man_o_war"Yahweh of Hosts"

In light of the fact that some assemblies have begun actively teaching that "Yahweh of Hosts is the pre-existent one," the following should be considered:

  1. The phrase "Yahweh of Hosts" first appears in 1 Samuel 1:3 so if you are contending that this represents the Son in a pre-existing form, then He must not have even come into the picture until 1 Samuel? That plain and simply doesn't make sense in any fashion.

  2. In some of the verses using the phrase "Yahweh of Hosts," if you read further along, they will indicate quite strongly it is the Father without any doubt. Just two examples of this:

    • The first time the phrase appears is in 1 Samuel 1:3. Never would the people offer up sacrifices to the Son! Yahshua Himself said to worship Yahweh and serve Him ONLY (Matthew 4:10 for one).

    • A second is 2 Samuel 7:8. If you read 1 Samuel 16:1-13, it is CLEARLY Yahweh the Father who chose David.

One other verse which should be pointed out as there are words added which should not be is Isaiah 44:6 which "should" read as follows: Thus saith YAHWEH the King of Israel, his ["its," referring to "Israel's"] redeemer YAHWEH of hosts; I the first, and I the last; and beside me no Elohim. Instead of "appearing" to be a second entity, it is actually referring to the ultimate "King of Isreal" (our Father) also being Israel's ultimate "Redeemer." So many seem to forget this Book was translated by trinitarians and just adding a word here and there instills or "proves" (erroneously) the trinitarian concept. Many "little" things such as this verse are easy to overlook when reading.

Brenton’s translates Isaiah 44:6-7, Thus saith Yahweh the King of Israel, and Yahweh of hosts that delivered him; I am the first, and I am hereafter: beside me there is no Elohim. Who is like me? let him stand, and call, and declare, and prepare for me from the time that I made man for ever; and let them tell you the things that are coming before they arrive. Note the commas clarifying “King of Israel,” and it seems clear it is ONE entity.

After harmonizing ALL the scriptures, we can see nothing to indicate Yahweh of Hosts is anything other than another characteristic of our Heavenly Father. It does NOT mean He actually came down and fought, but gave authority to others to do so. To put Messiah in this position, as with putting Him in any other “position” without authority, seems to be in direct violation of adding to or deleting from Scriptures. We would not want to be in that position and having to answer for it; however, some seem to have no problem doing so.

Below you will find definitions and further reason to believe that the phrase "Yahweh of Hosts" is our Heavenly Father and no one else.

Commentaries:

Commentaries are merely tools, they are not Scripture. However, they can shed light on the times you are studying in and the way things were looked at THEN. We think it is somewhat amazing that Sacred Name Assemblies rely in great measure on the "founding fathers," yet one of the most reknown "Sacred Name" individuals, Elder A.B. Traina, had this to say about "Yahweh of Hosts":

Quoted from Elder Traina’s Bible, pages vi, vii, “…while He is characterized as Yahweh nissi [our banner], Yahweh-rapha [healer], Yahweh-raah [my shepherd], Yahweh tsidkenu [our righteousness], Yahweh shalom [our peace], Yahweh sabaoth [of hosts], Yahweh jireh [that provideth], the Name in each case is Yahweh, coupled with a distinctive characteristic.” Elder Traina knew that Yahweh tsidkenu is not a “name,” but a Name with a characteristic, the same with Yahweh sabaoth.

The only other commentaries we will mention here are two commentaries on 1 Samuel 1:3:

Barnes:  ...The L-rd of Hosts - This title of Yahweh which, with some variations, is found upward of 260 times in the Old Testament, occurs here for the first time. The meaning of the word “hosts” is doubtless the same as that of “army” [Daniel 4:35] and includes all the myriads of holy Angels who people the celestial spheres [1 Kings 22:19]. It is probably with reference to the idolatrous worship of the Host of heaven that the title the “L-rd of Hosts” was given to the true G-d, as asserting His universal supremacy (see Nehemiah 9:6). In the New Testament the phrase only occurs once [James 5:4]. Emphasis Added.
Clarke Commentary (same verse): The L-rd of hosts - יהוה צבאות Yehovah tsebaoth, Jehovah of armies. As all the heavenly bodies were called the hosts of heaven, צבא השמים tseba hashshamayim, Jehovah being called L-rd of this host showed that he was their Maker and Governor; and consequently He, not they, was the proper object of religious worship. The sun, moon, planets, and stars, were the highest objects of religious worship.

Characteristics:

  • Exodus 15:3, YAHWEH is his name. Note it says Yahweh is a man of war--not that He actually battles, but He gives the power to those on earth TO battle for His sake. Yahweh is in charge of the angelic forces as well as everything else and one can find from the definition of the word that it is a "characteristic" of our Father, along with others such as "rapha," "tsidkenzu," etc. Psalm 111:9, "holy and reverend" is his name. Again, indicative of a "characteristic."
  • Proverbs 21:24, proud, haughty scorner is his name...another "characteristic."
  • Isaiah 47:4 - Compare with Isaiah 41:14, Yahweh as Redeemer and the Holy One of Israel;
  • Isaiah 43:14, Yahweh your redeemer;
  • Isaiah 44:6, Yahweh as king, redeemer, and of armies--clearly "one" entity--first, last, no other Elohim;
  • Isaiah 44:24, Yahweh thy redeemer;
  • Isaiah 48:17, Yahweh, thy Redeemer;
  • Isaiah 49:7, Yahweh the Redeemer and Israel's Holy One [note in this verse "and" is added and would indicate a second entity]; and others.

Definitions:

"Hosts" - #6635

Strong's: From H6633; a mass of persons (or figurative things), especially regularly organized for war (an army); by implication a campaign, literally or figuratively (specifically hardship, worship): - appointed time, (+) army, (+) battle, company, host, service, soldiers, waiting upon, war (-fare).

Word Study Dictionary, ṣāḇā’: A masculine noun meaning service, servants. It may apply to military service (Numbers 1:3; 1 Samuel 17:55); hard, difficult service (Job 7:1; Isaiah 40:2); or divine service (Numbers 4:3; 8:24-25; Psalm 68:11 [12]). The angels and the heavens alike are in divine service and therefore come under this term (Genesis 2:1; 1 Kings 22:19; Jeremiah 33:22; cf. Luke 2:13). Over half of its nearly five hundred uses come in the phrase, the L-rd [or G-d] of hosts. The phrase is absent from the first five book of the Bible. But frequently in the Prophets, the phrase introduces a divine declaration. At least once the hosts (always plural) in this expression are identified as human armies, but elsewhere they most likely refer to angelic forces (Joshua 5:13-15; 1 Samuel 17:55; Psalm 103:21; Isaiah 1:9). The title the L-RD of hosts was often translated in the Septuagint as the L-RD of powers or the L-RD Almighty (Psalm 24:10; Zechariah 4:6). On other occasions, the Hebrew word for hosts was transliterated into Greek (1 Samuel 1:3, 11). This Greek form of the Hebrew word shows up twice in the New Testament, once in a quotation from Isaiah (cf. Romans 9:29; James 5:4).

Brown, Drivers, Briggs - 1) that which goes forth, army, war, warfare, host 1a) army, host 1a1) host (of organised army) 1a2) host (of angels) 1a3) of sun, moon, and stars 1a4) of whole creation 1b) war, warfare, service, go out to war

Name - Strong's #8034

Strong's - A primitive word (perhaps rather from H7760 through the idea of definite and conspicuous position; compare H8064); an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character: - + base, [in-] fame [-ous], name (-d), renown, report.

Word Study Dictionary - šēm: A masculine noun meaning a name, fame. It is what specifically identifies a person or anything: G-d's name, "I am who I am" (Exodus 3:15); or the name Yahweh, L-RD, which is in small capital letters in English (Psalm 5:11 [12]); a person's name (Genesis 3:20); names of animals (Genesis 2:19). To make a name for oneself means to attain a renowned reputation (Genesis 11:4; 2 Samuel 8:13); as when G-d made Abraham's name great (Genesis 12:2). To become famous is to have one's name spread through the land (Ezekiel 16:14). To have a good name is to have a good character, a good reputation (Ecclesiastes 7:1). The expression the name (has?s?em) refers to the L-rd, Yahweh. The L-rd's name means to be blessed, praised (Job 1:21). A name may serve as a memorial or monument (Isaiah 55:13). The phrase yad_ was?em means a remembrance, a memorial (Isaiah 56:5) and serves today in modern Israel as the name of a museum built to remember the victims of the Holocaust or Shoah. The names of other gods were forbidden in Israel, i.e., the recognition of them (Exodus 23:13; Joshua 23:7). Israel's G-d was to be called on to act according to His revealed name (Isaiah 48:9; Jeremiah 14:7, 21; Ezekiel 20:9, 14). To continue the name of a man, a family line gave him a kind of ongoing life in his sons (Deuteronomy 25:7; 2 Samuel 8:13).

Brown, Drivers, Briggs - 1) name 1a) name 1b) reputation, fame, glory.

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