In the NT the customs of hospitality are recog- nized as binding (Lk 7""*'). It is commended and enjoined as a Christian virtue (Ro 12"- ", 1 Ti 3-', Tit 1», He I3-, 1 P 4") ; and, allording a curious parallel to the passage quoted above from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the exercise of hospitality is taken as affording the evidence on which final judgment is ba.sed (Mt 25" with 10*" and Jn 13™).
Host occurs but twice in our Eng. Bible, Lk lO" and Ro 16^. In the former case it stands for rarSox'vi, the kcciier of an inn or place of enter- tainuient, w here all were received on an understand- in-^ as to i)ayment. The wavSoxfiov or TavSoKeiov might be a .simple kliAn, or a place allording accommodation to travellers. From this we have the modem Arabic fnniluk, used for 'inn' or ' hotel.' {evof in Ro 16^ is used in classic Greek
for the 'guest-friend,' i.e. any citizen of a foreign State with whom one has a treaty of hospitality for self and heirs, confirmed by mutual presents and an appeal to Zfus iivioi. In this sense both parties are f ^►oi ' (Liddell and Scott). While mostly denoting the receiver of ho-spitality, it was also used for the entertainer ; and in that sense it is employed here. The generous hospitality of Gains, not limited to St. Paul, but e.\teuded to ' the whole Church,' marks him out for special honour.
Literature.— Robinson, BKi ii. S47, etc. ; W. R. Smith, R3 pp. 76, 2U9, etc., Kiiuhip, 41, etc. ; Doughty, Araiia Dfierta; Tliomson, Land and Book ; Burclthardt, A'o(« on tht Bedouint and n'afi'ibys ; lAne, Modem Etji/ptians (Gardner, ls95), p. ::yt>, etc. ; Trumbull, Oriental Social 1a}', pp. TS-llS ; Conder, lUlh and iloati, pp. BH-Sbtipatnm. W. EwiXG.
HOST. — Hostis, in classical Lat. ' an enemy,' came to mean ' the enemy's army,' and then, in mediaeval Lat., 'an army simply. This was its meaning when taken into Eng. from Old Fr. /wst ; and this is its meaning always in AV, where it occurs as tr. of all the usual Heb. words for 'army.' Tindale uses it specially for the army in camp, Lv 9" ' the flesh and the hyde he burnt with fyre without the hoste.' J. Hastings.
HOST OF HEAYEN, THE (d:;?? k;?).— An ex- pression occurring several times in the OT, and denoting most frequently the stars, but sometimes angds. The word 'host' is the ordinarj' Heb. word for army ; and its use implies that those whom it characterizes are conceived partly as numerous, and partly as forming a regularly organized body, obedient to the commands of its lord or head.
A. As applied to the stars, it (1) denotes them (often coupled with the sun and moon) as objects of re/igioris vrneration, Dt 4" 17', Zeph 1», Jer 8" 19'», 2 K 17'" 2P <■ 23»- » (2 Ch 33»- •) ; so also Ac 7". It appears from these passages that the idolatrous worship of the heavenly bodies — though there aie traces of it previously* — first became prominent in Israel in the 7th cent. B.C. : it was patronized by Manasseh, who ' built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts ' of the Temple (2 K 21') ; it is mentioned in Dt as a form of idolatry which might prove specially seductive to the Israelite ; according to Jer 19", Zeph 1', it was carried on upon the roofs of houses. Josiah, in his reformation, destroj-ed the altars built by Manasseh in the Temple, burnt the vessels used in the rites, and put down the priests who took part in them (2 K 033. 5. 13) Prom the terms of 2 K '23" ' the altars which were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz,' taken in conjunction with wnat is stated in Jer 19", Zeph 1', it is dilficult to avoid the infer ence that, though the 'host .'f heaven' itself is not expres.sly mentioned, the worship had in fact been introduced into tludah belore Manas.seh by .\haz. This systematic worship of the heavenly bodies was in a^l probability imported from Assyria and Babylonia, where there was a deeply rooted popular belief in the power of the stars to rule the destinies of individuals and nations, and where from a remote antiquity the events which had been observed to follow from given celestial j>lieiio mena had been tabulated lor future reterence (above, vol. i. p. 194 ; Sayce, Hibb. Lect. 39«M03).
^ Pro}H'r names, as Bvlh-slienicsh, En-shemcsh, and ()irot^ ably) Jericho imply an ancient wor>hip ot the sun and moon : SCO aI«o Am .V-*i (it. 750 B.C.); and (under Ahai) Is 17* ('ftnn- pillars.'— Ihnucb some scholar* think this and the pn'ceitind won! a later addition) ; *J K 2311 • the horses which the kiii^.'S of Jud:di had h'lven to the sun ' and ' diarlou of the sun ' (tlioit^h. the kiiiL'S not iK-inc si^ct-itled. Uio date when these were iittro- duceil is uncertain). 2 K 171*. also, attributes the won-iiij) of tile 'host of heaven' lo the fx-ople of the norlhm\ kiiu'dora : but the statement (whidi occurs in a D«ut«rot>omic itwrnrrj truly tie only a rhet4>rical gcneralixatioo.
430 HOST OF HEAVEN, THE
HOUGH
Abaz and Manasseh were both addicted to heathen observances, and both were also vassals of Assyria ; * so that tliere is no ditliculty in uuder- Btandin<; their readiness to patronize Assyrian superstitions. t