But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
The apostle proposes here a plausible objection, which might be urged against the divine conduct in casting off the Jewish nation (Rom 11:1): "Hath God cast away his people? Is the rejection total and final? Are they all abandoned to wrath and ruin, and that eternal?
Commenting on Romans 11:1-32
But what saith the answer of God unto him?.... The divine response, or oracle, the , "Bath Kol", or voice from heaven; the still small voice of the Lord, which Elijah heard, Kg1 19:12, I have reserved to myself; for his worship and service, to be partakers of his grace, inheritors of his kingdom, to show forth his praise, and for his name's sake, for...
Verse 4. The answer of God, (οχρηματισμος). This word is used nowhere else in the New Testament. It means, an oracle, a divine response. It does not indicate the manner in which it was done, but implies only that it was an oracle, or answer made to his complaint by God. Such an answer, at such a time, would be full of comfort, and silence every murmur.