What Is the 'Heavenly Host'?

A false friend that appears in multiple versions aside from the KJV…

Here it is in the ESV: "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God…." (Luke 2:13)

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[AndyeRoy]

I have read almost all of Heiser’s books and listened to his podcast for years now. This video makes his interpretation and discussion on Revelation 12 even more compelling! Great video, Mark!

[djmcclurg]

I like the rendering of this verse in the Geneva Bible: "a multitude of heavenly soldiers"

[johnbjorgen]

I was one of the many who represented host as a very large group in your survey. I threw out a knee-jerk guess that the multitude of angels must be a part of a larger number or whole, out of my struggle to make sense of the apparent redundancy of the similar terms. As soon as you said that the focus of the video was on the word "host" and not "multitude", my brain started searching for alternative meanings of host, and army was one of the alternatives I came up with quickly from reading older literature. However, at first reading, you are correct, it never entered my mind because I wasn't specifically focused on that word. What's more, if you asked me for synonyms of the word "army, " I probably would not have come up with host. I've never considered that meaning in 40ish years of reading the Christmas story in Luke 2 many times each year. So, taking for granted that I'm fairly typical (and who among us doesn't think that they are the normal one?) I think you've definitely hit on one here. I don't think this is a difficult one to come to, I think that many people (like me) are just lazy enough to be comfortable in our perceived understanding of host that we don't question that it may have a richer or subtly different meaning.

[MetroWord]

LOL @ "The ends justify the means."  I learned that host meant army from a teaching pastor when I was teen. FYI the NASB 2020 uses "army" in Luke 2. The Scourgie quote is great. Your mini teaching on angels was encouraging. Thank you!

[MeLancer]

When you mentioned Heavenly Hosts, the following passage from the NLT translation came to mind. Psa 46:7 The LORD of Heaven's Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress.

[e.m.]

I'm working my way through "The Unseen Realm" and trying to process/unpack it all. There's a lot there to digest. So much of it is brand new to me, so I'm still at the point that it's probably raising more questions than answering them right now. Definitely a book I feel like every Bible student should work through at some point though.

[actsbiblecollege]

Great video! I think Chris Tomlin May deserve a little credit for some of the awareness of the “angel armies” concept in the public. Kudos for hearing Michael Heiser out! Dr Heiser had a lot to do with my recovery from KJVO. I was furious and disgusted for a year or so after listening to him dismantle the “X-Files view of the Bible” that I had adopted. I asked pointed questions to a couple of people I met who knew him and worked with him. I was livid but I kept listening. Thanks Dr. Heiser!

[VicRibeiro]

Loved the last part, thank you Mark.
I deeply appreciate Dr Heiser's work too.
This video actually highlighted a flaw in the Afrikaans 2020 translation. I compared different translations and the Afrikaans translators opted for " 'n hemelse menigte" (a heavenly multitude) the concept of an angel army is lost. In the 33/53 Translation it was recognizable. " ‘n menigte van die hemelse leërskare" (a multitude of the heavenly army).
Time for a note in the new Bible ^_^

[miketisdell]

The idea of "host" meaning "many" in this context never occurred to me, but I can definitely how others might take it that way. However, I do recognize that my perspective may be a little different than most. I was mentored at a very early age by a pastor that was a PhD, and I also began studying Hebrew in my first year of college and the equivalent Hebrew term (צבאות) is quite common in the OT. Your video does make me wonder how often "Lord of hosts (יהוה צבאות)" is misunderstood.

[davidsandrock]

I’m pretty sure that I figured out that host meant army when I read Frank E Perreti’s books in which one of his characters is an angel referred to as “Tal, Captain of the Host”.

[stevencash]

Host as I think I understand it in the KJV- to entertain a gathering of people, armies, large gathering of people. I in this context I imagine heavenly armies or a gathering of angels.

[matthewfunk]

Weird, I always thought that host meant "angels".

[colonyofcellsiamamachine]

I have read all of the shakespeare plays using annotated shakespeare like arden shakespeare, oxford shakespeare or cambridge shakespeare, and that is probably where I learned host means army.

[ElyssaNalaniTV]

I always thought host referred to a multitude

[RichardToddIsMyName]

I suspected it from Kabbalah books which give “Elohim tsebaoth” and “yhvh tsebaoth” as names of God, which have to do with God as the lord of his angelic armies. Never would have guessed otherwise.

[PublicHealthGeek]

I always assumed it just meant a large group with the implication of being uncountable.

[DennisRegling]

Have you done anything on the word "advertise" in Ruth 4:4 ? " And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it."

[dustinpauley]

A great number of individuals all together as one unit. Like a medieval army arrayed in battle formation. In this case, a whole bunch of angels?

[JessicaMainous]

Just wanted to say I appreciate your whit and execution in all of your videos!

I’m wondering if you’d ever do a video explaining the “horn of salvation.” It seems that there are multiple meanings of “horn” in the OT ranging from the part of the altar, to a weapon, to an instrument. Is the horn of our salvation a weapon to fight with? An instrument to sound because we already have victory? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[ajhigginscomposer]

Host means a large group (in an army, usually). "Lord of Hosts" comes to mind.