Yahweh Sabaoth

Yahweh Sabaoth

He existed before anything other than himself came into being. The Father is singular while being many, for he is the first one and the one who is only himself.  Yet he is not like a solitary individual. Otherwise, how could he be a father? For whenever there is a "father," the name "son" follows. But the single one, who alone is the Father, is like a root, with tree, branches and fruit. (The Tripartite Tractate)

The title, "Lord of hosts", or "Lord Almighty", "Yahweh Sabaoth", is perhaps best understood as a general ref to the sovereignty of God over all powers in the universe. In the account of establishment of kingship in Israel it became particularly appropriate as a ref to God as the God of armies -- both of the heavenly army (Deu 33:2; Jos 5:14; Psa 68:17; Hab 3:8) and of the army of Israel (1 Sam 17:45).

The word “Sabaoth” which comes from a root meaning to mass, whether it be an army or servants, but particularly the former. It is defined as a mass of persons, especially regiments organised for war; and it is constantly associated with such an idea when it is used in relation to God.

The word signifies an army, so that this is the military title of Deity. The invisible presence of that army was obvious throughout Israel's history, overshadowing the nation so as to protect it from its enemies when circumstances demanded it, or delivering it up to punishment when such was justified.

The title also points forward to the future when another Divine army will be manifested, for Sabaoth being appended to Yahweh proclaims that He will be manifested in an army.

The recruiting of that army has proceeded throughout the centuries (see 2 Tim. 2:4), and its manifestation in the future is predicted in Revelation 19:11-15: "I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war ....
And the armies which were in heaven (the ruling places of the Age to come) followed him . . . And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron."

The future work of Christ as Commander of this host (Isa. 55:4), is indicated in Isaiah 9:6 where the "increase of his government and peace upon the throne of David," is attributed to "the zeal of Yahweh Sabaoth."

It will be the army of the holy ones, then constituted as such, which will accomplish this (Zech. 14:3,5). It will then be acknowledged that it is not by fleshly "might, nor by the power of man, but by my spirit, says Yahweh Sabaoth," that His purpose will be brought about.

Thus Haggai, predicting the shaking of the nations, and the consequent elevation of Jerusalem and restoration of the Temple, declares that it will be brought about by Yahweh Sabaoth, and in the course of three verses (Hag 2:6-9) refers to the title five times.

The time is at hand when those "who have overcome" will "have the name of God written upon them" (Rev 3:12), and will exercise "power over the nations, ruling them with a rod of iron" (Rev 2:26-27). Then, every accepted saint will be an Eloah, and combined they will constitute the Elohim (Mighty Ones), Shaddai (Destroyers or Nourishers as the case might be), and Adonai (Rulers) of the Age to come.

The divine El or Power will be manifested through them, and as they go forth to "execute the judgments written" (Psalm 149:9), they will do so as Yahweh Sabaoth.

the holy ones as the Elohim of hosts in the divine name will constitute “the armies of the heaven” following the Word of God (Rev 17 and 19).

Yahweh Sabaoth proclaims that He will be manifested in an army, and being prophetic, points to the time when the Lord Jesus shall lead the holy ones, as the army of Yahweh, against the world of darkness.

Lord GOD of Hosts -- Adon, Yahweh Sabaoth: The Ruler, He who will be manifested in Armies (Isa. 19:4).

The Lord of Hosts the God of Israel -- Yahweh Sabaoth Elohim Israel: He who will be manifested as armies of the Mighty Ones of Israel (Isa. 37:16).

Yahweh Elohim

He existed before anything other than himself came into being. The Father is singular while being many, for he is the first one and the one who is only himself.  Yet he is not like a solitary individual. Otherwise, how could he be a father? For whenever there is a "father," the name "son" follows. But the single one, who alone is the Father, is like a root, with tree, branches and fruit.

The Tripartite Tractate

The name of Yahweh is constantly associated with other terms, the most usual being the combination Yahweh Elohim.  Together they mean he who shall (or will) be Mighty Ones, and may be taken as a description of the ideas concerning the multitudinous manifestation of the divine name.

The first occurrence of Yahweh Elohim is very significant. “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh Elohim made the earth and the heavens” (Gen 2:4). It is in the section thus commenced, and which reaches to Gen 3:24, that sin and redemption are referred to for the first time. The combination is constantly used in this section, whereas it only occurs nine times in the remainder of the book of Genesis. Such a remarkable fact must be intentional.

The entrance of sin into the world marked the apparent failure of the work of the Elohim. Man, who had been created in their image failed to reflect their moral likeness, and was sentenced to return to the dust from which he had been formed. But the failure was not to be the end. Indeed, God’s purpose cannot fail, and that truth is involved in the very title used. “I will be mighty ones,” it declares, and in the section it is indicated how this shall be. “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15).

It was not much in itself, but later revelation enables us to construct the plan whereby the man whom Yahweh made strong for Himself (Ps 80:17), was the Arm of Yahweh to bring salvation to a multitude who should attain unto more than Adam forfeited by his sin. He lost life and the possession of a perfect human organisation. They attain unto life eternal and a participation in the Divine nature.

They will then be partaker of the Divine nature,' having been called out from the mass of mankind to be a people for the Name (Acts 15:14). Each saint attaining unto that position will be an Eloah, or a Mighty One; whilst combined they will constitute Elohim, or Mighty Ones. These titles will be applied to them because they will manifest the Divine power. Thus Isaiah represents the nations making supplication unto Cyrus (who was a type of Christ) saying: "Surely God (El - the Divine power) is in you" (Isa 45:14; Ps 82:6; Rom 5:2 1 John 3:2; John 17:24; Rom 8:17; 2 Pet 1:4).

The Greater and Lesser Yahweh Exodus 23:21

The Greater and Lesser Yahweh

'two powers in heaven' (shtei rashunot ba-shammayim)

During the second temple period an idea developed within a number of Jewish texts, about a second divine figure, either beside YHWH or beneath him this lead to the idea that there are many powers in heaven Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 - Sefaria or two powers in heaven (shtei rashunot ba-shammayim).

these two powers are referred to has the Greater and Lesser Yahweh

In the gnostic works Pistis Sophia and the Book of Jeu we encounter the "Great Iao" and the "Little Iao" (Pistis Sophia, chs. 7 [twice], 86, 140; Book ofJeu, ch. 50). These may correspond to the titles "greater YHWH" and "lesser YHWH" found in the Merkabah texts (3En 48B:1[44]; 48D:1[90]) (cf. Odeberg, 3 Enoch, pt. 1, app. 2, pp. 188-92)

Two Yahwehs in the bible 

 The teaching first comes from Exodus 23:20,21 

Exodus 23:20 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.

There is an angel who is called Yahweh (Exodus 23:20,21)

in Exodus 24:1-2, we see one Yahweh who instructs Moses to go to another Yahweh

24:1 And to Moses he (that is Yahweh) said: “Go up to Yahweh

However these two Yahweh's are angels or elohim one is "the Lord God" or "Yahweh Elohim" (that is the archangel Michael the Lesser Yahweh). Read chapter 23 and 24 together to see this. 

EL and Elohim

Gen 35:1 ¶ And God <0430> said unto Jacob , Arise , go up to Bethel , and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God <0410>, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother .

Gen 35:1 Then Elohim (or an angel) said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to the El, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother."
2 And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments.
3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to the El, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone."

ESV: Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.

here one Yahweh engage in conversation with another Yahweh

In Genesis 19:23, for example, we see the "Yahweh who was Sent calling up to His Elohim or Yahweh the Greater who SENT Him to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Amos 4:11 "I overthrew some of you, As Elohim overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And you were like a burning stick plucked from the burning; Yet you have not returned to me," Says Yahweh.

Who is the “I” and who is the “Elohim”

The "I" is Michael the Lesser Yahweh and the Elohim is Yahweh the Greater

This angel is the chief angel or archangel Michael whose name means who is like the Divine One (God) EL or power

Yahweh is the head angel in the O.T....right?

Thus, Yahweh is said to have appeared to Abraham as he sat in the door of his tent. (Gen. 18:1) When he first saw the visitor, though, he did not see the Lord but “three men” or Elohim, of whom one was the chief. Read all of Genesis 18 to 19:29 and you will see that the Everlasting Deity talks and acts by or through these Elohim, but chiefly through one of them called the Lord God or Yahweh Elohim.

Second Century Jewish Literature

In 3 Enoch, Metatron is called the lesser YHWH.

The Third Book of Enoch

CHAPTER XII God clothes Metatron in a garment of glory, puts a royal crown on his head and calls him "the Lesser YHWH" 

 R. Ishmael said: Metatron, the Prince of the Presence, said to me: (1) By reason of the love with which the Holy One, blessed be He, loved me more than all the children of heaven. He made me a garment of glory on which were fixed all kinds of lights, and He clad me in it. (2)And He made me a robe of honour on which were fixed all kinds of beauty, splendour, brilliance and majesty. (3) And he made me a royal crown in which were fixed forty-nine costly stones like unto the light of the globe of the sun. (4) For its splendour went forth in the four quarters of the Araboth Raqia', and in (through) the seven heavens, and in the four quarters of the world. And he put it on my head. (5) And He called me THE LESSER YHWH in the presence of all His heavenly household; as it is written (Ex. 23:21): "For my name is in him"

Logos

Philo of Alexandria

in Allegorical Interpretation, II (2.86), God is said to be the supreme power and His logos the second one.

But the most universal of all things is God; and in the second place the word of God. But other things have an existence only in word, but in deed they are at times equivalent to that which has no existence. (Allegorical Interpretation, II)

And the most ancient word of the living God is clothed with the word as with a garment, for it has put on earth, and water, and air, and fire, and the things which proceed from those elements. But the particular soul is clothed with the body, and the mind of the wise man is clothed with the virtues. (111) And it is said that he will never take the mitre off from his head, he will never lay aside the kingly diadem, the symbol of an authority which is not indeed absolute, but only that of a viceroy, but which is nevertheless an object of admiration. Nor will he "rend his clothes;" (112) for the word of the living God being the bond of every thing, as has been said before, holds all things together, and binds all the parts, and prevents them from being loosened or separated. (ON FLIGHT AND FINDING)

John 1:1 In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. 

the Word or Logos was the chief or the firstborn among all the other angels whom the bible call elohím or “gods.

Fragment 1, on John 1:3 (In John 1:3, “All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made.”) The sentence: "All things were made through him" means the world and what is in it. It excludes what is better than the world. The Aeon (i.e. the Fullness), and the things in it, were not made by the Word; they came into existence before the Word. . . “Without him, nothing was made” of what is in the world and the creation. . . "All things were made through Him," means that it was the Word who caused the Craftsman (Demiurge) to make the world, that is it was not the Word “from whom” or “by whom,” but the one “through whom (all things were made).”. . . It was not the Word who made all things, as if he were energized by another, for "through whom" means that another made them and the Word provided the energy.

Philo of Alexandria
 Now this disposition stands in need of two powers to take care of it, the power that is of authority, and that of conferring benefits, in order that in accordance with the authority of the governor, it may obey the admonitions which it receives, and also that it may be greatly benefited by his beneficence. But the other disposition stands in need of the power of beneficence only; for it has not derived any improvement from the authority which admonishes it, inasmuch as it naturally claims virtue as its own, but by reason of the bounty which is showered upon it from above, it was good and perfect from the beginning; (1.163) therefore God is the name of the beneficent power, and Lord is the title of the royal power.

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Metatron