What does the Bible mean when it calls God the LORD of hosts?
The name LORD of hosts occurs some 261 times in the Old Testament Scriptures. God is first called the LORD of hosts in 1 Samuel 1:3. The word LORD, capitalized, refers to Yahweh, the self-existent, redemptive God. The word hosts is a translation of the Hebrew word sabaoth, meaning armiesa reference to the angelic armies