Bible Dictionary · H
Host
An entertainer (Rom 16:23); a tavern-keeper, the keeper of a caravansary (Luke 10:35).
In warfare, a troop or military force. This consisted at first only of infantry. Solomon afterwards added cavalry (1 Kgs 4:26; 1 Kgs 10:26). Every male Israelite from twenty to fifty years of age was bound by the law to bear arms when necessary (Num 1:3; Num 26:2; 2 Chr 25:5).
Saul was the first to form a standing army (1 Sam 13:2; 1 Sam 24:2). This example was followed by David (1 Chr 27:1), and Solomon (1 Kgs 4:26), and by the kings of Israel and Judah (2 Chr 17:14; 2 Chr 26:11; 2 Kgs 11:4, etc.).
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
