Meaning
(1) of relatives (which seems the origin of the practice of kissing; compare So 8:1, "Oh that thou wert as my brother .... I would kiss thee; yea, and none would despise me"); Gen 27:26, Gen 27:27 (Isaac and Jacob); 29:11 (Jacob and Rachel); 33:4 (Esau and Jacob); 45:15 (Joseph and his brethren); 48:10 (Jacob and Joseph's sons); 50:1 (Joseph and his father); Ex 4:27 (Aaron and Moses); 18:7 (Moses and Jethro, united with obeisance); Rth 1:9, Rth 1:14 (Naomi and her daughters-in-law-a farewell); 2Sa 14:33 (David and Absalom); 1Ki 19:20 (Elisha and his parents-a farewell); see also Gen 29:13, Gen 31:28, Gen 31:55, Tobit 7:6, 10:12;.
(2) Of friendship and affection; compare 1Sa 20:41 (David and Jonathan); 2Sa 15:5 (Absalom and those who came to him); 19:39 (David and Barzillai-a farewell); 20:9 (Joab and Amasa); Pr 27:6 ("the kisses (neshiqah) of an enemy"); Esdras 4:47 ("the king stood up, and kissed him").
(3) Of love; compare So 1:2, "Let him kiss me with the kisses (neshiqah) of his mouth"; Pr 7:13 (of the feigned love of "the strange woman").
(4) Of homage, perhaps; compare 1Sa 10:1 (Samuel after anointing David king); Ge 41:40, "Unto thy word shall all my people be ruled," the Revised Version margin "order themselves," or "do homage," the King James Version margin "Hebrew be armed or kiss" (nashaq); Ps 2:12, "Kiss the son" (American Standard Revised Version), the English Revised Version margin "Some versions render, `Lay hold of (or receive) instruction'; others, `Worship in purity' "; some ancient versions give `Kiss (or, do homage) purely.'
(5) Of idolatrous practices; compare 1Ki 19:18, Hos 13:2 (compare 8:5,6; 10:5); Job 31:27, probably, "kissing the hand to the sun or moon" (compare 31:26,27). See ADORATION.
(6) A figurative use may be seen in Psa 85:10, Pro 24:26, Eze 3:13, where "touched" is nashaq (see the King James Version margin).
(7) In Additions to Esther 13:13 we have "I could have been content .... to kiss the soles of his feet," and in Eccl 29:5, "Till he hath received, he will kiss a man's hands"-marks of self-humiliation or abasement.
In the New Testament we have phileo, "to kiss," "to be friendly," and kataphileo, "to kiss thoroughly," "to be very friendly"-the first in Mat 26:48, Mar 14:44, Luk 22:47, of the kiss with which Judas betrayed his Master. This was probably meant to be taken as an expression of special regard, which is expressed by the kataphileo of Mat 26:49, Mar 14:45; the same word is used of the woman who kissed the feet of Christ (Luk 7:38, Luk 7:45); of the father's greeting of the returning prodigal (Lu 15:20); and of the farewell to Paul of the Ephesian Christians (Ac 20:37); philema, "a kiss," "a mark of friendship," is used by our Lord as that which Simon omitted to give him (which may refer to ordinary hospitality), but which the woman had bestowed so impressively (Lu 7:45); of the kiss of Judas (Lu 22:48); and of the "holy kiss" wherewith Christians greeted each other, which, according to the general usage we have seen, would be as the members of one family in the Lord, or as specially united in holy love (Rom 16:16, 1Co 16:20, 2Co 13:12, 1Th 5:26, 1Pe 5:14). There is reason to believe that, as a rule, men only thus greeted men, and women, women. In the Apostolical Constitutions (3rd century) it is so enjoined.
W. L. Walker
