Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.
All Commentaries on 1 Kings 19:18 Go To 1 Kings 19
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Will leave. Hebrew also, "I have left "as Romans xi. 4. Septuagint, "thou shalt leave. "(Haydock)
After answering the first part of the prophet's complaint, and informing him that the guilty should not pass unpunished, God lets him know that he is not left alone, but that many thousands (Calmet) even in Israel still continue faithful; so far was the true Church from being in danger of perishing entirely. (Haydock)
Seven is often put for a great number, Proverbs xxiv. 16. Yet some suppose, (Calmet) that only this number served God out of 1,110,000 men in Israel, 1 Paralipomenon xxi. 5. (Grotius)
Hands. To this custom the word adore owes it rise. (Haydock)
The pagans kissed their right-hand, or the statue itself, when they could reach it, to testify their veneration. Inter adorandum, dexteram ad osculum refer Imus. (Pliny, xxviii. 2.) Cicero (in Ver. 4.) mentions a beautiful statue of Hercules, the cheeks and beard of which had been rather worn with kissing; non solum id venerari, sed etiam osculari solent. See Genesis xviii. 2. (Calmet)
Job xxxi. 27. (Menochius)
