Names of God: Lord of Hosts

Introduction

Today’s study will focus on the names of God that primarily display his power. The first will be ‘Lord of Hosts’ or Yahweh Sabaoth. This name appropriately describe Yahweh as an incredibly powerful powerful warrior that commands even heaven’s armies.

Yahweh Sabaoth: Lord of Hosts

Last week we studied the proper name of the God of Israel: Yahweh. I mentioned that Yahweh is the ‘standard’ name, and from there Scripture attaches various descriptors to His name to clarify Him further.

In this case, ‘Sabaoth’ was added, declaring Him to be the ‘Yahweh of Hosts’. This is by far the most frequently used compound name given to God in the Old Testament. It is used to describe God a whopping 285 times.

In Hebrew, ‘hosts’ refers to armies (and so you might see some translations of ‘Lord of Armies’ or ‘Lord of Heaven’s Armies’.) The title denotes a warrior leading an army. The type of army highlights His power.

In it’s simplest understanding, ‘Lord of Hosts’ describes God as a powerful military leader that leads heaven’s armies. It invisions God as a mighty warrior who fights (and wins) cosmic and earthly battles.

We see this personified in Joshua 5:14-15 “And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.”

‘Hosts’ can mean both heavenly and earthly armies. Specifically in the OT it referred to Yahweh being the God of Israel’s army as well as the heavenly armies. The Israelites viewed their army as being led and victorious because Yahweh was their leader.

The term doesn’t start truly appearing until Samuel and Kings, and it’s used many times by the prophets.

This ‘military’ understanding of God often describes God as being a conqueror over various aspects and deities. In particular:

Yahweh is the ruler of primodial choas and conquerer of evil.

Yahweh is the ruler of all other deities (some call this ‘a divine council’) and He defeats them militarily.

Yahweh is the ruler of human events and fights earthly wars (for His people).

Ruler of Primordial Chaos and Conquerer of Evil

Understanding the significance Yahweh is the ruler (and defeater) of chaos and evil we have to understand the context of Canaanite religion that surrounded Israel.

The Canaanites viewed their various gods as fighting each other, and whichever god came out on top was the supreme god.

For example, in one Mesopotamium myth, the storm god (Marduk) fought the chaos and ocean god (Tiamat), and won, thus becoming king of the gods.

Baal, the god often seen in the OT, had a similar myth. He fought and defeated the Yam, the sea god and thus becoming king of the Canaanite pantheon.

The Israelites began to see their God, Yahweh, in a similar fashion - a great warrior that fought against evil, chaos, the sea, and other ‘deities’ and won.

The major difference between Yahweh and those other gods: there was no contest or equality. Whereas the pagan myths depicted gods on equal footing that actually had to fight, Israel saw her God has a Mighty Warrior who could not be defeated.

Not only could He not be defeated, but Yahweh was seen as the Creator of all those other aspects (and in some cases even the other ‘deities’). As Creator, that meant He was the natural ruler of the universe.

Various passages depict this understanding of God and his being King over the universe and defeating the various cosmic forces.

Genesis 1:2 “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

We see that the world was essentially in chaos and covered in water (the sea) - Yahweh however was hovering above it, and the entire creation account is essentially God defeating the chaos and darkness by forming it into creation and adding light.

Psalm 74 describes Yahweh in battle and highlights his mighty deeds:

Psalm 74:13 “You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.”

(the Hebrew word for ‘sea’ is Yam - apparently a reference to the Canaanite god of the sea).

Psalm 74:14 “You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.”

Leviathan is mentioned several times in the OT, especially in Job, and is described as a mighty sea monster. Whether this was a real creature or not doesn’t really matter - Leviathan personifies greater power (and sometimes evil), and Scripture clearly depicts it as a mere plaything for Yahweh.

Psalm 104:26 “There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.”

Isaiah describes this battle as well, and makes it into a sign of the end times, Isaiah 27:1 “In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.” (Compare the description of the mighty dragon in Revelation.)

Job describes God as being so powerful that He treats the sea as a toddler and easily subdues Leviathan and uses it as a pet:

Job 38:8-11 ““Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?”

Job 41:1-5 ““Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words? Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever? Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls?”

Two connections worth making here:

Because of all the above references, the Israelites actually were terrified of the sea and ocean. They were not a seafaring people.

John carries this understanding of God as the mighty conqueror and ruler of the universe, the God of Hosts, in Revelation where He describes among other things:

A place where there ‘is no sea’.

Jesus, who is Yahweh, easily defeats all of his enemies simply by speaking. Jesus is described as a mighty warrior on a white horse who has the title, ‘Lord of lords and King of kings’ tattooed on his thigh.

The mighty serpent/dragon from ‘of old’ is ultimately defeated, as well as the sea and all the creatures that come out of it.

Ruler of other deities (Divine Council)

Yahweh being the Lord of Hosts also carried the idea of Yahweh being king over all other gods.

The Israelites were very monotheistic - they knew that the other ‘gods’ were not truly gods. But if those nations were going to insist on the existence of their ‘gods’ it was important for Israel to show that Yahweh was greater than all of them.

The Canaanites believed that their gods would meet together as a ‘council’ and discuss the matters of the universe and human history. Whoever was the ‘leader’ of these gods usually got there through mighty military deeds.

Scripture took this understanding and applied to Yahweh to show that if this were true, Yahweh would be the leader of that divine council.

This was particularly important because the god that was often viewed as the leader of the Canaanite council was Baal - the god whom Israel often worshipped instead of Yahweh. And so it was important to show that Yahweh was greater than Baal.

Some verses that showcase Yahweh as being over the other ‘gods’ include:

Psalm 82:1 “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:”

Side note: This verse is usually interpreted as referring to lesser ‘gods’ that Yahweh takes council over. It could, but I personally interpret this as referring to humans, and in particular God’s people whom are also described as ‘gods’ thoughout Scripture.

Isaiah 6:1-2 “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”

The sereaphim here are seen as divine entities.

1 Kings 22:19 “And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left;”

Psalm 24:7-10 “Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah”

In summary, Yahweh being the Yahweh of Hosts means that He conquers any other ‘gods’ or beings that may claim to be deities. They are subservient to Him.

Ruler of human events (and earthly wars)

The final connotation of ‘Lord of Hosts’ is that Yahweh also conquers earthly foes - in particular the enemies of His people.

The ancient world often viewed earthly wars as a reflection of the war between deities. Whoever won meant that groups god was greater. And so it’s no surprised that the Israelites viewed Yahweh as ‘the Lord of the armies of Israel’ who not only defeated their enemies, but also the gods of their enemies.

We see this in the Ten Plagues, where each plague pretty much corresponds to an Egyptian god, and therefore Yahweh is showing his superiority over the Egyptian pantheon.

This ‘battle’ became the reminder to Israel that their God would fight for them. Deuteronomy 20:4 “for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’”

We see this in the OT when the Israelites would take the Ark of the Covenant into battle with them. It symbolized that the Lord was with them, and the Lord would require it for victory.

But it was important to note that the Ark itself wasn’t some ‘magic genie lamp’ that would ensure automatic victory. The Israelites reached this point in 1 Samuel 4 where they were embarassingly defeated and the Ark was captured.

God showed that he was almighty independent of His people - he allowed the Israelites to be defeated, but on the other hand he personally punished the Philistines while they had possesion of the Ark (and He even forced their God to ‘bow down’ to the Ark).

The story of David and Goliath is probably the most famous story of this idea of the Lord of Hosts being the leader of Israel’s armies. 1 Samuel 17:45 “Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

Conclusion

As we discussed last week, Jesus Christ is Yahweh. This is important for many reasons, and one of them is showing the continuity of the two testaments. Yahweh took on flesh and dwelled among us. That means any name that is applied to Yahweh in the Old Testament can also be applied to Jesus.

We see Jesus as the Lord of Hosts most prominently in His descriptions of Revelation (In particular 19:11-16). Jesus is never explicitly called ‘Lord of Hosts’, but it’s clear by his mighty power and the angels under His command that He is in fact the Lord of Hosts.

Jesus himself says that He will return with all the angels of His Father in Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” and Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”

I think it could be argued that the ‘Commander of the Lord’s Armies’ that Joshua meets in Joshua 5 is the pre-incarnate Jesus. Those moments in the Old Testament are called ‘theophanies’ or ‘God-sightings’, when God revealed himself in human likeness.

When we see the title ‘Lord of Hosts’, it should evoke the power of God. He is a mighty God (the mightiest God). He is creator and ruler of the universe. Darkness, chaos, sea, other ‘gods’ and the forces of the earth all submit to Him. He easily defeats and conquers them all. There is no contest. This victory over all the forces of evil, death, and the universe was culminated in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

An excellent song that reminds me of this beautiful name of God is the song, “Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies)”. It’s refrain says: Whom shall I fear? I know who goes before me. I know who stands behind. The God of angel armies Is always by my side. The one who reigns forever He is a friend of mine. The God of angel armies Is always by my side.

Amen!