Josiah's reforms targeted the worship of the host of heaven, which the source identifies with Assyrian gods and similar deities. According to II Kings 23, the king commanded the high priest and the priests to bring out of the Lord's temple all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron. He removed the idolatrous priests whom Judah's kings had ordained to burn incense on the high places to Baal, the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the host of heaven. He also took away the horses dedicated to the sun and burned the chariots of the sun, and he tore down the rooftop altars that Judah's kings and Manasseh had built. This was part of a thorough purge of idolatry that included wooden images, high places, Molech worship, mediums, and spiritists. The source presents it as evidence of Josiah's zeal and of how deeply idolatry had penetrated even the Temple. Josiah did exactly what God wanted of a righteous king, yet the people's reformation was only skin deep, and judgment still came.

Worship of the host of heaven appears in the account of Manasseh, the worst king of Judah. II Chronicles 33:3 says he rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had torn down, raised altars for the Baals, and "worshiped all the host of heaven and served them." The phrase is read as essentially a Hebrew way of referring to the Assyrian gods, whose worshipers venerated the sun, moon, and stars. Manasseh likely welcomed them as a political compromise to make Judah appear to go along with Assyria, which held Judah as a vassal. He then built altars for all the host of heaven in both courts of the Lord's house, the very place God said His name would dwell forever and no one else's. The source suggests altars may have stood there for all the signs of the zodiac, kept burning continually. This star worship belonged to a wider pattern that included Baal and Ashtoreth, child sacrifice, sorcery, mediums, and an idol set in the holy place. Together these made Manasseh worse than the Canaanites God drove out. His leadership caused Judah to stagger and go astray, in violation of the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before Me." Judgment fell as God had said it would for idolatry. After Manasseh was taken in hooks and fetters to Babylon, he repented. He then removed the foreign gods and altars from the Temple and commanded Judah to serve the Lord alone.

Star worship is presented as the background to the six-pointed "Star of David," which is traced to ancient occult and sun-worshiping practice rather than to Israel's God-given faith. Moses sternly warned Israel against lifting their eyes to the sun, moon, and stars, "all the host of heaven," and feeling driven to worship them (Deuteronomy 4:19). The prohibition on images of anything in heaven above especially implies the stars. The hexagram is linked to the Egyptians and to the worship of Ashtoreth (Astarte, "star"), Chiun, and Remphan. Amos 5:25-27 gives the first biblical mention of an idolatrous star among the Israelites, who carried Sikkuth and Chiun, "the star of your gods," in the wilderness, for which God warned of captivity. Whether that star was the hexagram cannot be determined, but the passage shows pagan gods were symbolized by stars. The Jewish Encyclopedia calls star worship perhaps the oldest form of idolatry, and Israel fell into it. Chiun is generally believed to represent Saturn, and the hexagram has been called the talisman of Saturn and used in astrology, Zoroastrianism, Druid practice, and medieval magic. Because the symbol lacks biblical or archaeological ties to David and carries these astral and occult associations, God's people are not to use it to represent Him or His people.

Worship of the host of heaven appears only briefly, as one item in the catalog of Israel's apostasy in II Kings 17:7-17. The northern kingdom, following the pattern of Jeroboam's golden calves, fell into widespread idolatry. The people feared other gods, built high places, set up sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree, and burned incense as the nations before them had done. They made a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image, worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. This idolatry accompanied pagan practices such as passing children through the fire, witchcraft, and soothsaying, along with rejection of God's statutes and covenant. These sins, joined with social injustice, provoked God's anger. The result was Assyria's conquest and deportation of Israel, and later Judah's similar fall to Babylon after it followed Israel's example.

Humanity's fascination with light easily becomes worship of the creation rather than the Creator, because human nature tends that way. Some cultures of the ancient world worshiped the sun and moon: Ur of Babylonia and several Canaanite cities had elaborate systems of moon worship, and the Greek cults, especially those honoring Dionysus and Apollo, made common use of light in their festivals. Those who worship light itself find themselves unknowingly in spiritual darkness, which is spiritual ignorance, because light represents truth. God is the only trustworthy source of true everlasting light, and light is not self-generated. God Himself is light, the Author of it, and the sun, moon, and stars are only His creations, made on the fourth day to rule the day and the night. In the New Jerusalem the redeemed will have no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God and the Lamb will be its light. Properly, then, light exists to reveal and glorify God, and worship belongs to Him alone, not to the lights He made.