"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" (Song of Solomon 6:10).
The date of June 14 has apparently been observed as Flag Day in this country ever since the Continental Congress passed a resolution on June 14, 1777, authorizing a design for an American flag featuring stars and stripes. A regular U.S. Army was also established on this date. But there is also the tradition of a flag being ordered by George Washington from Betsy Ross sometime in June 1776.
Flags or banners have been in use, however, since long before the days of George Washington. Our text refers to the familiar sight of an army with banners far back in King Solomon's time, perhaps a thousand years before Christ. In fact, Solomon was referring to such a resplendent sight as a metaphor to express the regal beauty of his young bride, the lovely Naamah, (note I Kings 11:42; 14:21).
His armies must indeed have been a wonderful sight to behold, with "twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen: and . . . people . . . without number" (II Chronicles 12:3), with all their banners waving as they raced forward. Yet today, except for the Biblical record, Solomon and all his mighty army and its fearful banners are all but forgotten relics of past ages.
We can sing proudly about our own star-spangled banner, crying out: "Long may it wave," and fervently wish it to be so. But Israel forgot her Maker and Redeemer and soon her armies were vanquished and her people scattered. That could happen to America as well, if our expanding rebellion against God and His Word continues much longer. We should certainly fly our flag on Flag Day, but a return to the God of our founding fathers is far more urgent than occasional pledges of allegiance to it. HMM
