Hannah Silverberg: Today we're gonna be learning about Jehovahese.
Hannah Silverberg: And when my dad asks me, Do you want to talk about Jehovanese?
Hannah Silverberg: I said, I don't even know what that means.
Hannah Silverberg: But I'm kind of hoping y'all don't know really what that means either, because then it's an easier place for me to start.
Hannah Silverberg: So we're gonna be looking in Exodus 17 for our story today.
Hannah Silverberg: This is the only time in the Bible that the name Jehovanese is used.
Hannah Silverberg: So we're gonna be in here a lot.
Hannah Silverberg: Um, and just to give y'all some quick context of where we're at.
Hannah Silverberg: So the Israelites are in the desert.
Hannah Silverberg: They are in the beginning of their wandering.
Hannah Silverberg: So they are being led by the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.
Hannah Silverberg: And manna has just come from heaven.
Hannah Silverberg: And but what they do not have in the desert is water, which is a significant problem, obviously, but it's also specifically for the Israelites because they are also shepherds and they don't have anything for their flocks, which is their livelihood as well.
Hannah Silverberg: And so the people start to get restless and afraid.
Hannah Silverberg: And the first thing that they do out of that is they start quarreling.
Hannah Silverberg: They start quarreling with Moses, saying, Give us water to drink.
Hannah Silverberg: And Moses says, Why are you so mad at me?
Hannah Silverberg: Ask God about it.
Hannah Silverberg: And what am I supposed to do?
Hannah Silverberg: He says, Why do you test the Lord?
Hannah Silverberg: Moses like, Have you not seen all the things that the Lord has done?
Hannah Silverberg: How are we not more on the same page in real in relying on the Lord at this point?
Hannah Silverberg: But the people thirsted there for the water, and the people grumbled again against Moses and said, Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?
Hannah Silverberg: And so Moses cries out to the Lord.
Hannah Silverberg: Which this is one of the things that Moses does the best in scripture is Moses takes all of his problems, he takes it from the people, and he goes straight to the Lord with them.
Hannah Silverberg: So he takes this problem to the Lord, the Lord tells him exactly what to do, to go out and to strike a rock with his rod, and that the Lord would provide the water.
Hannah Silverberg: And so the Moses goes all about this, and they name the place of the rock Masa and Meribah, which means fighting and quarreling, because they tested the Lord by ask by saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
Hannah Silverberg: I think we've all been there, right?
Hannah Silverberg: We've all had a moment in our lives where we've said, Is the Lord really among me?
Hannah Silverberg: Is the Lord really for me or not?
Hannah Silverberg: And so, right out of that question, that's the big question that the Israelites are asking in this time frame.
Hannah Silverberg: And so then we go in, the Israelites are there, and what happens is Amalek comes and attacks the Israelites.
Hannah Silverberg: And we see in Deuteronomy, when he talks about it, um, Amalek comes from behind without being provoked and attacks them from behind with while they are faint and weary.
Hannah Silverberg: Now the Israelites have not fought together because God took care of the Egyptian army.
Hannah Silverberg: And so this people has been in captivity and in slavery for 400 years, and then the Lord has fought every battle for them, and then they are attacked from behind.
Hannah Silverberg: And the Lord does not take kindly to that.
Hannah Silverberg: So, verse 8 says, Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim, and Moses said to Joshua, Choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek.
Hannah Silverberg: Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.
Hannah Silverberg: So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and her went up to the top of the hill.
Hannah Silverberg: Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
Hannah Silverberg: But Moses' hands grew weary.
Hannah Silverberg: 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.
Hannah Silverberg: So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Hannah Silverberg: And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.
Hannah Silverberg: Then the Lord said to Moses, Write this as a memorial and a book, and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.
Hannah Silverberg: And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord is my banner, Jehovah Nisi, saying, A hand upon the throne of the Lord, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Hannah Silverberg: So we looking back in the story, we see Moses deciding to send Joshua.
Hannah Silverberg: He's not the one who's saying, I'm gonna lead this charge.
Hannah Silverberg: Right?
Hannah Silverberg: He picks Joshua, he sends him out, and he goes up onto this hill really to intercede.
Hannah Silverberg: And as he holds up his hands, holding up his hand is the Israelite posture of prayer.
Hannah Silverberg: So he's holding up his hands, and Moses is learning how to lead with prayer and how to let someone else lead in the thick of battle.
Hannah Silverberg: That's hard.
Hannah Silverberg: I think it's a lot easier for us to go and want to be the ones in the thick of it.
Hannah Silverberg: And instead, sometimes it's best to say, you know what, I'm gonna stand back and I'm gonna do what I am called to and I'm going to intercede and trust that the Lord will be the one to tip the scale in my favor.
Hannah Silverberg: And on the other hand, Joshua and the other men, they don't have this bird's eye view of what's happening.
Hannah Silverberg: They don't know that there's this magical rod that's being held up that is making them win the battle.
Hannah Silverberg: They're a little busy right now.
Hannah Silverberg: And so sometimes when we're in the thick of it, we can't see the Lord turning this, tipping the scale in our favor.
Hannah Silverberg: You know, we have to be faithful with what's before us.
Hannah Silverberg: Joshua still had to fight, even though prayer turned the tide of the battle.
Hannah Silverberg: So Moses and the Israelites as a whole are learning how they need one another.
Hannah Silverberg: Each of them has a part to play in this story.
Hannah Silverberg: We are not called to bear the full weight of intercession or of battle alone.
Hannah Silverberg: And so, in this picture of Moses holding up his hands, we can see a picture of Jesus.
Hannah Silverberg: Because Jesus also was a man on a hillside with his arms stretched wide, with a man on his right and a man on his left.
Hannah Silverberg: And as he as he took the pain of sin and he won the battle for us.
Hannah Silverberg: Amalek in this story is a picture of true evil, a lack of fearing the Lord, and of sneaky unrighteousness.
Hannah Silverberg: Eventually, the failure to root him out completely is what costs King Saul his throne.
Hannah Silverberg: But the Lord is faithful to his promises, and one day he will utterly blot out the memory of the evil one from under heaven.
Hannah Silverberg: Verse 15 says, Moses built an altar and called the name of it the Lord is my banner, saying a hand upon the throne of the Lord.
Hannah Silverberg: The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Hannah Silverberg: A banner is not something that is given out freely.
Hannah Silverberg: A banner is something that is victorious.
Hannah Silverberg: Banners are for winners.
Hannah Silverberg: And so this is something, a banner is a flag.
Hannah Silverberg: We think about a banner, we can think about a flag.
Hannah Silverberg: It is something you fight under, it is something that identifies who you are in a people group.
Hannah Silverberg: A banner is our identity.
Hannah Silverberg: So the Lord banners our identity.
Hannah Silverberg: Throughout the Israelites' time in the wilderness, family banners were used to keep order.
Hannah Silverberg: We see this in Numbers 2.
Hannah Silverberg: When the Israelites set up camp, each tribe will be assigned to its own area.
Hannah Silverberg: The tribal divisions will camp beneath their family banners on all four sides of the tabernacle, but at some distance from it.
Hannah Silverberg: The Lord is proving himself to be the thing and the person that connects this group of people.
Hannah Silverberg: He is teaching them who they are.
Hannah Silverberg: They haven't had an identity as a people outside of being slaves for a long time.
Hannah Silverberg: And so they need to figure out what does it mean?
Hannah Silverberg: Is the Lord really among us?
Hannah Silverberg: Is the Lord really for us?
Hannah Silverberg: Is he going to be who he says he is?
Hannah Silverberg: And who is this God?
Hannah Silverberg: Like you said, these names of God, these are the first few things.
Hannah Silverberg: These are the things that the Lord is choosing to reveal to this people.
Hannah Silverberg: And that matters to us today.
Hannah Silverberg: Because the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hannah Silverberg: So our banner is an identifying piece.
Hannah Silverberg: When I know whose banner I'm under, I know who I am.
Hannah Silverberg: Because I know who I'm serving and I know what that banner stands for, what that standard of righteousness is.
Hannah Silverberg: In the Song of Songs, it says that his banner over us is love.
Hannah Silverberg: And in the same way, as we operate under the Lord our banner, believers are to be known by our love for one another.
Hannah Silverberg: Our banner is who we are, it's our identity.
Hannah Silverberg: The Lord, our banner, is our covering.
Hannah Silverberg: Not only does it give us allegiance, it gave the Israelites allegiance and buy-in individually.
Hannah Silverberg: In Psalm 60, David refers to a banner as a rallying point in the face of attack.
Hannah Silverberg: It's a place for people to come together, to serve together.
Hannah Silverberg: So it gives them, it unified them as a people.
Hannah Silverberg: I think about the opening ceremonies at the Olympics.
Hannah Silverberg: You know, when they walk in, they all have their outfits and they have their flag, and it's like, this is who I am, this is who I'm fighting for, this is who I'm serving under, this is who I'm here to be proud of and to represent.
Hannah Silverberg: And that's what these people are learning is okay, we are together.
Hannah Silverberg: We're not gonna, we're learning not to grumble against each other, we're learning not to quarrel with Moses, but to truly walk under the identity and the safety of the Lord.
Hannah Silverberg: The Lord, our banner, is our covering.
Hannah Silverberg: To be covered by the Lord is to be protected.
Hannah Silverberg: Hidden in the shadow of his wing, he is answering their question.
Hannah Silverberg: He is among them.
Hannah Silverberg: He's not just beating the battle for them and letting them sit aside.
Hannah Silverberg: There is something important that we learn when we work shoulder to shoulder, not just see face to face.
Hannah Silverberg: He's inviting them to partner with him.
Hannah Silverberg: He's saying, We're gonna fight together, but I'm I'm gonna hold up.
Hannah Silverberg: I'm gonna hold you up, I'm gonna fly over you.
Hannah Silverberg: I'm going to be the one that tips the scale.
Hannah Silverberg: The Lord is also showing them that they don't need to trust in Moses.
Hannah Silverberg: He isn't on the battlefield.
Hannah Silverberg: They trust in the Lord.
Hannah Silverberg: Perhaps we've all had a time when we've come out from the Lord's covering and tried to take the world on on our own.
Hannah Silverberg: It's not how we're meant to live because we're not safe alone.
Hannah Silverberg: When we lose, we come out from the covering of the Lord, we lose who we are, and we lose our covering, and we are vulnerable for attack.
Hannah Silverberg: A banner isn't for an individual, it's for a people.
Hannah Silverberg: And we see that in Moses' story and how Joshua, Aaron, and her all needed the Lord and one another.
Hannah Silverberg: The Lord, our banner, is our victory.
Hannah Silverberg: So, like I said before, banners are for winners.
Hannah Silverberg: My husband works at the hockey team in town, and um, they here's the thing in hockey: you either win or you don't.
Hannah Silverberg: And in the Coliseum, there are banners hung, and the banners are not participation banners, they are for the regular seasons and the championships that the team has won.
Hannah Silverberg: And they stay there.
Hannah Silverberg: There are banners that are up there from 20 years ago.
Hannah Silverberg: Because once you've won it, you've won it, and it's something that proclaims to people that we've done it before and we can do it again.
Hannah Silverberg: And so we can trust that the Lord has defeated evil before and that he's going to do it again.
Hannah Silverberg: When I was a child, um, my older brother and I used to play together a lot, and he always wanted to play Playmobil, which are these like little figurine guys.
Hannah Silverberg: I'm sure there's a tougher, manlier name for them, but they had little outfits that you could click on.
Hannah Silverberg: You can Google it later.
Hannah Silverberg: But I really wanted to be in my room reading alone.
Hannah Silverberg: But Jordan really wanted to play together, and so he would call me into his room and he would say, Hannah, here's what we're gonna do.
Hannah Silverberg: This is my army, and this is your army, and our armies are going to fight.
Hannah Silverberg: And my army is going to win.
Hannah Silverberg: And I would say, I don't want to play.
Hannah Silverberg: It's and you're looking at it, okay.
Hannah Silverberg: His army, he's got the castle with all the red lion, you know, figurines, all the flags, all the banners, all the things.
Hannah Silverberg: And he's got all his little guys lined up perfectly, and they all got their shields and they got their spears, and and my army is everyone who didn't fit into the regime, you know what I mean?
Hannah Silverberg: So it's this tiny little pile, they're all broken and laying down.
Hannah Silverberg: And I would say, Well, I want to play the prince and the princess.
Hannah Silverberg: And he would say, No, I'm gonna, that's so boring.
Hannah Silverberg: And I'm like, Well, I don't want to fight.
Hannah Silverberg: So the conclusion we always came to was our armies are going to fight, and your army is going to win.
Hannah Silverberg: But it's because they're coming to rescue the princess.
Hannah Silverberg: And at the end of the story, they're going to get married and live happily ever after.
Hannah Silverberg: And then we will play that for a while too.
Hannah Silverberg: And so I thought about this when I was reading this story, because, like I said, Amalek really represents evil in this world.
Hannah Silverberg: Okay.
Hannah Silverberg: And it's he comes from behind and strikes out, just like we see in the curse in Genesis 3, of the serpent striking the heel.
Hannah Silverberg: Okay.
Hannah Silverberg: This is an image of evil and the Lord fighting evil.
Hannah Silverberg: He says, that's why the Lord says he will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Hannah Silverberg: And the Lord is still our banner because the battle isn't done.
Hannah Silverberg: Maybe, like the Israelites, we don't know if he's really among us.
Hannah Silverberg: Or maybe, like Moses, your service to the Lord is weary hands held high.
Hannah Silverberg: Maybe like Aaron and her, you're called to uplift your brother who is struggling.
Hannah Silverberg: And maybe like Joshua, you're deep in the fight.
Hannah Silverberg: Maybe like Amalek, you're still an enemy to God.
Hannah Silverberg: But because there was another man like Moses on a hill with his arms stretched wide across a piece of wood, with a man on his right and on his left, the battle was won.
Hannah Silverberg: The Lord is our banner, our flag to fly, our family symbol, our rallying cry.
Hannah Silverberg: Ephesians 6, 12 through 13 says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Hannah Silverberg: Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm.
Hannah Silverberg: Brothers and sisters, we can say to the Prince of Darkness that our armies are going to fight, and our army is going to win.
Hannah Silverberg: And then the bride and her Christ, Jehovah Nisi, will marry and they will live happily ever after.
Hannah Silverberg: I'm just going to read this passage of prophecy regarding Jesus from Isaiah 11 over us, and then we'll pray.
Hannah Silverberg: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots, a branch will bear fruit.
Hannah Silverberg: The spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit of the knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
Hannah Silverberg: He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
Hannah Silverberg: He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Hannah Silverberg: Righteousness will be his belt, and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
Hannah Silverberg: The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will feed them.
Hannah Silverberg: The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
Hannah Silverberg: The infant will play near the cobra's den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper's nest.
Hannah Silverberg: They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Hannah Silverberg: In that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples.
Hannah Silverberg: The nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
Hannah Silverberg: So, Lord Jesus, we just thank you that in the times that we have quarreled against you in the face of your provision, that you have instead proven that you are with us, that you are for us, and that you are over us.
Hannah Silverberg: That we would walk with the confidence that you have done it before and you will do it again.
Hannah Silverberg: That you are not a God that stands idly by, but one who is actively tipping the scales in our favor.
Hannah Silverberg: Lord, we thank you that you are with us and for us and victorious.
Hannah Silverberg: We ask that you would give us a new understanding of that, that you would give us boldness to step out and to fight when we need to, and also the courage to be the one that steps aside and lifts up holy hands to you.
Hannah Silverberg: Lord, I just I thank you that you that you have won the battle, that your battle with Amalek, that your battle with evil will not be over until the day when you return, when you defeat all evil and you restore everything to exactly the way you want it to be, when you make all the wrong things right again and all the bad things untrue.
Hannah Silverberg: We just ask that you would help us to live in the light of that reality, to hold your banner up high, that we would be proud of your name, that we would not shy away from sharing it or being outward with our faith, but that you would encourage us with boldness.
Hannah Silverberg: We thank you that you have unified us as a people, and we just ask that you would keep that unity, that we would not turn against one another or against authority or against you, Lord, but that you would unify us as the body of Christ.
Hannah Silverberg: We thank you, Lord, for being our banner.
Hannah Silverberg: Forever and always the victorious king.
Hannah Silverberg: Amen.