JesusWalk Bible Study Forum: Q4. The Lord Our Banner - JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Q4. (Exodus 17:9-16) In what sense was Moses' rod like a signal pole in this battle? In what sense is the LORD our banner in the battles we face?

As Moses held up the rod of God during that battle, it was a visible and constant reminder to the troops that they were rallied together in this warfare under the banner of Yahweh. When you fight under someone's banner you are yielded to his cause, reliant on his direction and provision, committed to victory in his name and for his glory.

The LORD is my banner is this very same way. I must approach my battles with submission to His will for me, confidence that He will guide and provide for every need, and resolve to be steadfast in seeking His renown and glory when He brings the victory. I can fight the good fight as long as I follow His signal!

As long as the armies saw the rod they prevailed, motivated to fight, when one became weary and weak or the noise of the battle confused them to ask "why am I here?" And before fear of losing one's life overtook them just by looking up revealed the reason and the motivation. As the rod represented God's power and presence, it was strength to the army that He is with us, and that we will prevail. It became a symbol of strength and encouragement, sort of like looking up and getting an adrenalin rush.

All I have to do is look unto Jesus the author and finisher of my faith, He which began a good work in me will complete it or perform it until the day of Christ. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me, I get charged knowing that He is with me as I'm with Him. No weapon formed against me shall ever prosper as long as I can look up and see The Commander of God's Army, and the Banner flying high, we will fight.

Moses rod was like a signal pole in the battle because it was a rallying point for Israel's troops.
As long as they could see Moses rod it gave them the courage and motivation to continue fighting the enemy.
Whenever we face a difficult trial or temptation, we need to look to the Lord as our banner.
We must be confident that He will guide us to victory.

The staff of God Moses held was a sign that God was with His people and gave them confidance.When the took their eyes off the pole they lost their focus and the strength that God gives everyone doing His will.
They began to think that they were the ones winning the battle taking God's glory for their own this is when they started to lose.
God is our Banner our leader in battle as long as we remember that it is He whoo gives us our strenght and not ourselves. Alone we can do nothing but with God as our leader we can do all things. If we keep the faith and never for get that He alone is the savior that we need and look to we will win the prize he has laid up in store for us.

All I can say of this is that the Rod of Moses- given to him by
god was there for all the men to observe. The fact that they
were winning when it was held high and loosing when his hands
dropped had to be spiritual. and also physicall. God was handeling
the battle results and also when it was held High more of the men
could see/observe it above them. and it took team work not just
Moses but it took 2 men besides Moses to hold his hands up
So god made them work together to assure the battle was won.

God in the long run affected the battle to be won ... but he had certain
critera that he wanted to happen.

Today I would consider God's word in our hands or mouth's being spoken as
a banner of God. We cannot win the battle on our own we must pray and get
close to God but we also need our church and christian frineds to help us to
succeed and keep the banner of God's presence showing in our lives and in our
communities. Witnessing and bringing God's word and the reality of his banner
word to those around us to win the battle in our own families and communities.

Q4. (Exodus 17:9-16) In what sense was Moses' rod like a signal pole in this battle?
The armies were motivated to fight. As long as they saw the rod being held, up their focus remained on God. When their focus wavered, when the pole was lowered, the focus was only on them.

In what sense is the LORD our banner in the battles we face?
As long as we keep our focus on Him, He will be our strength.

Pastor Ralph, on Feb 15 2006, 01:44 AM, said:

Moses rod was a signal pole in dis battle because as long as the rod was raised to God, the Isrealites were winning so it became a source of courage for them because they knew God was with them.

Banner was a signal pole. In our every day battle we see the Lord as our signal pole. We look up to him for victory because He is the Lord our banner. We see Him as the Mighty warrior in battle. Since i see Him as my banner, i commit all my problems into His hands knowing fully well that He is the Lord of Victory.

Moses rod was like a signal pole whenever he held the pole up, and whenever he let his arm down that was the signal that he woud loose the battle so he has to continually holding his arm up to let them know that the battle to be won.

The pole gives direction to keep going and not give up they still needed to fight and so on that they had God's protection We keep our faith as we look up to God for our help by reading the bible and prayer and relationship with him

Exodus 17:9-16) In what sense was Moses' rod like a signal pole in this battle? In what sense is the LORD our banner in the battles we face?

The rod was the tool God had instructed Aaron and Moses to use as a means to show Pharoah that he should let the Israelites go. The Lord used the rod to perform miracles and possibly the rod caused them to remember the Lord's power and promise to them to lead them from captivity. Perhaps if the Israeli soldiers could look up on the hill and see the rod of God lifted hig, it lifted their spirits by reminding them of the Lord's protection.

The Lord is my banner in that when I come under attack from the enemy, I can claim God's promises, resist the devil by praying, reading His Word, and His power drives satan away.

Whenever I have read this passage, it always struck me a certain way. When Moses lifted his arms with the rod of God in his hands, then the Israelites prevailed, but when he lowered his arms, then the enemy prevailed. In our own lives, if we maintain our praise and worship of the Lord (in effect, keep our arms lifted to Him) and our banner held high (statement of our following Him) then we shall prevail against the enemy. But if we tire, or become apathetic, and forget that He is God and worthy of praise, then our enemy shall prevail in our lives and sin can take hold.

It signalled clearly to all, that the God of the Israelites was in battle and his power was winning.
The LORD is our banner in the battles we face in the same sense – Yahweh is in battle, in control and winning, we are battling alongside and under his protection as long as we keep him in sight.

Pastor Ralph, on Feb 15 2006, 01:44 AM, said:

Moses was using his rod as a rallying point for his troops. The Lord is our banner because having full faith in the Lord and believing in him, he always stand behind us and certainly helps us make the right choices to fulfill a bountiful life.

Pastor Ralph, on Feb 14 2006, 09:44 PM, said:

Moses' rod was a signal pole in the battle because as long as he held it up the Isrealites were winning, when his arms grew tired and the pole would begin to lower the Isrealites would lose. As long as the pole was lifted up and they could see it they would win.

The LORD is our banner because we always win when we keep our eyes on Him. It is only when we let our eyes drift to the things of the world that we lose. But when this happens, as soon as we put our eyes back on the LORD, we win the battle. Keeping our eyes on the LORD means we can never lose.

Moses’ rod was a signal pole in the battle because it meant that the Lord was with them and all the soldiers could see it. It also might have shown the attitude of Israel’s army toward God, full of humility, asking for help, and confident at the same time.
In the battles we face, the Lord is our banner because He shows us the way to victory; He himself guarantees our victory if we fight for His sake and if we recognize Him in all our actions and situations. He is the mighty warrior, and if we follow Him, he will fight for us and give us a victorious life.

Isrealites defeated the Amalekites only when Moses held his rod high , on top of the mountain.
For us , we can only defeat the devil with the help of Holy Spirit . We also need to " hold up hands" of our spiritual leaders as well . Shouldering some responsibility , lending a word of encouragement , or offering a prayer are ways of refreshing spiritual leaders in their work.

Q4. (Exodus 17:9-16) In what sense was Moses' rod like a signal pole in this battle?
When Moses' rod was lifted it ralled the army on the battlefield. As long as the army saw the rod lifted they knew that they were winning and it lifted their spirit to fight courageously.

In what sense is the LORD our banner in the battles we face?
In our modern times banners are used to rally troops. So when we look to the Lord we see Him as our banner, the rallying force behind our victory.

The song, “I Surrender All” comes to mind as I read this scripture. As Moses lifted his hand with the rod in them, Amalek lost. God had worked miracles with this rod when Moses was faced with Pharaoh. So Moses could have easily have assumed if he took the rod into battle, God would defeat Amalek just as God had done to the Egyptians. Rather, Moses understood that to win the battle, he needed to surrender all to God; what God did in the past, what Moses wanted to happen, Moses’ ability to fight. He needed to place it all in God’s hands and let God fight the battle for him. It is very difficult to fight in the natural sense with your hands in the air. But God didn’t want any help from any man. He wanted Moses to surrender. When Moses’ hands went down, where he could assist God in winning the battle, Amalek started to defeat the children of Israel.

The first battle we have to fight is the battle of death and hell. The disciples in the New Testament had to allow Jesus to die and rise again to the Father so that they and we in present times could win that battle. Here again what God has given us and what we want must be surrendered to God and then we will not be defeated. After that battle over death and hell, we find that we now have other battles that we face everyday. To win, we must read the word, follow the word, surrender to the word, and watch what God does. The Bible says, “We are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Romans 8:37

Historically, armies always went to battle carrying banners. Usually the flag of the country, of the bataljon, etc.

Soldiers would be encouraged greatly and fight all the braver and harder when they saw the banner/flag was still flying high.

When the person carrying the banner/flag fell, someone else would instantly pick it up again, even leave his weapon behind to carry the banner/flag onwards. The banner HAD TO BE FLYING AND VISIBLE.

So also Moses' rod. He held it up for all Israelites to see. And the "amateur army" of Israel would be greatly encouraged and fight bravely. They won the vicitory over the professional army of Amalek.

Moses of course also held the rod up to God. He was interceding for the people fighting. Joshua was fighting, Moses was praying.

Furthermore, the Israelites obviously knew what great miracles Moses had done with the rod. This was an extra encouragement for them.

In any battle we face we can look up to God. He has promised that He is always with us. And the Lord has already fought the battle and won through Jesus Christ.

We look up and see God standing, like Moses, on the hill, his arms spread out over us. We see that and we may rejoice and gain much courage from seeing "God our Banner". We still have to go through the battle. And it may take a long time (Joshua had to fight the Amalekites all day), but God our Banner lets us know that the victory is won. God our Banner flies high and keeps flying high. Because unlike Moses, God does not get tired. What a picture! What great encouragement!

Moses' rod was a symbol of God and His power to the Israelites. It reminded them that the Lord was (and is) indeed the Strong and Mighty Warrior of Jacob. Earlier in the chapter, when the Israelites first pitched their tents in Rephidim, there was no water to drink, and they questioned whether God was really still with them, and why they wouldn't have been better off still in Egypt.

Exo 17:4-6 And Moses cried to Jehovah, saying, What shall I do to this people? They are almost ready to stone me. And Jehovah said to Moses, Go on in front of the people, and take with you the elders of Israel. And take your rod with which you struck the river, in your hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb. And you shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, so that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

This rod was significant. It was the same rod "with which [Moses] struck the river(verse 5b)". It was the same rod with which Moses had sruck the rock perhaps just days before.

The Lord is our banner in many ways. He is an encouragement, a call to press on, a reassurance that we are not to retreat and that we have not yet lost. He is our anchor and point of reference. One further throught would be this, another word for the banners used in battle is standard. Like Jan said, "Soldiers would be encouraged greatly and fight all the braver and harder when they saw the banner/flag was still flying high."

Exo 17:11 And it happened when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

In the battles we face everyday, are our standards held high, or have we lowered them? It seems to me like many Christians today are compromising their standards. It might not seem like that big of a deal, just "being all things to all men," right? Nope. That is not the case. When our standards aren't flying anymore, there is chaos and confusion. There is no more inspiration or the will to fight like we once did.

Don't lower your standards.