Altars Have Names
Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner; for he said, “Because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
(Exodus 17:8-16, NKJV)
It isn’t clear from the text whether Joshua knew at the time of the battle that he was winning when Moses performed the prophetic act of raising his staff over the battlefield and losing when Moses let his arms down to rest. Moses perceived that Yahweh became to him a banner over his enemies when he lifted his hands to His throne, and built an altar to commit the event to worship and to memory. He called the altar, “Yahweh is my Banner.”
Yahweh told Moses to write Joshua an account of the battle from the perspective of the top of the mountain. When Yahweh prevails in our lives, we frequently thank Him and move along. Sometimes we don’t even know about the enemies He has defeated or protected us from. We don’t always see the Kingdom (John 3:3).
When something happens, like a healing, or miraculous provision, or a salvation or deliverance, we should make a record of it. We should use it to offer courage to the generation following us, and strengthen them to go farther and higher and deeper than we have.
Raise an Ebenezer. Keep score.