“Only a few weeks had elapsed from the time the children of Israel left Marah, the place of bitter waters, till they reached Rephidim, the scene of Jehovah’s revelation of Himself to them as Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah my banner. At Marah, we will recall, in healing the bitter waters of that place, He had revealed Himself as Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Who heals, the One Who alone has the remedy for the sins of mankind, the balm for the sorrows and sufferings of His people; Who has sweetened the bitter waters of human misery and death through Christ, the Tree of life and the sweet living waters” (Nathan Stone, preceptaustin, emphasis added). After they had been refreshed at Elim, they came to the wilderness of Sin and once again grumbled against Moses when they had no food. Jehovah fed them manna (Exodus 16) and led them to Rephidim, where there was no water, and God provided water from the rock. It was at Rephidim that Amalek attacked them.
After the initial attack, Moses instructed Joshua, “Choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow, I will stand at the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand” (Exodus 17:9 NLT). The next day, Moses stood on the hill with his arms raised, holding the staff of God.
“As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle. After the victory, the LORD instructed Moses, ‘Write this down on a scroll as a permanent reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven” (Exodus 17:11-14 NLT).
“Moses built an altar there and named it Yahweh [Jehovah]-Nissi (which means ‘the LORD is my banner’).”
Exodus 17:15 NLT
“According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, a banner was an ensign or standard carried at the head of a military band or body, to indicate the line of march, or the rallying point” (Kay Arthur, Lord, I Want to Know You, p. 105). In this instance, the “staff of God” was the banner; as long as it was raised, victory was sure.
“The Amalekites’ unrelenting brutality toward the Israelites began with [the] attack at Rephidim. This was recounted in Deuteronomy 25:17-19 with this admonition: ‘Remember what the Amalekites did to you when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey, and attacked all who were lagging behind [typically women and children]: they had no fear of God. When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land He is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” (gotquestions).
The Amalekites continued to torment Israel over several centuries. Amalek, in many ways, is a picture of our flesh. “Isn’t the flesh your first and constant enemy? (Kay Arthur, Lord, I Want to Know You, p. 107). The strategy of the Amalekites is similar to how the flesh operates. It rises up when we are weary and worn out; it doesn’t fear God, and is a constant enemy. The victory was won only when the staff of God was held high. They could look to Him as their rallying point. The same is true for us when we deal with our flesh. As long as we look to God’s standard (Jesus), we will have the victory.
“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”
Galatians 5:17 NASB95
The Spirit of God sets us apart from those who do not believe. Although a non-believer can recognize unrighteousness, “the difference [between] a believer and a non-believer is that the non-believer has no inner strength to control the flesh. Both believers and non-believers have the same potential for deeds of the flesh, but the believer has been bought out of, redeemed from, slavery to the flesh. The believer now has a choice to rely on his strength, or be strengthened with power (divine ability) in the inner man” (Wayne Barber, The Surrendered Life).
When Christ redeemed us, we were not only saved from the penalty of sin, but we were set free from the power of sin in our lives. This means we are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6:17-18). Galatians 5:16 says, “If you walk by the Spirit, you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.” (NASB95). Walking by the Spirit is the only way to victory. Roy Hession says, “As long as self is in control, God can do little with us; for the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) which God longs to fill us with, is the complete antithesis of the hard, unbroken spirit within us and presupposes that self has been crucified” (The Calvary Road).
God remembered His promise to deal with the Amalekites, and in 1 Samuel 15, He commanded Saul to utterly destroy them. Although Saul won the battle, he was “not willing to destroy them utterly” (1 Samuel 15:9). Instead, he spared King Agag and “rushed upon the spoil,” saving all that was good. Saul initially denied any wrongdoing when confronted by Samuel, whose response was, “For rebellion is as the sin of divination [witchcraft], and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king” (1 Samuel 15:23).
“The flesh must constantly be put to death. It can’t be tolerated, catered to, or spared in any way. If it is, it will devastate you” (Kay Arthur, Lord, I Want to Know You, p. 108).” When we tolerate the flesh, it has the same effect on us as when Moses dropped his arms and Amalek prevailed. But if we look to Christ, we will experience the victory He has already won for us. Imagine the people looking to the mountain where Moses was holding the staff of God. As Aaron and Hur lifted his arms, the people surely saw Moses with outstretched arms in the shape of a cross. This beautifully illustrates Christ, our Victor.
“Victory is not me overcoming sin, it’s Jesus overcoming me.”
Roy Hession
Similar to Jehovah-Nissi, the name Jehovah Sabaoth has a warrior-like element. Not only does Jehovah-Nissi give us the victory in Christ, but Jehovah Sabaoth is the mighty warrior who fights our battles. What a wonderful truth! We are first introduced to Jehovah Sabaoth in 1 Samuel 1:3a, “Now this man [Elkanah] would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts [Jehovah Sabaoth] in Shiloh” (NASB95). You may recall that Elkahah was the husband of Hannah, who desperately wanted a child. Elkanah, a devout man, deeply loved Hannah, but ‘the LORD had closed her womb’ (1 Samuel 1:5). Peninnah, Elkanah’s other wife, who had sons and daughters, worsened Hannah’s pain by taunting her.
“Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. It happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat” (1 Samuel 1:6 NASB95).
Hannah, “greatly distressed, prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. She made a vow and said, ‘O LORD of hosts [Jehovah Sabaoth], if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come to his head” (1 Samuel 1:9-11 NASB95).
Notice that Hannah wept bitterly, pouring out her heart to the LORD. “So often, not until we find ourselves failing and powerless do we realize our need to run to our Jehovah-Sabaoth. This is a name for those who find their resources inadequate in the midst of a struggle. This is the name of God to run to when there is no other help – from our perspective” (Kay Arthur, Lord I Want to Know You, p. 134).
“The LORD of hosts is the most frequent compound title for God used in the Old Testament,” and is mentioned 273 times; of those uses, 239 are in the prophetic books (Isaiah to Malachi) including prophecies of the Second Coming and Millennial Kingdom.” God is the Avenger of His people. He is not finished with Israel and will one day “return and wage war, rescuing His covenant people for all eternity” (preceptaustin).
One of the most famous uses of Jehovah Sabaoth is found in the story of David & Goliath. “Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts [Jehovah Sabaoth], the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted” (1 Samuel 17:45 NASB95). David could never have defeated Goliath without the aid of Jehovah Sabaoth. Once again, we see that God is the One we can turn to when there is no other help.
Remember when Joshua and Israel’s armies faced an insurmountable challenge at Jericho? In Joshua 5:13-15, Joshua encounters the captain of the LORD’s host. The Hebrew rendering of this phrase is “the prince of Sabaoth.”
“Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you for us or for our adversaries?’ He said, ‘No [neither]; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD [prince of Sabaoth].’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, ‘What has my lord to say to his servant?’ The captain of the LORD’s host said to Joshua, ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so” (Joshua 5:13-15 NASB95).
The Prince of Sabaoth is clearly an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ! He didn’t come to take sides, He came to take over! Joshua and the children of Israel experienced a mighty victory at Jericho because of Jehovah Sabaoth, the great and mighty Warrior! What battle are you facing today? Are you looking to Jehovah-Nissi (The LORD our banner) and Jehovah Sabaoth (The LORD of hosts)?
I’d like to close with an excerpt from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon. What encouragement we find knowing we can run to Jehovah Sabaoth!
"Deuteronomy 31:8 "The LORD, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed."
In the presence of a great work or a great warfare, here is a text which should help us buckle on our harness. If Jehovah Himself goes before us, It must be safe to follow.
Being before us and with us, He will never withdraw His help. He cannot fail in Himself, and He will not fail toward us. He will continue to help us according to our need, even to the end. As He cannot fail us, so He will not forsake us.
Let us not fear nor be dismayed; for the LORD of hosts will go down to the battle with us, will bear the brunt of the fight, and give us the victory" (Charles Spurgeon, Faith's Checkbook).
Week 6 Reflections
Day One: Jehovah-Nissi (the LORD our Banner)
- Read Exodus 17:8-16 and Deuteronomy 25:17-19. What happened to Israel, and how were they victorious?
- Read 1 Samuel 15:1-35. How did Saul disobey God? How did he compromise what God had told him to do? What were the results of his pride?
- Read the following verses and record what you learn about God: Psalm 60:4-5; Song of Solomon 2:4; Psalm 20:5.
Day Two: The Flesh & the Spirit
- 1. Read Galatians 5:16-21 and record the deeds of the flesh.
- What is the promise in verse 16? What do you learn about the flesh and the Spirit from verse 17?
- What is the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23? How can you know if you are walking by the Spirit?
- Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-57, Romans 8:31-39, and 1 John 5:4. What do you learn about our victory in Christ?
Day Three: Jehovah Sabaoth
- Read 1 Samuel 1:1-19. Why was Hannah distraught? What do you learn about her heart and her trust in Jehovah Sabaoth?
- Read the following verses and note what you learn about Jehovah Sabaoth: Amos 4:13; Isaiah 6:1-3; Exodus 15:3; Rev. 19:11-16; Isaiah 44:6; 1 John 4:4; Psalm 34:15-17; Exodus 14:14; Psalm 46:10-11; Hebrews 13:6
Journal Prompts
Do you look to Jehovah-Nissi for your victory? What are ways you can look to Him during the battle between your flesh and the Spirit? Is there any part of your flesh that you tolerate daily? Is your life characterized by the deeds of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit? How does the promise in Galatians 5:16 encourage you? Are you in a situation where you need to call on Jehovah Sabaoth? Have you poured your heart out to Him? He is mighty to save!
Simply Persuaded 