NAME 05 of 16: YEHOVAH-NICCIY

The post The Names of God lays the foundation for 01 through 16. Please read it first, thanks.

How did Yehovah manifest this attribute to His people?

The people were murmuring against Moses and against God. God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt and they were in the wilderness on their way to their promised land. They were ungrateful and said they wished to God they had died in Egypt where they could have had bread to eat until they were full instead of starving in the wilderness (Exodus 16:3).

God decided to rain bread from Heaven (Exodus 16:4). In the morning the people ate bread from heaven and in the evening they had flesh from quail (Exodus 16:12). God did this so they would know that He was Yehovah their Elohiym. For 40 years they wandered and ate bread from heaven (Exodus 16:35).

They travelled to a place called Rephidim where they pitched their tents (Exodus 17:1). Rephidim means ‘props, supports’ or ‘resting places’ and was situated between Egypt and Sinai. The people continued to murmur. This time they wanted to know why Moses took them out of slavery in Egypt, into this wilderness to kill them, their children and their cattle with thirst (Exodus 17:3).

They wanted to know if God was with them or not (Exodus 17:7) and Moses had to talk to God who told him to use his rod to strike the rock so that water would come from the rock (Exodus 17:6). Moses gave that place two names, Massah and Meribah, meaning temptation and contention because the people tempted and contended with God.

Amalek rose up against Israel so Moses told Joshua to choose some men and go out to fight Amalek. Joshua did as he was told and went to fight Amalek while Moses went to stand on the hill with Aaron and Hur (Exodus 17:10) and with the rod of God in his hand (Exodus 17:9).

Moses lifted his hands and the battle went in favour of Israel but when his hands got tired and went down the battle went in favour of Amalek (Exodus 17:11). When Moses’ hands got tired, Aaron and Hur held them up (Exodus 17:12) and Joshua defeated Amalek and his people (Exodus 17:13).

God told Moses that He would erase the memory of Amalek from under Heaven (Exodus 17:14). Moses then built an altar and named it Yehovah-Nicciy because he said that Yahh had sworn that Yehovah will have war with Amalek for generations (Exodus 17:16).

“And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:” Exodus 17:15 (KJV)

Yehovah-Nicciy literally means 'Yehovah is my banner'. The Hebrew word nicciy comes from the Hebrew root NEC, pronounced nās. It refers to something lifted up; a signal lifted up like a token and intended to be seen from afar off. It could be in the form of a flag and was placed at a high place where everyone could see it. It was a standard used to rally the people together, especially in a time of war and usually had a bearer.

Our English dictionaries define standard bearer as ‘the soldier who carries the standard of the unit in military parades or in battle’ and ‘an outstanding leader or representative of a movement.’

If Yehovah is our banner or our standard then we are all standard bearing soldiers in the army of the Lord. Yehovah-Nicciy must be raised high at all times so the enemy can see who represents us and who we represent. More importantly, our fellow soldiers must be able to see the banner and be re-assured that Yehovah stands with us in every battle.

Yehovah-Nicciy, Praise Him now. Hallelujah!