Lord God of Hosts

[zetarho62]

I hear this in Mass and have seen it in scripture but until recently I never thought about who, or what, the HOSTS are.

 

[Trekker47]

I believe that would be the heavenly hosts, that is, all the angels in heaven.

 

[pianistclare]

I hear this in Mass and have seen it in scripture but until recently I never thought about who, or what, the HOSTS are.

The hosts of angels.

 

[TimothyH]

host = great number of people, especially soldiers.

quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=simple&format=Long&q1=host&restrict=Old+Testament&size=All

-Tim-

 

[porthos11]

I hear this in Mass and have seen it in scripture but until recently I never thought about who, or what, the HOSTS are.

A host is an army, or a mass of armies. Hosts (tz’va’ot) here can likely refer to the armies of angels, or even more broadly, to the entire company of heaven, angels and saints.

 

[patrick457]

I hear this in Mass and have seen it in scripture but until recently I never thought about who, or what, the HOSTS are.

In a literal sense, ‘hosts’ = ‘armies’. The Israelites called God “Yhwh of the Armies,” the ‘armies’ depending on the context meaning either the ‘armies’ of Israel or the heavenly ‘armies’ (the stars and other heavenly bodies / the angels).

 

[zetarho62]

Very interesting. Thank you for your replies.