HOST OF HEAVEN
362
HOST
count of being obliged to violate the Sabbath (Joseph. Ant. xiv, 10, 11 sq., 14). The discontent and party jeal- ousies of the Jews rendered necessary the employment of foreign mercenaries by king Alexander and queen Alexandra (Joseph. Atit. xiii, 13, 5 ; 1-4, 1 ; IG, 2), caUed heavy-armed (iKaTovrafj-axoi, Joseph. Ant. xiii, 12, 5). Herod the Great had in his army, no doubt, many for- eigners, even Germans (Joseph. A fit. xvii, 8, 3 ; War, ii, 1,2); Kiindler (in A ct. A cad Erford, Mogunt. i, 415 sq.) understands also a special chosen corps as a body-guard {(jioi.ia-o(pv\aKtQ, 3ose:\>h.. Ant. xv, 9, 3; comp. War, ii, 1, 3). He, as also his successor (Joseph. A nt. xvii, 10, 3 ; War, ii, 20, 1), suffered his troops in certain cases to unite with the Roman legions (Josephus, War, ii, 18, 9 ; iil, 4, 2 ; A nt. xvii, 10, S), and these Herodian soldiers, like the Roman, were employed to guard prisoners (Acts xii, 4 sq.). Respecting the discipline of these Herodian troops we know notliing positi\-e, but they were certain- ly organized on Roman princijiles, as also Josephus him- self armed and disciplined tlie Jewish militia who were under his command, alter the Roman custom ( War, ii, 20, 7). In the times of the direct Roman government of Judsea, in order to maintain tranquillity, there were Roman military bodies in the country, who were regu- larly stationed at the head-quarters of the procurator at Ctesarea (Acts x, 1) ; but during the great festival, name- ly, the Passover, they were in part detailed to Jerusalem (Acts xxi, 31 ; Joseph. War, ii, 12, 1). Sec Roman Em- pire. (See generally Danz, De Ehrceor. re, milit. Jense, 1G90; .J. Lydii Sjntagma de re milit. cum notis S. van Til, Dordrac. 1698 ; both also in Ugolini Thesaur. xxvii.) —Winer, i, 082. See Arjiy; War.
HOST OF HEAVEN (C^'p'i-n S^:^, tseba' Jiash- sliama'yim, army of the skies), in Gen. ii, 1, refers to the sun, moon, and stars, as the host of heaven imder the symbol of an armj', in which the sun is considered as the king, the moon as his vicegerent, the stars and planets as their attendants, and the constellations as the battalions and squatlrons of the .-.rmy drawn up in or- der, that they may come -ndth their leaders to execute the designs and commands of the sovereign. According to this notion, it is said in the song of Deborah, " The stars in their courses fought against Sisera" (Judg. v, 20). The worship of the host of heaven was one of the earliest forms of idolatry (q. v.), and, from findmg it fre- quently reprobated in the Scriptures, we may conclude that it was very common among the Jews in the days of their declension from the pure service of God (Deut. iv, 19; 2 Kings xvii, 16; xxi, 3, 5; xxiii, 5; Jcr. xix, 13; Zeph. i, 5; Acts vii, 42). See IIeavex.
In the book of Daniel it is said, "And it (the little horn) waxed great, even to the host of heaven ; and it cast down some of the host of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them" (viii, 10, 11). This doubt- less points to tlie aspiring nature and usurping power of Antiochus Epiphanes, who in 2 jNIacc. ix, 10 is de- scribed as the man who thought he coidd reach to the stars of heaven ; which, from Isa. xiv, 13 ; xxiv, 21, may be understood to signify the rulers, both civil and eccle- siastical, among the Jews. The priests and Levites, like the angels, were continually waiting on the service of the King of heaven in the Temple, as of old in the tabernacle (Numb, viii, 24), aud these were that part of the host, or the hoh' people, that wore thrown down and trampled upon ; for Antiochus overthrew some of the most celebrated luminaries among the leaders of the Jewish people, and reduced them to the lowest degra- dation. Spencer, in his treatise De Legihus Ileb. bk. i, ch. iv, p. 202, takes notice that the Scripture often bor- rows expressions from military affairs to accommodate itself to the use of the tabernacle, and hence is the fre- quent use of the term "host." The host nf heaven and the prince of the host he thinks must refer to the body of the priests, who exercised the offices of their warfare under the standards of the Deity. See Little Horn.
A very frequent epithet of Jehovah is '• Jehoi-ah God of hosts,'" i. e. of the celestial armies; generally rendered