And he said, I have been jealous for the Lord God of hosts,
&c.] Through zeal for the glory of God he had slain four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and this had stirred up the malice and revenge of Jezebel against him, who sought his life, and which had obliged him to flee, and come to this place for shelter; this is the first part of his answer, others follow:
for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant;
the law, especially the two first commandments delivered in this very place; and therefore he could hope for no protection from them, but was forced to leave his country:
thrown down thy altars:
which had been built in times past for the worship of God, to sacrifice thereon to him, but were now demolished, that those that would not bow the knee to Baal, and could not go to Jerusalem, might make no use of them:
and slain thy prophets with the sword;
which was done by Jezebel, the Israelites conniving at it, and consenting to it, and not daring to oppose her; slain all she had knowledge of, or even were known by the prophet: hence it follows,
and I, [even] I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away:
all this Elijah said, as it seems, not only to excuse himself for fleeing, and taking up his abode where he was, but to stir up the indignation of God against Israel for their idolatries and murders, and to put him upon inflicting his judgments on them for the same.