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131 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
forms (cf. Is&. i. 24, x. 23, 24; Hoe. xii. 5; Amos.
iii. 13, v. 16; II Sam. v. 10, and many times). In
many of these combinations Adonai is
Use and a reading in the margin intended to
Distribution displace Yahweh; in other cases, partic
of the Term. ularly in the second and third books of
Psalms, Elohim displaces an original
Yahweh. The formula "Yahweh God of hosts" is
comparatively rare, while "Yahweh of hosts" occurs
234 times, and the presupposition is that the latter
is the original form, which may, however, have im
plied the fuller formula, unless it be supposed that
Yahweh is a later substitution for an earlier "El,"
another form for "God." The distribution of the
expression "of hosts" may be set forth something
like this: in the books of Samuel, eleven times; in
the books of Kings, five times; in I Chron., in
parallels to Samuel, three times; in the prophetic
books 247 (248) times, of which fifty-five occur
rences are in Isa. i-xxxix., and six times in Isa.
xliv.-liv.; while fifteen occurrences are in Psalms, of
which fourteen are in the second and third books.
It is omitted from the Hexateuch, Judges, Ezekiel,
Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and the whole of the Hagiog
rapha except Psalms and Chronicles. It often oc
curs in the text of the Septuagint where it is not in
the Hebrew, and vice versa. In the books of Samuel
in five of the eleven cases it is used in connection
with the ark or with war, and this is to be remem
bered in relation with the fact that the root zabd' is
broadly Semitic and deals with war. Whether the
hosts of which Yahweh was God were those of
heaven-the angels and stars-or of Israel seems to
be decided by the fact that the use of the word in the
plural is generally in connection with the armies of
Israel (cf. Ex. vii. 4); in Ps. Ixviii. 13; Jer. iii. 19
the reference is to the armies of the nations (when
the heavenly hosts are meant, the singular is every
where used, cf. Ps. ciii. 21, exlviii. 2
Earlier amended text). This conclusion is
Usage; supported by I Sam. xvii. 45, cf. verses
Israel's ' 26, 36; by the fact that Israel's wars
War Hosts. are Yahweh's (Num. xxi. 14; I Sam.
xxv. 28); and by the fact that Yahweh
is the leader of the Israelitic armies (II Sam. v. 24;
Isa. xiii. 4; in Joel iv. 11 it is doubtful whether the
reference is to heavenly armies). A question of
interpretation is raised by Ps. xxiv. 10, cf. verse 8
and I Sam. xvii. 45; the fact that verses 7-10 were
chanted on the occasion of the bringing of the ark
into the sanctuary makes it preferable to construe
"the Lord of hosts" of this passage also with refer
ence to the Hebrew armies. A similar line of
reasoning is reached in connection with I Sam. i. 3,
iv. 3 sqq., where the ark is designated as belonging
to "the Lord of hosts"; of especial weight in this
relation is II Sam. vi. 2. In this last case the for
mula in the latter part of the verse simply shows
that the person or thing mentioned is in a relation of
subordination to the person bearing the name (cf.
Isa. iv. 1, lxui. 19), which subordination involves
the claim to protection (Jer. xiv. 9). As the name
of Yahweh is "called" over Jerusalem Per. xxv. 29)
and the temple (I Kings viii. 43) to indicate the
closeness of relations with Yahweh, so the ark in
II Sam. vi. 2 is called by Yahweh's name to show
its close connection with Lim. The same relationship of the ark with Yahweh as the leader of the hosts of Israel appears in the early passage Num. x. 35-36; cf. xiv. 44; Josh. vi. 4 sqq.; II Sam. xi. 11, xv. 24 sqq. The general tenor of the passages considered is to show that the expression "Lord of hosts" recalled Yahweh as the leader of the Israelitic battle array.
While this is so and while it appears to be the, consistent usage in the Old Testament, it is a question whether it represents the original usage. An examination is the more necessary in
Objections. view of the absence of the article in some cases and of the use of the plural. It was advanced by Delitzsch as an objection to the view here stated that in this case the expression would have been expected in the Pentateuch inas much as in twenty cases the formula "hosts of Israel" is found. But it was pointed out by A. Klostermann (Geschichte des Volkes Israel, p. 76, Munich, 1896) that "Lord of hosts" was evidently cast out of Joshua in the process of editing (in Josh. vi. 17 the Septuagint still reads it, and Josh. xi. 11, 13 probably had it) at a time when the formula re called the hosts of heaven (as objects of idolatry). Borchert attempted to show that zaba' did not designate "hosts of war" but mere population; in this he overlooked that in P at least (Num. ii.) the conception is that of a warlike host from which the Levites were excluded as not subject to warlike levies. A more difficult objection to meet is the one that if "Lord of hosts" originally designated the war god as the leader of Israel's hosts, this expression should be more frequent in this sense in the earlier prophecies. Passages which raise a doubt are Amos iii. 13, v. 16, 27, vi. 8, 14 where the "Lord of hosts" threatens Israel, and Isa. i. 24, ii. 1, 12, 15, and the like, where classes or individuals are under menace. Another class of passages is that in which the idea of world rulership is inherent, such as II Kings xix. 31; Isa. is. 7, x. 16, 24, 26, 33, and similar passages. Sometimes the phrase denotes simply "the sublime" and is equivalent to "the Holy One" (Isa. vi. 5, viii. 13, xviii. 7, li. 15; Amos. iv. 13). But since the activities of the divine absolute ness or holiness are related to his plans for Israel, Yahweh zebaoth, "Yahweh of hosts," may designate without special emphasis Israel's God and king, as is shown by the numerous cases in which the ex pression is found either in apposition or parallelism with "God of Israel" or like expressions. The op position between prophetic usage and the funda mental thought of the idea of God as leader in battle is by many commentators set aside by the concep tion of a transformation in the course of centuries; i.e., the earthly hosts give way in the enlarging con ceptions to heavenly hosts, whether of stars or angels or other heavenly powers. The transforma tion of the idea of hosts from heaven to earth is evident; but the passages give ground for debate whether the heavenly hosts were angels or stars. For the former make such passages as Josh. v. 13 eqq.; II Kings vi. 17; Isa. xxiv. 21; I Kings xxii. 19; Dan. vii. 10. Yet frequently "host of heaven" represents in part the objects of idolatrous worship (Dent. iv. 19; 11 Kings xvii. 16; Jer. viii. 2;