8624. And called the name of it Jehovah-nissi. That this signifies continual warfare, and the Lord’s protection, against those who are in the falsity of interior evil, is evident from the fact that the names bestowed by the ancients in the church signified the quality and the state of the thing then in question, and these they also wrapped up in the very names (see n. 340, 1946, 3422, 4298). The quality and the state of the thing here treated of is that Jehovah would have war against Amalek from generation to generation; in the internal sense, that there should be perpetual war against those who are in the falsity of interior evil; this also is signified by “Jehovah-nissi.” In the original tongue “Jehovah-nissi” means “Jehovah my banner,” or “ensign,” and by “an ensign,” or “banner,” in the Word is signified a calling together for war; and as it is said that “Jehovah shall have war,” protection by Him is also signified.
[2] That by “a banner” or “ensign” is signified a calling together for war, is evident from the fact that when they were called together, whether for journeyings, or for festivals, or for war, they sounded a trumpet, and then also lifted up an ensign or banner upon the mountains. That they sounded a trumpet see Numbers 10:1-11; that they lifted up an ensign or banner see the following passages:
Declare ye in Judah, and make it heard in Jerusalem, and say, and blow ye the trumpet in the land, proclaim, fill full, say, Gather yourselves together, and let us enter into the defensed cities, set up a banner toward Zion, assemble yourselves, stay not (Jeremiah 4:5-6).
All ye inhabitants of the world, and ye dwellers on the earth, when a banner is lifted up, see ye; and when a trumpet is sounded, hear ye (Isaiah 18:3).
He hath lifted up a banner to the nations from far, and hath hissed for him from the extremity of the earth; and behold he shall come with speed swiftly (Isaiah 5:26).
Lift ye up a banner upon the lofty mountain, lift up the voice unto them, wave the hand, that they may come to the gate of the princes (Isaiah 13:2).
Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Behold I will lift up My hand toward the nations, and set up My banner to the peoples; and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters they shall carry upon their shoulder (Isaiah 49:22).
From these passages it is plain that by “a banner” is signified a gathering together.
[3] That “a banner” or “ensign,” when predicated of the Lord, signifies also protection, is evident in these passages:
They shall fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; because it will come as a pent-up stream, the spirit of Jehovah shall lift up a banner against him; then shall the Redeemer come to Zion (Isaiah 59:19).
It shall come to pass in that day that the root of Jesse, which standeth for a banner of the people, shall the nations seek; and his rest shall be glory (Isaiah 11:10).
[4] Inasmuch as “an ensign” which in the original tongue is expressed by the same term as “a banner,” signified a gathering together, and when said of the Lord, protection also, therefore it was expressly commanded that a brazen serpent should be set upon an ensign, of which we read in Moses:
Jehovah said unto Moses, Make thee a serpent, and set it upon an ensign; and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, and looketh at it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon an ensign; whence it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten a man, and he looked at the serpent of brass, he lived again (Numbers 21:8-9).
That the brazen serpent represented the Lord, see John 3:14-15; that it also signified protection, is plain; for the healing effected by looking on the serpent that was on the ensign signified healing from evils of falsity by the looking of faith to the Lord. For the Lord says in the passage as quoted from John:
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life (John 3:14-15).
