A banner is a standard or ensign that serves as a focal point for a community or a rallying point in warfare. Such symbols appear in the Bible chiefly in a military context. Analysis of the function of banners in the Bible, however, reveals their applicability to worship as well.
Banners in the Old Testament
Although banners and standards originated in Egypt and countries like Babylonia, Assyria, and Persia to the East, they also made their way into Palestine during Old Testament times. The children of Israel carried such standards on their march through the deserts to the Promised Land. Thereafter, standards or banners (depending on how one conceives of them) must have been quite common on the biblical scene because of the rather frequent use of such designations in the Scriptures.
The development of ensigns and standards no doubt took place in a military context. In the countries surrounding Israel, including Rome, standards were carried by the various divisions of the army or were attached to the masts of fighting ships. The early standards were not banners or flags made of fabric but figures, emblems, or images of animals and birds, or of the gods, made of wood or metal, brightly painted and fastened at the end of a long pole or staff.
The eagle was a common emblem on a banner in all countries. Some of the ensigns or standards were connected with the religion of the country and could be found at temples or other places of worship. The exact nature of the standards of Israel (Num. 2) is not known, but their presence at the camp causes scholars to believe that the wandering in the desert was understood as a military expedition. Later, standards and banners were used for other purposes, such as communication.
The purpose of standards has evoked debate among Bible scholars. Were they simply symbolic identification marks, for example, of a regiment of the army? Or is a deeper meaning and purpose to be seen? Such banners or standards certainly served as marks of identification, but they also represented the ideals and aspirations of the people bearing them and were used as a means of arousing the emotions and devotion to a cause, person, or nation. Images and inscriptions carried at the head of a group or mounted on an elevation, caused the people to “rally around the flag” in a unified effort. Throughout human history, loyalty to movements or causes has been encouraged through the use of powerful symbols, slogans, or songs that help to create a common identity for those in the movement. Banners and standards have served this purpose. Since worship is the declaration of loyalty to the Great King, one can readily see the application of banners in a worship setting.
In the Old Testament, three different Hebrew words are used to designate a standard or banner. Often they seem to be synonymous, but broader usage allows one to make certain distinctions between them. Degel is used for the standard or ensign of Israel encamped in the desert. “The Israelites are to set up their tents by divisions, each man in his own camp under his own standard” (Num. 1:52). “The Israelites are to camp around the Tent of Meeting some distance from it, each man under his standard [degel] with the banners [’ot] of his family” (Num. 2:2). The standard of Judah was on the east side of the camp, Reuben’s on the south, Ephraim’s on the west, and that of Dan on the north. “So the Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each with his clan and family” (Num. 2:34). It appears from this that degel designates a larger group or division of people organized around a central goal, and no doubt the “armies of Israel” marched in this fashion to the Promised Land. In Psalm 20:5, degel becomes a battle flag: “We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.” In Song of Solomon 2:4, however, it is used in a beautiful figure of love: “He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.”
The word nes is translated as “ensign” or “standard” in the English Bible, but it refers more specifically to a rallying point for the people. It marks the center of attraction on which people should pin their hopes. Generally, such a signal was raised on some special occasion, always on a high elevation and very conspicuous. After Amalek’s defeat, Moses called the altar of thanksgiving Yahveh nissi, “[Yahweh] is my banner” (Exod. 17:15). Messiah himself becomes such a standard and a rallying point of nations (Isa. 49:22). The banner was raised to assemble the soldiers of an army at the sound of trumpets (Isa. 13:2; 18:3). As in Isaiah 30:17, a banner was set up on a hill to communicate an urgent message. The banner tells the people to flee from the country to the cities for safety (Jer. 4:6–7). When the army left a banner on a hill unattended, it was a sign of defeat (Isa. 31:9). Under this type of standard may be included the fiery serpent of bronze raised on a pole, which was to be the rallying point of salvation for the people (Num. 21:8–9).
The third term, ’ot, is used less frequently than degel and nes and generally refers to lesser banners, such as signals and signs. In Numbers 2:2, as we have seen, it is issued to identify the smaller family within the entire division, the latter being described by degel. In Psalm 74:4 (rsv) it is used to speak of enemy forces setting up “their own signs [or banners] for signs.”
Roland de Vaux has questioned whether the terms translated “banner” or “standard” really refer to signs or flags. The word degel, he suggests, means a division of the army itself. The word nes refers to a pole or mast raised on a hill, as a signal to rally against the enemy (in a manner similar to Moses’ upraised arms in the battle against Amalek). In de Vaux’s view, these standards or ensigns were religious symbols, and the ark of the covenant played a similar role. The main argument for the use of banners and flags in Israelite warfare is that other ancient Near Eastern armies used them (Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: His Life and Institutions [London: Darton, Longman & Todd; New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961], pp. 226–227).
Banners in the New Testament
The New Testament does not speak of banners and ensigns in the same sense as the Old Testament. Luke designates the figurehead of the Alexandrian ship “Castor and Pollux,” with the term parasēmos, meaning “distinguished, marked,” and not with the expected word sēmeion, “sign” (Acts 28:11). A connecting link between the Testaments might be the Septuagint’s translation of ‘ot in Numbers 2:2 by the term sēmeion, which brings to mind the numerous occurrences of sēmeion in the New Testament in the general sense of “sign, mark, signal”: “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you” (Matt. 12:38); “at that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky” (Matt. 24:30); “This will be a sign to you” (Luke 2:12); “no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah” (Luke 11:29 NASB). It is significant that the Septuagint seems to support de Vaux’s view; in Numbers 2:2, degel is translated by the word tagma, which in Greek literature is generally a military term meaning a detachment or division of soldiers.
The most significant occurrence of a banner in Scripture, however, is found in the portrayal of the triumphant Christ in the Revelation to John. Here, as the Word of God, Christ appears at the head of the armies of heaven, executing the judgments of the Almighty (Rev. 19:14–15). “On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16). No banner is mentioned, but the robe itself, evoking the image of a flowing, richly-colored royal mantle, performs the function of a banner with its proclamation of Jesus’ dominion over all authorities. The victorious church, the company of those who have “overcome” the pressures of a hostile culture and false religious system, rallies to its banner and to its Lord. The imagery of this entire passage is reminiscent of Psalm 149, which speaks of those who take “the high praises of God … in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, … to execute on them the judgment written” (Ps. 149:6–7, 9 NASB).
Thus the robe of the King of kings forms the link between the banners or standards of warfare mentioned elsewhere in Scripture and the banner as associated with worship. Unlike the poles or ensigns of military usage, this garment is a piece of fabric similar to the flags or banners we now associate with the pageantry of Christian celebration. Worship—the ascription of dominion to Christ—and warfare—the defeat of his enemies—here become one and the same. It is this understanding of worship as spiritual warfare that gives banners their place and value in the context of worship.