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Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

1 Kings 19:18

Yet I have left me ... - Rather, as in the margin. “Seven thousand” faithful Israelites shall survive all the persecutions of Ahab and Jezebel, and carry down the worship of Yahweh to another generation. Elijah is mistaken in supposing that he only is left. The number is manifestly a “round” number, not an exact estimate. Perhaps it is, moreover, a mystical or symbolic number. Compare Revelation 7:5. Of all the symbolic numbers used in Scripture, seven is the most common.

Every mouth which hath not kissed him - Idolaters sometimes kissed the hand to the object of their worship Job 31:26; at other times they kissed the actual image (marginal reference).

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See also 1 Kings 19:18 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 1 Kings 19:18. _SEVEN THOUSAND IN ISRAEL_] That is, _many_ thousands; for _seven_ is a number of perfection, as we have often seen: so, _The_ _barren has borne seven _- has had a _numerous_ off...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    3. ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS AND UPON MOUNT HOREB CHAPTER 19 _ 1. Elijah's flight and despondency (1 Kings 19:1)_ 2. Upon Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:9) 3. Elisha called (1 Kings 19:10) Elijah

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    1 Kings 19:1. ELIJAH'S FLIGHT TO HOREB. HIS COMMISSION. Jezebel, it will be noticed, can do no more than threaten Elijah: her power is limited. Elijah escapes to the southern extremity of Judah, to Be...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    I HAVE LEFT, &C. Romans 11:4. BOWED. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Adjunct), KISSED. for worshipping. Compare Hos 3:12. KISSED HIM. Hebrew kissed to him. Compare Job 31:26; Job 31:27....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _Yet I have left_me] R.V. (and margin of A. V.) YET WILL I LEAVE ME. And this is not only required by the Hebrew words, but for a true conception of the sense of the passage. Elijah had been witness o...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 348 A REMNANT IN THE WORST OF TIMES 1 Kings 19:18. _Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him._ W...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    AND EVERY MOUTH WHICH HATH NOT KISSED HIM— This verse seems to be inserted to correct Elijah's mistaken opinion, that he alone remained a worshipper of Jehovah. Kissing the image of a false god, or ki...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    B. ELIJAH'S REASSURANCE FROM GOD 19:9-18 TRANSLATION (9) And he came there unto the cave, and lodged there. And behold the word of the LORD came unto him, and He said to him, What are you doing here,...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, THAT HIM THAT ESCAPETH THE SWORD OF HAZAEL SHALL JEHU SLAY: AND HIM THAT ESCAPETH FROM THE SWORD OF JEHU SHALL ELISHA SLAY._ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THESE VERSES....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    ELIJAH AT HOREB 2. Then Jezebel sent, etc.] Her religious feelings as a votary of Baal and her dignity as the queen had both been outraged by the prophet, and she at once sought revenge....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    I HAVE LEFT] better, 'I will leave' Elijah was mistaken in thinking that he was the only survivor of the Lord's loyal servants. Jehovah's cause' was not desperate because His prophet had fled from the...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOD’S LESSONS FROM HISTORY 1 KINGS _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 19 GOD SPEAKS TO ELIJAH AT *MOUNT SINAI V1 Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done. He also told her that Elijah had killed al...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    I HAVE LEFT. — It should be “I leave, or “will leave,” through all this vengeance, the seven thousand faithful; like the faithful remnant sealed in the visions of Ezekiel and St. John in the day of Go...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וְ הִשְׁאַרְתִּ֥י בְ יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל שִׁבְעַ֣ת אֲלָפִ֑ים...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    APPOINTING JEHOVAH'S INSTRUMENTS 1 Kings 19:15 Elijah was never reinstated in quite the position that he had occupied before his fatal flight. True, he was bidden to return, and work was given him to...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The slaughter of the prophets of Baal aroused the ire of Jezebel to such a degree that she sent a direct message full of fury to Elijah. There is no escaping the sadness of his attitude on receiving t...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Yet I have left [me] seven thousand in Israel, (h) all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. (h) He declares that wicked deceivers and idolaters are not...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    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 shou...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (14) And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I,...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    The days were very dark in Israel. Not only rebellion. And rebellion, always serious, was peculiarly so in Israel, for there it was insubordination in a direct manner against not only God's providence...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Until now the prophet had stood before Jehovah (1 Kings 17:1; 1 Kings 18:15) and had spoken in His name; but now, terrified by the threats of Jezebel, he flees from the dangers of the place into which...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    YET I HAVE LEFT ME SEVEN THOUSAND IN ISRAEL,.... From perishing by the sword of either of them: ALL THE KNEES WHICH HAVE NOT BOWED TO BAAL; that is, had not worshipped him, which was signified by thi...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Yet I have left [me] seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. Ver. 18. _Yet I have left me seven thousand._] See on 1 Kings 1...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Yet have I left me_, &c. Or, I have reserved to myself; I have by my grace kept from the common contagion: therefore thou art mistaken in thinking that thou art left alone. _Seven thousand_ Either de...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 Eliiah threatned by Iezebel, fleeth to Beersheba, 4 In the wildernesse being wearie of his life, is comforted by an Angel. 9 At Horeb God appeareth vnto him, sending him to anoint Hazael, Iehu, an...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him; for it was customary to kiss the statues of the idols. So Elijah w...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Elijah Receives the Lord's Commission...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    ELIJAH FLEEING FROM JEZEBEL (vs.1-10) When Ahab informed his wife Jezebel of Elijah's having brought down the fire of God to consume his sacrifice, of the slaughter of the prophets of Baal and the an...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    I HAVE LEFT: Or, I will leave...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    14-18 God repeated the question, What doest thou here? Then he complained of his discouragement; and whither should God's prophets go with their complaints of that kind, but to their Master? The Lord...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    I HAVE LEFT, or, _I have reserved to myself_; I have by my grace kept from the common contagion; therefore thou art mistaken to think that thou art left alone, or that the people are universally corru...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    1 Kings 19:18 reserved H7604 (H8689) seven H7651 thousand H505 Israel H3478 knees H1290 bowed H3766 (H8804) Baal...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    DEPRESSED AT WHAT APPEARED TO BE FAILURE ELIJAH FLEES TO THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD IN HOREB (SINAI) AND IS SUSTAINED AND RECOMMISSIONED BY YHWH (1 KINGS 19:1). Exultant because the battle appeared almost wo...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: God's care of His overwrought prophet. Call of Elisha. CHARACTERS: God, Elijah, Jezebel, Elisha. CONCLUSION: Even though we faint in our faith, God abideth faithful. The best thing for a d...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    1 Kings 19:2. _Jezebel_ swore to destroy Elijah. Ahab would perhaps have received the prophet as his monitor and guide, had it not been for this woman, now given over to a reprobate mind. 1 Kings 19:1...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel._ THE UNKNOWN QUANTITY We cannot know what a man is merely by what he does. He may be a painter showing to us his pictures; that sight gives no idea as to...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _And He said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord._ ELIJAH’S VISION I. The man himself. A great craggy soul that towers above the men of his age--his head wreathed in the glories of h...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _He arose and went for his life._ THE FLIGHT INTO THE WILDERNESS This is a sad sequel to the triumph on Mount Carmel. Elijah had forgotten Jezebel. Not present herself on Mount Carmel, she had receiv...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    1 KINGS—NOTE ON 1 KINGS 19:1 Elijah has won a mighty battle on the mountain, but a stronger opponent than Ahab awaits him: Queen Jezebel. ⇐...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    1 KINGS—NOTE ON 1 KINGS 19:15 GO, RETURN ON YOUR WAY TO THE WILDERNESS OF DAMASCUS. Elijah must now return to northern Syria-Palestine and ANOINT HAZAEL, JEHU, and...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    ELIJAH DEJECTED, REPROVED, AND ENCOURAGED CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.— 1 Kings 19:2. SO LET THE GODS DO TO ME—The pl. אֱלֹהִימ is used commonly for GOD, Jehovah; but here appears for Jezebel’s i...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION ELIJAH'S FLIGHT THE THEOPHANY OF HOREB AND THE CALLING OF ELISHA.—We can readily understand with what a sense of humiliation and shame the weak and excited king, who must have been awed and...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    So Ahab told his wife Jezebel the whole story of what had happened, what Elijah did, and how he killed all of her prophets with the sword. And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, and she said, So let...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Exodus 20:5; Hosea 13:2; Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 10:20; Isaiah 49:23;...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    ELIJAH FLEEING FOR HIS LIFE 1 Kings 19:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS 1. The story of the slaughter of the prophets of Baal. The people fell on their faces as soon as they saw that God consumed the sacrifice...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    I have left — Or, I have reserved to myself; I have kept from the common contagion: therefore thou art mistaken to think that thou art left alone. Seven thousand — Either, definitely so many: or rathe...

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