What is meant by heavenly host?

Answer 1

A:To the early Hebrews the heavenly host meant the sun, moon and the planet Venus, but also the other stars an planets who were worshipped, with quite a few biblical references prior to the religious reforms of King Josiah.

Worship of the sun or moon is forbidden in Deuteronomy4:19 ("And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.") and again in Deuteronomy 17:3, which say that worshippers of the sun or moon or other heavenly bodies must be stoned to death. That this should have to be forbidden so emphatically shows that it had been happening.

In Luke's Gospel (2:13) we see that with the advent of monotheism, the heavenly host had come to mean the angels of heaven.