We’re introduced to this name in Ex 17:12-16: And Aaron and Ḥur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. And Joshua defeated Amalĕq and his people with the edge of the sword. Andיהוה  said to Moses, “Write this for a remembrance in the book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua, that I shall completely blot out the remembrance of Amalĕq from under the heavens.” And Moses built an altar and called its name, יהוה Nissi, for he said, “Because a hand is on the throne of Yah, יהוה is to fight against Amalĕq, from generation to generation.” Let the weight, the gravitas, of the words: And Mosheh built an altar and called its name, יהוה Nissi, sink in.  Moses called an altar “YHVH my banner, my sign of victory.”

The word nissi is derived from nes (nune, samekh) and refers to, among others, the sign or insignia, of a king at war. It defines and identifies the king and his men and distinguishes them from their enemies. Find an altar and you find a king with his army assembled in battle array.  Every altar has a king, and every king has an altar as his sign, his banner.

We’ve said nes means sign, and we find this word also in Matt 16:4: [N]o sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  The altar, the banner of the Messiah!  This is seen clearly when realising that nes is also translated as pole, or signpost, such as in Num 21:8:  Andיהוה  said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a [sign] pole (nes).” We read about this event in John 3:14-15 as wello: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Aḏam has to be lifted up, so that whoever is believing in Him should not perish but possess everlasting life.  The altar Moses erected is a sign and a prophecy of Him, The Sign, who has been lifted up and sacrificed – The KING – with an inscription, a banner, above His head that reads: Yeshua ha-Notzrti uMelekh hayehudim, The King of the Jews.

Amalek, filled with pride, is still biting from the rear like a snake at the heel, still intimidating God’s people into fear, doubt and unbelief.  He battles the King and His army from generation to generation, but in the end he will be blotted out, crushed if you wish.  It is at the altar of the King where His people are victorious – a miraculous overcoming. Do you know that the word nes also means miracle?  At the altar of the cross, Amalek had been crushed by the Miracle worker, the high and lifted up King with a sign engraved as banner above His head.  The war against Amalek, the arrogant one, can only be won under the banner, at the altar, of the King. Does it come as a surprise that, at the end of days, an altar in Jerusalem will be the place of battle between The King and the arrogant one?  Let His altar be our banner – He is YHVH Nissi.