God is OP

If we start in Genesis and read through the Old Testament, we come across many different names for God. When we get to 1Samuel, we meet a new one. It's clear who it refers to, but it's telling us more than we realize. We'll get more out of these passages when we understand what it means.

There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

You get to Samuel, and your first reaction is "oh good, more names". Then you read

Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD. (1Sam 1:1-3 ESV)

It's easy to simply say to yourself, "OK, this is God", and move on, but this name becomes increasingly important as the narrative progresses. It will be a common way to refer to the Lord in the Psalms and throughout the prophets.

"The LORD of hosts" is how most translations render the Hebrew YHWH sabaoth, YHWH (probably pronounced Yahweh) is the self-name of God (Exodus 3:15). Sabaoth, is usually translated "hosts". It seems obvious that "hosts" is probably armies. In fact, the CSB simply renders the name "LORD of armies".

So he's the God of armies. But what armies? Well, since he's the sovereign of Israel, their army for starters. But that's not all. This also includes the host of heaven (1King 22:19). And that's super important.

The internet has recently discovered that popular images of angels are not biblically accurate. They don't know the half of it. What can one angel do? There are some acts of God in the Bible where it's unclear whether God acted directly or sent an angel, but some the text specifies an angel was the actor. In 2Samuel 24 we see David's punishment for counting the armies of Israel; God sends one angel who strikes down 70,000 people (v15-16). In 2Kings 19, Assyria surrounds Jerusalem and makes the mistake of mocking God. One angel strikes down 185,000 of Sennacherib's soldiers (v35).

One angel is incredibly powerful, extremely dangerous. So when Jesus said his Father would immediately send him "more than twelve legions of angels" (Matt 26:53), he was stating that there are over 60,000 of the most dangerous beings in the universe on deck and ready to defend him at a moment's notice.

What picture is the term "the LORD of hosts" trying to project? We see it in 2Kings 6. The king of Aram foolishly decides the key to defeating Israel is to take out the prophet Elisha. His army surrounds Elisha's city. To calm his panicking servant, Elisha asks God to show him the true situation, and he sees "the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" (v17).

The army of Aram was hopelessly outnumbered and outclassed. The enemies of God are always hopelessly outnumbered and outclassed.

God's armies are ridiculously powerful without God even getting involved. Thus God, the source of their power, is mind-bogglingly over-powered. He's like the character who ends any fight, beats any foe with one punch. And that's probably why the NIV chose to simply render the name "the LORD Almighty."

The scriptures use various ways to remind God's people how powerful he is. To Abraham and his children, he was El Shaddai, or God Almighty (eg, Genesis 17:1), the one who could even give children to an elderly, barren couple. To the exodus generation, he was the LORD "who brought you out of Egypt" (eg, Exodus 20:2), who embarrassed the world power of the day. The psalmists refer to the God who is "the Maker of heaven and earth" (eg, Psalm 146:6).

What about the New Testament? He's the one who conquered death.

Jesus "has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2Timothy 1:10). He is "the Living One" who was dead and now is alive forever and ever, who holds the keys of death and Hades (Revelation 1:18).

And the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us (Romans 8:11).

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:18-21)

If such a God is for us, who can be against us?


Part of Bible 101

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