1 Kings iv. 5. v. 14.ADORE. This word, taken in the literal and etymological meaning of it, borrowed from the Latin, signifies properly to carry to one’s mouth, to kiss one’s hand, or to kiss something, but with a sense of Veneration Job xxxi. 26, 27.and Worship. If I beheld the Sun when it shined, or the Moon walking in brightness, and my mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were Iniquity, that is to say, if I have adored them by kissing my hand at the sight of them. And in the book of 1 Kings xix. 18.Kings, 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. Minutius Felix1 says, that as Cæcilius pass’d before the statue of Serapis, he kissed his hand, as is the custom of superstitious People. They who adore are used to kiss their hands, says St. Jerom2, and to bow down their heads, and the Hebrews, according to the propriety of their Language, put Kissing for Adoration; for this reason it is said, Kiss the Son, lest he Ps. ii. 12.be angry, and ye perish from the right way, that is to say, Adore the Son, and submit to his empire. And Pharaoh speaking to Joseph, And according unto thy word shall Gen. xli. 40. Ch. xviii. 2.all my People kiss, Receive your orders as the commands of God or the King. The word Adore in Scripture is taken not only for that Worship and Adoration which is due to God only, but likewise for those marks of outward respect which are paid to Kings, great Men, and superior Persons. In Adoration of both kinds Men bowed their bodies very low, and often threw themselves prostrate on the Earth to demonstrate their respect. Abraham, prostrate upon the ground, adored the three Angels who appear’d to him under a human form at Mamre. Lot adored them3 in the same manner upon their arrival at Gen. xix. 1. Acts xxvii. 27. Rev. viii. 10, 11.Sodom. It is very probable that neither of them at first sight took them for any other than Men. Abraham adored the People of Ch. xxiii. 7.Hebron, Adoravit populum terræ; he fell prostrate before them, entreating them to sell him a Burying-place for Sarah. The Israelites understanding that Moses was sent by God to deliver them from their servitude in Egypt, bowed their heads and worshipped Ex. iv. 31.the Lord. It is needless to multiply Examples of this way of speaking, they are to be met with in almost every page of Scripture.
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