands upright and secure after suffering from the full wrath of God upon your sin. Christ was punished for your sin… and after receiving that death blow he now stands tall to rally all the soldiers that he died to save. The wicked and their deeds will perish, but the righteous will stand secure as they hold on to The Banner, the Christ.
As you fight the battles of life, you can cling to the only steady banner, to Christ, when confusion, doubt, and guilt start to press in. When you see a friend lose their grip on the banner, be there to listen, help, and walk with them so that they can hold on tightly once again! In your discipleship huddle take time to encourage each other week in and week out to rally to the banner when the business of life can cause all of us to lose our bearings! Take time to encourage your spouse each day to rally to the banner together with you where you can find mercy and grace to help in time of need!
In just a moment we will have the sweet opportunity as a corporate body to rally to The Banner, Christ, as we share in the LORD’s supper together as we hold on to Him, his death and resurrection, and the promises that He has secured for us. Despite your sin, your grumbling, and your weakness the LORD in his mercy fights for you as you rely upon his power, trust in his promises, and take another step today towards the Promised Land.