Host of Heaven
Host of Heaven
( , tseba’ hashssama’yim, army of the skies), in Gen 2:1, refers to the sun, moon, and stars, as the host of heaven under the symbol of an army, in which the sun is considered as the king, the moon as his vicegerent, the stars and planets as their attendants, and the constellations as the battalions and squadrons of the army drawn up in order, that they may come with their leaders to execute the designs and commands of the sovereign. According to this notion, it is said in the song of Deborah, The stars in their courses fought against Sisera (Jdg 5:20). The worship of the host of heaven was one of the earliest forms of idolatry (q.v.), and, from finding it frequently reprobated in the Scriptures, we may conclude that it was very common among the Jews in the days of their declension from the pure service of God (Deu 4:19; 2Ki 17:16; 2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 21:5; 2Ki 23:5; Jer 19:13; Zep 1:5; Act 7:42). SEE HEAVEN.
In the book of Daniel it is said, And it (the little horn) waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them (Dan 8:10-11). This doubtless points to the aspiring nature and usurping power of Antiochus Epiphanes, who in 2Ma 9:10 is described as the man who thought he could reach to the stars of heaven; which, from Isa 14:13; Isa 24:21, may be understood to signify the rulers, both civil and ecclesiastical, among the Jews. The priests and Levites, like the angels, were continually Waiting on the service of the King of heaven in the Temple, as of old in the tabernacle (Num 8:24), and these were that part of the host, or the holy people, that were thrown down and trampled upon; for Antiochus overthrew some of the most celebrated luminaries among the leaders of the Jewish people, and reduced them to the lowest degradation. Spencer, in his treatise De Legibus Heb. bk. 1, ch. 4 p. 202, takes notice that the Scripture often borrows expressions from military affairs to accommodate itself to the use of the tabernacle, and hence is the frequent use of the term host. The host of heaven and the prince of the host he thinks must refer to the body of the priests, who exercised the offices of their warfare under the standards of the Deity. SEE LITTLE HORN.
A very frequent epithet of Jehovah is Jehovah God of hosts, i.e. of the celestial armies; generally rendered Lord God of hosts (Jer 5:14; Jer 38:17; Jer 44:7; Hos 12:5; Amo 3:13; Psa 59:5; Psa 80:4; Psa 80:7; Psa 80:14). This is a very usual appellation of the Most High God in some of the prophetical and other books, especially in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, and Malachi; but does not occur in the Pentateuch, in the books of Joshua and Judges, nor in Ezekiel, Job, and the writings of Solomon. The Hebrew word Sabaoth, i.e. hosts, is used by the apostles Paul and James (Rom 9:29; Jam 5:4), and is retained untranslated in the English Version. As to the grammatical construction of Jehovah of hosts, some suppose it to be by ellipsis for Jehovah God of hosts; Gesenias says this is not necessary, and the Arabs, too, subjoin in like manner a genitive of attribute to the proper names of persons, as Antara, of the horse, q. d. Antara, chief of the horse. So, too, in the construction God of-hosts, the word hosts may be taken as an attribute, which could be put in apposition with the names of God. The hosts thus signified in Jehovah of hosts can hardly be doubtful if we compare the expressions host and hosts of Jehovah (Jos 5:14-15; Psa 103:21; Psa 148:2), which, again, do not differ from host of heaven, embracing both angels, and the sun, moon, and stars (Gen 32:1-2; Deu 4:19). The phrase Jehovah of hosts, therefore, differs little from the latter form, God of heaven, and Jehovah God of heaven (Gen 24:7; 2Ch 36:23; Job 15:15; Ezr 1:2; Ezr 5:11-12; Ezr 6:9-10; Neh 1:4-5; Neh 2:4; Neh 2:20; Psa 136:26; Joh 1:9; Dan 2:18; Dan 2:37; Rev 11:13). SEE SABAOTH.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Host of heaven
The sun, moon, and stars are so designated (Gen. 2:1). When the Jews fell into idolatry they worshipped these (Deut. 4:19; 2 Kings 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:5; Jer. 19:13; Zeph. 1:5; Acts 7:42).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Host of Heaven
In Deu 4:19 the people of Israel were specially warned lest they should lift up their eyes unto heaven, and when they saw the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven ( ), should be driven to worship them and serve them. Death by stoning was to be the punishment of any such departure from the true God (Deu 17:3; Deu 17:5). To what an extent the people failed in this matter, and how grievously they suffered in consequence, will be seen by referring to 2Ki 17:16; 2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 21:5; 2Ch 33:3; 2Ch 33:5; Jer 8:13; Jer 19:12-13. Not only was the host of heaven worshipped, but altars were set up in honour of the stars even in the precincts of the Temple. What a contrast with this impiety is presented by the opening words of the prayer of the Levites recorded in Neh 9:6, ‘Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the sees, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.’
The folly of worshipping the host of. heaven is forcibly illustrated by the fact that as the heavenly bodies owe their structure and continuance to God, so will they perish when He withdraws his hand. ‘All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree’ (Isa 34:4). this passage is taken up and adopted by our Lord, who says that ‘After the tribulation the sun shall be darkened, and the mo on shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven (i.e. the host of heaven) shall be shaken’ (Mar 13:25). Here the expression powers () is the usual rendering adopted by the LXX for host ( ).
In 1Ki 22:19 Micaiah says, ‘I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven ( ) standing by him on his right h and and on his left.’ The context shows us that the prophet was speaking, not of the physical, but of the spiritual heaven; and that by the host of heaven he meant the intelligent beings who exist in that spiritual sphere in which God dwells, and whose business it is to carry out his purposes of mercy and of wrath. With this passage may be compared the sublime vision contained in Rev 19:11-14, when the heavens are opened, and the seer beholds the Faithful and True One called the Word of God riding on a white horse, ‘ and the armies which were in heaven ( ) followed him up on white horses, clothed in fine linen.’
Fuente: Synonyms of the Old Testament
Host Of Heaven
HOST OF HEAVEN.The phrase host (or army) of heaven occurs in OT in two apparently different sensesreferring (1) to stars, (2) to angels.
1. The host of heaven is mentioned as the object of idolatrous worship; it is frequently coupled with sun and moon, the stars being obviously meant; where sun and moon are not specifically mentioned, the phrase may be used as including them as well. Deu 4:19 speaks of this worship as a special temptation to Israel; it has been appointed or allotted to all the peoples, i.e. the heathen, and is absolutely inconsistent with the worship of J [Note: Jahweh.] ; the penalty is stoning (Deu 17:3). The references to it suggest that it became prominent in Israel in the 7th cent. b.c., when Manasseh introduced it into the Temple (2Ki 21:5); its abolition was part of Josiahs reform (2Ki 23:4-5; 2Ki 23:12). The mention, in the last verse, of the altars which were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz suggests that the worship was, in fact, older than the reign of Manasseh, and had been practised by Ahaz; it was carried on upon the roofs of houses (Jer 19:13, Zep 1:5), so that 2Ki 23:12 may well refer to it. Isa 17:8 mentions sun-pillars as characteristic of the idolatry of the reign of Ahaz (unless the words are a later addition), and there are possible traces of nature-worship in earlier periods in Amo 5:26, and in the names Beth-shemesh, Jericho, which suggest sun- and moon-worship. 2Ki 17:16, which speaks of the worship of the host of heaven as prevalent in the Northern Kingdom, is a Deuteronomic passage, which can hardly be pressed historically. Whilst, then, there are early traces of nature-worship, the systematized idolatry of the host of heaven belongs to the period of special Assyrian and Babylonian influence; astrology and kindred beliefs were characteristic of the religions of these countries.
The phrase is used in other contexts of the stars as the armies of J [Note: Jahweh.] , innumerable, ordered, and obedient (Gen 2:1, Psa 33:6, Isa 34:4; Isa 45:12, Jer 33:22). Isa 40:26 (bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name) comes very near to a personification. In Dan 8:10 we read of the assault of the little horn on the host of heaven and their prince. This may be only a hyperbolical expression for blasphemous pride, but it strongly suggests the influence of the Babylonian dragon myth, In which heaven itself was stormed; cf. Rev 12:4; Rev 13:6, where the Beast blasphemes God, His tabernacles, and them that dwell in heaven; i.e. the angelic host (so Bousset), at least in the idea underlying the conception. Hence in Dan 8:10 we are probably right in seeing a reference to the stars regarded as animate warriors of J [Note: Jahweh.] , their captain; cf. the poetical passages Jdg 5:20 (the stars in their courses fighting against Sisera) and Job 38:7 (the morning stars, coupled with the sons of God, singing for joy); in these passages it remains a question how far the personification is merely a poetic figure, it is at least possible that a more literally conceived idea lies behind them. in is Job 24:21 we read of the host of the height (high ones on high), whom J [Note: Jahweh.] shall punish in the Day of Judgment, together with the kings of the earth. The passage, the date of which is very doubtful, is strongly eschatological, and the phrase must refer to supramundane foes of J [Note: Jahweh.] , whether stars or angels; again, a reference to the dragon myth is very possible.
2. Passages such as these lead to the consideration of others where host of heaven=angels. The chief is 1Ki 22:19 (Micaiahs vision); cf. Psa 103:21, Luk 2:13. Though this actual phrase is not often used, the attendant ministers of J [Note: Jahweh.] are often spoken of as an organized army (Gen 32:2, Jos 5:14, 2Ki 6:17, Job 25:3). Cf. in this connexion the title Lord of hosts (Sabaoth), which, though it may have been used originally of J [Note: Jahweh.] as the leader of the armies of Israel, admittedly came to be used of Him as ruler of the celestial hosts (see Lord of Hosts). There are passages where the phrase host of heaven is ambiguous, and may refer either to stars or to angels (Dan 4:35, Neh 9:6, Psa 148:2 [where it connects angels and sun, moon, and stars]).
3. It remains to consider the connexion between the two uses of the phrase. It has been supposed by some to be purely verbal, stars and angels being independently compared to an army; or it has been suggested that the stars were the visible image of the host of angels. But a study of the passages quoted above will probably lead to the conclusion that the connexion is closer. The idolaters evidently regarded the stars as animate; prophets and poets seem to do so too. When this is done, it lies very near at hand to identify them with, or at least assimilate them to, the angels. In the ancient myths and folklore, the traces of which in the Bible are increasingly recognized, stars and angels play a large part, and the conception of the two is not kept distinct. Later thought tended to identify them (Enoch 18:12, 21:1 etc., Rev 9:1; Rev 9:11; cf. Isa 14:12, Luk 10:18). Hence the one use of the phrase host of heaven ran naturally into the other, and it seems impossible to draw a sharp line of distinction between the two. As we have seen, there are passages where it is ambiguous, or where it seems to imply the personification of the stars, i.e. their practical identification with angels. While there is no reason why the spiritual teachers of Israel should not have countenanced this belief at a certain stage and to a certain point, and should not have adopted in a modified form the eschatology in which it figured, it is of course clear that the conception was kept free from its grosser and superstitious features. Whatever it may have been in the popular mind, to them it is little more than a metaphor, and nothing either distantly resembling the fear or the worship of the stars receives any countenance in their teaching. It is, however, worth while insisting on the full force of their language as affording a key to the reconstruction of the popular beliefs which seem to lie behind it. It should be noted that Wis 13:2 protests against any idea that the heavenly bodies are animate, and it has been suggested that Ezekiels avoidance of the phrase Lord of hosts may be due to a fear of seeming to lend any countenance to star-worship.
C. W. Emmet.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Host of Heaven
( , cebha’ ha-shamaym): The expression is employed in the Old Testament to denote (1) The stars, frequently as objects of idolatry (Deu 4:19; Deu 17:3; 2Ki 17:16; 2Ki 21:3, 2Ki 21:1; 2Ki 23:4 f; Jer 8:2; Jer 19:13; Zep 1:5), but also as witnesses in their number, order and splendor, to the majesty and providential rule and care of Yahweh (Isa 34:4; Isa 40:26, calleth them all by name; Isa 45:12; Jer 33:22); and (2) The angels (1Ki 22:19; 2Ch 18:18; Neh 9:6; compare Psa 103:21).
(1) Star-worship seems to have been an enticement to Israel from the first (Deu 4:19; Deu 17:3; Amo 5:26; compare Act 7:42, Act 7:43), but attained special prominence in the days of the later kings of Judah. The name of Manasseh is particularly connected with it. This king built altars for all the host of heaven in the courts of the temple (2Ki 21:3, 2Ki 21:5). Josiah destroyed these altars, and cleansed the temple from the idolatry by putting down the priests and burning the vessels associated with it (2Ki 23:4, 2Ki 23:5, 2Ki 23:12).
(2) In the other meaning of the expression, the angels are regarded as forming Yahweh’s host or army, and He himself is the leader of them – Yahweh of hosts (Isa 31:4, etc.) – though this designation has a much wider reference. See ANGELS; ASTRONOMY; LORD OF HOSTS; compare Oehler, Theol of Old Testament, II, 270ff (ET).