1 Kings 19:18 - 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 definitely, so many; or rather, indefinitely, for many thousands; the number seven being often used for a great number. It is, indeed, altogether improbable that all the Israelites, except seven thousand, worshipped Baal, unless Baal stand here for all their idols, and for the calves among the rest. And every mouth that hath not kissed him That is, those who have not worshipped Baal, nor professed reverence or subjection to him, which idolaters did to their idols, by bowing the knee, and by kissing them, or by kissing their hand before them and in respect to them, of which mention is made in Scripture, Job 31:26-27; Hosea 13:2. Compare Psalms 2:12, and in Pliny, Apuleius, and some other profane authors.