AND HERE IS YOUR HOST....
by Richard Burkard
If you grew up in a mainstream church denomination, it was a familiar short hymn. If you grew up in the Churches of God, you never sang it because it was considered heretical. It's known in many places as the Doxology:
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The last line is why COG's tossed the song, since it reflected a Trinity. But have you ever stopped to consider the third line in that hymn? If someone asked you to explain what a "heavenly host" is, could you do it?
I've seen the phrase "starry host" in the New International Version of the Bible, and joked it refers to people such as Wayne Brady and Jay Leno. They have stars on their TV shows, after all, and they're the hosts! But my thinking on the term received a serious shake-up, when The Good News magazine of the United Church of God published an article on the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. Quoting from James Capó's article:
Daniel 8:10-12 tells us more about this King Antiochus IV, whose coming was still several centuries in the future from the time Daniel wrote these words: "And it [the little horn, Antiochus IV] grew up to the host of heaven [the people of God, the children of Israel (compare Exodus 12:41)]; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars [leaders] to the ground, and trampled them...."
The "host of heaven" wasn't even the topic of the article, yet this reference threw me. Ever since singing the Doxology in a mainstream denomination in my youth, I thought the host of heaven referred to angels. Now I was being told it refers to humans -- on Earth?!
This challenged me to get out my Strong's Exhaustive Concordance for a word study about what a "host" is. I quickly found if the author's explanation of "host of heaven" is correct, we have some problems:
* Moses would put the children of Israel on a par with the sun, moon and stars. (Deut. 4:19, 17:3; KJV unless noted) So would Nehemiah (Neh. 9:6).
* It would be impossible to count the number of Israel's children, because there are so many of them (Jer. 33:22) - which totally goes against the common COG teaching that God is calling a few people to Him in this age.
* A crowd of people suddenly would have appeared with an angel, praising God for Jesus's birth (Lk. 2:13).
* At the end of the age, all of God's people will be dissolved and apparently die (Isa. 33:4).
If we let the Bible interpret the Bible, it quickly becomes apparent that the author's explanation is faulty. So what really is a "host of heaven" - or a host of any sort, based on God's Word?
The Lord of Hosts
More than 250 times in the Old Testament, God is called "the Lord of hosts." In fact, it's one of God's revealed names (II Sam. 6:2 and Isa. 48:2, for example). The Hebrew word most often used for "hosts" is tsaba - meaning "a mass of persons (or fig. things), especially religiously organized for war (an army)...." (Strong's #6635, 1890 ed.)
While God is the Lord of hosts, it should be obvious that not every "host" is of God -- and that brings us back to one of the verses referenced in the UCG article. Exodus 12:41 says after 430 years, "....all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." Are these hosts heavenly or earthly? Based on the few other times the phrase "host of the Lord" occurs in the Bible, it can be both.
Hosts from Heaven
Consider what Jacob encountered as he prepared for a reunion with brother Esau. "And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, 'This is God's host....'" (Gen. 32:1-2) Perhaps they appeared human, but Jacob realized they were not of this world.
Joshua had a similar meeting years later near Jericho, when he saw "a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand.... And he said, 'Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.'" (Josh. 5:13-14) Joshua reacted by falling to his knees in worship - and verse 15 indicates that was a proper response, because Joshua was on holy ground.
Hosts on Earth
Two verses in I Chronicles clearly refer to a "host of the Lord" on Earth. The Korahites are described as gatekeepers of the tabernacle and "being over the host of the Lord...." (I Chr. 9:19) And as King David assembled an army little by little, "....there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God." (I Chr. 12:22) The Old Testament also identifies this army as "the host of Israel." (I Sam. 28:19; II Sam. 20:23)
The Corrupt King
Now that we've considered all these passages, how can we properly understand Daniel 8? The Good News article refers to a prophetic "little horn, which waxed exceeding great...." (8:9) For this article, we'll assume the understanding of this horn as King Antiochus IV is accurate. So what should "the host of heaven" in verse 10 mean?
My KJV Bible has a marginal reference indicating the king "waxed great, even against [instead of "to"] the host of heaven...." In other words, the king's actions in the "pleasant land" (aka promised land) went against the angels - and based on the margin note of verse 11, they went against God as well. Note the New International Version's translation of that verse: "It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host...."
This understanding leaves a question, though, about the second half of verse 10. "....It cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them." The UCG article claims this refers to leaders of Israel, and The New Bible Commentary: Revised agrees with that symbolic understanding. Yet given what we've seen, I'm led to think there was a spiritual war at work here. Just as Exodus 12 could refer both to a human and spiritual withdrawal from Egypt, could Satan possibly have been inspired by this moment to launch an assault on God's throne?
Which Should We Honor?
The awesomeness of God's creation may lead some people to worship it more than the Creator. But Paul warns that exchanges God's truth for a lie (Rom. 1:25) - and Bible history records people errantly worshipping the "host of heaven," in conjunction with Baal worship. (See II Kng. 17:16, Acts 7:42, etc.)
Yet in a prayer of national repentance after a Feast of Tabernacles, the Levites of old said: "Thou, even thou, art Lord alone.... the host of heaven worshippeth thee." (Neh. 9:6) After all, we might say God declares himself the original "Master and Commander" of His host (Isa. 45:12) - so it was no wonder when a "multitude of heavenly host" praised the birth of Jesus in Luke's gospel.
Hopefully we've opened your eyes to what a Biblical "host" really is, on both the earthly and heavenly levels. When David writes in a Psalm, "Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure" (Psm. 103:21), you can be part of the physical host -- joining in a universal and even supernatural act of worship.
ADDENDUM: The Good News replies
In addition to writing this article, I also sent an e-mail to The Good News asking about its usage of "host of heaven." A few weeks later, the UCG Personal Correspondence Department sent me this reply:
One key to understanding the Bible is to get a particular scripture in context. The Bible sometimes uses phrases that can mean several different things, depending on how they are used. "Host of heaven" is one such phrase. It can refer to God''s heavenly creation, to the angels or to the people of God, depending on its usage. You asked if Daniel 8 wouldn't make more sense discussing a battle in heaven with Satan.
While there will be a great battle in heaven between God and Satan at the end time (Revelation 12) this scripture does not refer to that. The context is as follows. Daniel 7 talks about the great empires that would rule on earth. Daniel 8:1 tells us that Daniel had a vision near the end of the time of the Babylonian captivity. He was looking across a river and saw a ram and then a he-goat. The events to follow (verses 4-14) are interpreted in Daniel 8:19-25. It is plain that the ram, the he-goat, and the horns (verses 20-22) are all men. Verse 23 tells us that it is a king who will arise and cause problems. Verse 24 tells us that he will destroy "the mighty and also the holy people."
When you get the question in context within the scripture and let the Bible interpret the Bible, it is clear that in this case the "host of heaven" (which could also be translated as host belonging to heaven -- or to the God of heaven) is referring to people. These people belong to the God of heaven. It is not referring to angels.
Admittedly, I overlooked the second half of Daniel 8 - even though my NIV Bible has above verse 15 the words: "The Interpretation of the Vision." My apologies for missing that. Yet there are other verses not addressed in the reply, which leave part of the meaning open to question.
Take 8:11, for instance: "Yea, he [the little horn] magnified himself even to [or against] the prince of the host...." The NIV has "Prince" - capitalized! In fact, both KJV and NIV call him the "Prince of princes" in 8:25 - with the first Prince capitalized. Who is this Prince deserving of this usage? Based on Daniel 9:25 and other verses, we can only conclude it's the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Since Jesus had yet to come in the flesh, how could King Antiochus "magnify himself" against Christ "the Word?" Based on the Hebrew word for "magnify" gadal, the king may have boasted or promoted himself proudly as being on the same level with Christ. The N.B.C. cited above says this "consisted in the removal of the temple sacrifices." (1972 ed., pg. 698)
But don't overlook Daniel 8:17-19, where Gabriel explains Daniel's vision this way: "Understand, O son of man, for at the time of the end shall be the vision.... for at the time appointed the end shall be." Many COG's would seize on those words (possibly along with "the latter time" in verse 23), and project the vision into our day -- perhaps claiming there's "type and antetype." Given the stated timeframe, why would this chapter apply only in B.C., and not in A.D.?
And where does the Bible say heaven has only one war? There was a battle for control described in Isaiah 14. Another is indeed described in Revelation 12. But if Satan can go before God's throne at other times (Job 1:6-10, 2:1-6), are we naively to assume Satan hasn't warred against God multiple times - times simply not mentioned in Scripture?
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© 2003-04 Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.