The Host Of Heaven

It is written:

“who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded…” (Deuteronomy 17:3)

Notice from this passage that “the host of heaven” is connected with various gods and goddesses. Throughout the Bible, we see this theme continually displayed:

“In Deut 32:8–9 (reading v. 8 with the Dead Sea Scrolls, as do the ESV and NRSV ), when the nations were divided at the tower of Babel incident, the nations were placed by God under the authority of lesser elohim , the “sons of God” (see chapter 14 of this book for more detail). The parallel passage to that text is Deut 4:19–20 . There the gods “allotted” to the other nations while Yahweh took Israel are called the “host of heaven.” Worshiping them is forbidden. This is the same language as in 1 Kgs 22:13–23 , where the prophet Micaiah has a vision of a divine council meeting (see chapter 7 of this book). These members of the “host of heaven” are called elohim in Deut 17:2–5 , where Israel is again warned to not worship them. Unfortunately, Deut 29:25 informs us that Israelites did worship elohim that were not “allotted” to them. These passages, along with Deut 32:17 , interchange the following terms or phrases: host of heaven, gods ( elohim ), and demons ( shedim ).” (Mike Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering The Supernatural Worldview Of The Bible, 13728-13744 (Kindle Edition); Bellingham, WA; Lexham Press)

At the Tower of Babel, God allowed the rebellious nations to reject Him and follow after rebellious angels who masquerade as gods and goddesses (Deuteronomy 32:8; Psalm 82:1, 6).

The chaos that we see in our world is a result of this continuing war between the one true God and the “gods” of the nations.

Ultimately, God’s triumph is assured:

“On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.” (Isaiah 24:21, ESV)

Will you be on the winning side?