Yet I reserved seven thousand in Israel, all the knees of which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 18. Will leave. Hebrew also, “I have left,” as Romans 11:4. Septuagint “thou shalt leave.” Bible.—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. Bible.—Seven is often put for a great number. Proverbs 24:16. Yet some suppose, ( Calmet.) that only this number served God out of 1,110,000 men in Israel. 1 Chronicles 21:5. Grotius, and so forth—Hands. To this custom the word adore owes it rise. Bible.—The pagans kissed their right-hand, or the statue itself, when they could reach it, to testify their veneration. Inter adorandum, dexteram ad osculum referimus. Pliny xxviii. 2. Cicero (in Verse 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 18:2. Calmet.—Job 31:27. Menochius.