Flag
Flag [1]
(as a military term) is represented generally in Heb. by דֶּגֶל De'Gei, such being those borne by the Israelitish camp during their march through the wilderness. Each three tribes had a banner of this description ( Numbers 1:52; Numbers 2:2 sq.; Numbers 10:14 sq.), of the color and form of which the Rabbins have many legendary stories (see Jonathan on Numbers ii; comp. Carpzov, Appar. p. 667 sq.). The tribe of Judah (together with Issachar and Zebulon) bore as a device a young lion (compare Genesis 42:9); the tribe of Reuben (with Simeon and Gad), a man (according to Jonathan, a stag, instead of the bullock, as a memento of the golden calf, Genesis 49:6); Ephraim (with Manasseh and Benjamin), a steer (boys, according to Jonathan); Dan (with Asher and Naphtali), an eagle (according to Jonathan, a cerastes; comp. Genesis 49:17), on their tribal standard. How the Field-Ensigns of the several families, which in those passages are called אֹתוֹת , Signs, differed from these דְּגָלִים , is not clearly defined. The assertion of colored pennants (Harmer, i, 478) is not sustained by proof. On the pretended motto upon the banner of the Maccabees, (See Maccabaeus). נֵס , Nes, which is often taken for a banner; is a military signal raised upon a mountain as a telegraphic notice ( Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 13:2; Isaiah 23:3; Isaiah 30:17; Isaiah 62:10, etc.; comp. Cicero, Attic. 10:17; Macrob. Saturn. i, 16), and may have usually consisted of a high pole with a streamer flying from its summit. Others regard it rather as a beacon fire- ( Πυρσός , Φρυκτός ; comp. Curtius, v, 2, 7; 7:7, 5, 13). See generally Faber, ii, 462 sq.; Jahn, II, ii, 462 sq.; Celsius, De Vexillis Hebr: (Upsal. 1727). To the Roman standards, Aquilce (Josephus, War, iii, 62; comp. Hermann, Ad Lucian. Conscrib. Hist. p. 185), an allusion apparently occurs in Matthew 24:28. (On the Egyptian ensigns, see Wilkinson, i, 294.' Rosellini, II, iii, 230.) The Persians under Cyrus bore the same symbol (Xenoph. Cyrop. 7: i, 4; but Ezekiel 17:3 is not in point, being a reference to Chaldaean usages). See generally Lydii Synt. sacr. de re milit. iii, 7. (See Banner).
