Kiss
The kiss in Scripture is a gesture exchanged between fathers and sons, kin and kin, friend and friend, prophet and successor, and church member and church member. It marks reunion and parting, blessing and anointing, repentance and pardon. It also serves as a cover for treachery, the most familiar shape of the false kiss being a sword in the hand or a betrayal at the gate.
A Gesture of Family Affection and Blessing
Within the patriarchal narratives the kiss accompanies the giving and the receiving of blessing. Isaac calls his son near for the act before he speaks the blessing over him: "And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son" (Gen 27:26). When Jacob comes near, "he came near, and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which [the Speech of] Yahweh has blessed" (Gen 27:27). The same gesture closes a household's life together: Laban, before parting from his daughters and grandchildren, "rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed and returned to his place" (Gen 31:55). Years later the aging Israel kisses the sons of Joseph as he draws them in to bless them: "And he brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them" (Gen 48:10).
The kiss also belongs to first meetings between kin. Jacob's first sight of Rachel at the well is sealed this way: "And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept" (Gen 29:11). Moses receives his father-in-law in the wilderness with the same courtesy: "And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him: and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent" (Exod 18:7).
Reunion and Reconciliation
When estranged kin come back together, the kiss is the sign that the breach has closed. Esau, meeting the brother who once cheated him, "ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept" (Gen 33:4). Joseph, having revealed himself to the brothers who sold him, "kissed all his brothers, and wept on them: and after that his brothers talked with him" (Gen 45:15). David receives back the rebellious son this way: when Absalom "bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and the king kissed Absalom" (2Sam 14:33). The same king kisses the aged friend who had carried him through exile: "the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned to his own place" (2Sam 19:39).
The Lord uses the gesture as the picture of God's welcome of the returning sinner. The father in the parable, seeing his son still a long way off, "ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him" (Luke 15:20). The forgiven woman, in turn, expresses her repentance by directing the gesture downward, to the feet of Jesus: "and standing behind at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment" (Luke 7:38).
Parting and Death
The kiss closes relationships that the next sunrise will end. Orpah, choosing to turn back rather than follow Naomi, takes her leave with one: "and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth stuck to her" (Ruth 1:14). David and Jonathan, knowing they will not meet again as they have, weep over each other in the field: "they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded" (1Sam 20:41). Elisha, called away from the plow to follow the prophet, asks for the gesture as a leave-taking from his parents: "Let me, I pray you, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you" (1Ki 19:20). When Jacob dies, Joseph "fell on his father's face, and wept on him, and kissed him" (Gen 50:1).
The Anointing Kiss
When Samuel privately consecrates Saul to be the first king, the kiss seals the act of anointing: "Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not that Yahweh has anointed you to be leader over his inheritance?" (1Sam 10:1).
The Deceitful Kiss
The same gesture, set against its meaning, becomes a mark of treachery. Solomon names this directly: "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; But the kisses of an enemy are profuse" (Prov 27:6). Joab supplies the model. Pretending the courtesy of brothers, "Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he struck him with it in the body, and shed out his insides to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died" (2Sam 20:9-10).
The deepest instance is Judas in the garden, where the sign of love is set as the signal for arrest. Jesus names what is happening: "Judas, do you deliver up the Son of Man with a kiss?" (Luke 22:48).
The Holy Kiss in the Churches
In the apostolic letters the kiss reappears as a settled congregational practice. Paul instructs the Romans, "Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you⁺" (Rom 16:16). The same charge closes the Corinthian correspondence: "All the brothers greet you⁺. Greet one another with a holy kiss" (1Cor 16:20); "Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you⁺" (2Cor 13:12). To the Thessalonians: "Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss" (1Thess 5:26). Peter writes the same to a wider readership, naming the affection that gives the gesture its character: "Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to all of you⁺ who are in Christ" (1Pet 5:14).