At one level Moses raised hands during Joshua’s victory in battle is an important testimony to our posture in worship and intercession. As we lift our hands in praise, worship and prayer, we connect with the throne room in heaven from our present location. But what connects the banner to hands on the throne? At another level, this also points us to the posture of our hearts as well.

Verses

Exodus 17:15-16 Moses built an altar and called it the Lord is my Banner (JHVH Nissi). He said, “For hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord.

Isaiah 49:22-23 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

Observations

Circumstances Requiring Intercession

Circumstances drew the Israelites into a battle. In many ways, they were neither healthy nor strong. They had seen the extraordinary intervention of the Lord at the Red Sea. Bitter water became sweet at Marah. Mana and quail were sent as bread from heaven in the Desert of Sin. Water had come from a rock when they camped at Rephidim. Yet they still tested the Lord, doubting His presence among them. Then, on top of their doubts and fears about physical provision, Amalek chose this moment to attack the Israelites. Still, while Joshua went out with chosen men, Moses went up on a hill with the staff of God.

We know the story, and it is taught as an act of intercession. Moses raised his hands with the staff of God in them. The whole tide of the physical battle turned according to whether Moses’ hands were raised or not. Aaron and Hur had accompanied Moses up the hill. They noticed the link between the activities on the mountain and the flow of the battle below. So they chose to help Moses in his intercession for Joshua and those fighting with the sword by holding up his hands. Ultimately, Joshua prevailed.

Moses, though, wrote the story for Joshua to hear. Joshua was to be reminded that the partnership that resulted in victory was not only a partnership of physical prowess. In the first instance, it was a partnership with the spiritual strength of one who knew God. Sometimes the most valuable help that can be provided to the rising generation is the partnership of intercession. There is, however, not only the story written on a scroll for Joshua to remember.

Physical Posture: Hands on the Throne

Moses also erected an altar. Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had constructed altars to the Lord to be memorials to their direct encounters with God. Moses had directly encountered God at the burning bush. Yet this is the first record we have of him constructing an altar. This is far more than an act of intercession, as important as that was. Moses testifies to the importance of the events on the hill at Rephidim with the name by which the altar was to be known, along with the reason that name was given. The altar was named the Lord is my Banner (JHVH Nissi); the Lord is the location of my standard in battle, and he is the rallying point to which we gather when faced with both internal and external threats to our existence.

The reasoning Moses provides is extraordinary: for hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord. Prior to this, the only throne mentioned in Scripture was the seat of Pharoah, who had set himself up as a deity. Moses, for the first time, has not only encountered God but has also had an open vision into the throne room of heaven. His raised hands have established a connection from the throne of God to the earth. Our physical posture in praise and in worship opens the doors of our hearts to allow the kingdom of heaven to connect with the world in which our feet are planted.

Hearts Bound to the Occupant of the Throne

That is the first level at which we may look at this passage. However, let’s look again. What is the connection between the banner, the hands and the throne?
The form in which the word banner (Nissi) is used here is only used in one other location. It is used in the passage from Isaiah 49. Remember, Isaiah’s commissioning is recorded as an encounter with the Lord, seated on the throne (Isaiah 6:1). Hands (yad) also means authority or rule. So the phrase in Isaiah 49:22, “I will beckon to the Gentiles” can also carry the emphasis that the Lord is raising, bringing forth and advancing, to the nations, his hand, his authority and his rule. This is not merely a hand signal requesting the nations to draw closer to him. This is a statement that the kingdom of God would advance and extend from the throne. The throne is the location from which Jesus, carrying all authority, will serve as the banner and rallying point for the nations as His kingdom advances on the earth.

Interestingly, even though the idea of a banner as a rallying point in a battle is a warfare term, the last phrase here points, not to militancy but to a different heart attitude. We are to place our hope in the Lord (qavah: patiently binding ourselves together with the Lord as a rope is woven) . Those who do so will not be disappointed. This is not pointing to a one-off campaign of militant praise, worship and intercession. Rather it is pointing to patiently, diligently encountering the authority and rule of Christ seated on the throne, and in so doing binding our life to His, and His word to our hearts. From this posture, the spirit of wisdom guides actions that extend the kingdom of God wherever we place our feet.

Moses was reminding Joshua, that even though he was successful in a defensive battle with a militant sword, the advance of the kingdom depended upon his heart diligently encountering and being bound to the Lord in the throne room of heaven.

Prayer

Father, as I look to the circumstances and challenges around me, I will once more lift my hands to the throne, and my heart to the heavens. Yours is the kingdom; yours is the power; yours is the authority and yours is the rulership, Jesus King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As I bind myself to your presence and to your word, may my hopes not be disappointed. May your banner of victory be established as a rallying cry to draw others to an encounter with your reign and your throne.

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