Kissing is by no means a universal human behavior. Some ethnic groups kiss and some don’t. Take greetings for an example. A lot of the European cultures use some sort of kiss to greet someone. But in African culture kissing is a totally strange activity. This can cause some uncertainty when meeting someone I don’t know. For example, here in Mozambique I will greet a woman in the village by clapping cupped hands lightly together at chest height. But if it’s a woman in the city I might shake her right hand lightly. If she is some sort of government official I probably will just bow slightly. I’ll shake hands with an American woman, but a European or Brazilian expects beixinhos which involve embracing cheek-to-cheek while kissing into the air beside the ear. If I tried to give a village woman a beixinho, she would react with alarm. If I clapped my hands at a Portuguese woman she would probably burst out laughing. So you see it’s not always obvious how to greet someone. Not coming from a kissy culture myself I tend to go for a simple handshake. Thankfully none of these cultures involve men kissing men so at least that’s one greeting that is easy to figure out.
In most of Africa, kissing is an imported activity. Kisses are not used for greetings nor is it an intimate activity between lovers. In ciNyungwe there is no word for kiss at all. So the word we use in our Bible translation is -mpsompsona which means suck or breastfeed. So Judas’ betrayal of Jesus in Luke 22:47-48 comes out sounding something like: “Then Judas went to suck on Jesus. And Jesus said, ‘Judas do you betray the Son of Man by sucking on him?’” If that sounds strange to you, imagine how weird it sounds to someone completely unfamiliar with Biblical culture! In such situations translators have a couple strategies:
- Be more general: “Judas greeted Jesus.”
- Explain: “Judas greeted Jesus by kissing him”
- Translate as directly as possible and use a footnote.
Thanks to Brazilian soap operas, Mozambicans are learning about the practice of kissing as a form of intimacy between lovers. But a man kissing another man as a form of greeting is still pretty foreign to them.
Who kisses whom in the Bible and why
Here’s a quick overview of kissing in the Bible:
As a form of greeting
Jacob kisses his father Isaac (Gen. 27:27). Esau greets his brother Jacob with a kiss (Gen. 33:4). Laban kisses his grandchildren (Gen. 31:55). Naomi kisses her daughters-in-law (Ruth 1:9). The Ephesian believers kiss Paul (Acts 20:37). Four times Paul instructs churches to “greet one another with a holy kiss (Rom. 16:16, 1 Cor. 16:20, 2 Cor. 13:12, 1 Thes. 5:26). Peter instructs believers to “greet one another with a kiss of love” (1 Pet. 5:14).
Paying homage to a god or king
Samuel kisses Saul upon announcing that he will be king (1 Sam. 10:1). God tells Elijah about seven thousand Israelites ”whose mouths have not kissed” Baal (1 Kings 19:18). Kings and rulers of the earth are ordered to “kiss the Son, lest he be angry” (Ps. 2:12). Hosea 13:2 talks about those who “kiss the calf-idols.”
An intimate activity between lovers
An adulterous woman kisses a young man who lacks judgment (Pro. 7:13). The Beloved in the Song of Solomon says of her lover, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” (Song 1:2).
A few mystery kisses
After having looked at these three major types of Biblical kisses. Can you properly identify each of the following kisses?
- Psalm 85:10: “Righteousness and peace kiss each other.”
- Proverb 24:26: “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.”
- Proverb 27:6: “An enemy multiplies kisses.”
- 2 Sam. 20:9: “Then Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.”
- Luke 7:38: “As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.”
A kiss is still a kiss
In Herman Hupfeld’s 1942 song As Time Goes By, Louis Armstrong sings:
You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.
But as we’ve seen in this brief guide to Biblical kissing, a kiss isn’t necessarily a kiss in every culture. Who do you kiss? And what’s the kissing culture like where you live?
Man, what a huge cultural collision! But I can’t imagine that whole sucking imagery making much sense–how do they react to it?
It doesn’t make much sense in English either if you think about it. A reader is right to wonder, “Why did he kiss him?” It was the standard friendly greeting of its day. In essence what Jesus is saying is, “Judas, how can you act like you are giving me a warm greeting when you are actually betraying me to my enemies?”
“Kiss” only works at all in English in this passage because we have at least the notions of (a) kissing as greeting, and perhaps (b) kissing – though usually of rings or feet etc. as a mark of extreme respect – as well as (c) kissing as intimacy.
The sucking thing seems grotesque to me. I can see no justification for it. in cultures with the sort of supporting notions English has, and in a very stilted literal translation you can get away with “kiss” and a footnote. Where those notions are lacking then at most you might in a translation footnote the greeting expression with a sentence or six explaining the ways people in that culture greeted.
Are you revising or replacing an existing translation? If so what on earth HAVE they been making of “sucking” all these years?!
This is a brand new translation–and an excellent one if I say so myself.
Think about it for a minute. How would you say “kiss” if you didn’t have a word for “kiss”?
For the record, the current Nyungwe translation says something like, “Judas came near to Jesus to greet him with a mpsompsono.
I think the traditional way to deal with this problem is to say “suck face”. I have heard this before and frankly I think it gives a much more accurate impression.
Otherwise, I would think it could become known as the sucky translation. Which is at least better than other means of ’suck’.
On the other hand maybe not. I hoe someone comes up with some real life help for you.
Can I delete this – I seem to be having an off day. I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time.
Okay, I am going to try and redeem myself. Here is where I heard the expression ’suck face.’
The film was called On Golden Pond.
This was a heartwarming film about an aging couple at their summer place — retired college professor and avid fisherman Norman Thayer, Jr. (Henry Fonda) had suffered a mild heart attack, which for the first time made his wife Ethel (Katharine Hepburn) realize their mortality. He recovered – and asked Ethel, using slang he had learned from 13 year-old Billy (Doug McKeon): ”Wanna dance or would you rather just suck face?” In a long shot, they leaned in to kiss, but the camera panned away
Suzanne is killing me over here: I’m cracking up.
Which, after reading what I just wrote is a pretty strange image.
I guess I never thought about the kissing thing much because I come from a hispanic culture and we always kiss to say hello—it struck me as obvious and pretty darn foul when Judas kissed him and was betraying him.
Here I am publishing serious academic work and you guys are acting all juvenile! But I did actually provoke Suzanne to comment on my blog which is the first time in … months I think.
Yes, and I went away feeling very foolish too. But I’m laughing alright. Just think what a good deed you performed.
There has just got to be a better way – to translate this I mean – not to kiss.
[...] ponders biblical kissing, and how to explain and translate said activity in a culture (Mozambican) where kissing is a [...]
I know that some blasphemous people have suggested a homosexual relationship between Judas and Jesus. Perhaps they got the idea from the two of them kissing. For in my British culture that is what two men kissing would suggest. That is what happens when people without cultural sensitivity (and that’s most people in western countries) read literal Bible translations.
[...] 24th, 2007 · No Comments My recent post A guide to Biblical kissing was a shameless attempt to bring traffic to my blog. But actually smooching in the Bible [...]
My very limited understanding of kissing is that culture has turned the command to “greet one another with a holy kiss” into a handshake. So to make it relevant to us today if would be Judas shook Jesus’s hand.
With the influx of brazillian soap operas I am sure they are understanding a hand shake more.
Good comments, Carl (Also on technorati). I think Judas’ kiss was more than the normal greeting. Possibly a kiss of respect for his rabbi. And I also wonder if the “holy kiss” of the 1st century was meant as a special greeting just among believers.
At the airport on Saturday I saw a young man approach an older man and lay his cheek on the man’s hand and then kiss it. I’m not sure what their ethnic or religious group was. That could be something like Judas’ kiss.
[...] posts about Biblical kissing: A guide to Biblical kissing, [...]
[...] April 2nd, 2007 · No Comments Brandon Wason has just posted the latest Biblical Studies Carnival at Novum Testamentum Blog. I got a mention for the Guide to Biblical Kissing. [...]
Genesis also has Jacob kissing Rachel, the first kiss between genders.
Genesis 29:11
Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.
And Joseph when he identifies himself to his brothers.
Genesis 45:15
And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them.
Which brings up the question, how often is kissing combined with weeping? And does weeping upon meeting (i.e. Jacob meeting Joseph, Genesis 46:29 – ..As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around him and wept…) include kissing?
ms, that’s really fascinating. I never made the connection.
[...] ever erudite Jonathan Erdman mentioned my Guide To Biblical Kissing in his post More on kissing. In another post, What’s better? Chocolate v. Kissing, [...]
Appropriate kissing?? Is it appropriate to greet others with a kiss and a hug when one spouse doesn’t greet others in this way and voices there opinion to the other?
This sure shows how much work there is left to do
Bob, was that a comma or a period?
confused, sounds like there’s something deeper there than just cultural misunderstanding.
Hey everyone,
Like I said before, I’d like to see two strait brothers who give each other a quick peck on the lips send me a video by e-mail of them doing it. I’d prefer it to have a link to as private of a web site as possible for their own sake so as not to be accused of the wrong thing. I’ll certainly not do so or send it to anyone as I think I’ve stated before. I also prefer a link to a video web site because regular video attachments sent to my e-mail don’t work most times.
Now, what I really wanted to say in this post is this: the statement “Greet one another with a holy kiss isn’t a command except to greet one another. There are cultures such as Russia where men kiss one another on the cheeks. In some or one culture at least, I understand that the kiss is actually more like an American hug except for both cheeks. All that really happens is, the person doing the so-called kiss just kisses the air, makes a kissing sound while they touch cheeks on both sides of them and the other person.
But there are churches right here in the U.S. although few and far between, where they think it’s God’s command to greet with a holy kiss and they think it means for even the men to do it right on the lips although I’ve heard that in at least one church a few kissed on the echeeks.
Like I said, I think it’s possible for two grown men or teen boys or one of each to do this and it be nothing but a greeting just like cheek kissing. I believe even two brothers that fit this description can do this and it not be immoral.
But unfortunately I’ve not really found any coutries where this is the custom although I’ve found a few web sites where people claimed there are countries where this happens, but wehn I contacted English speaking folks from those countries, some even got mad and told me it did NOT happen.
In those churches where they believe men are supposed to kiss on the lips, they don’t believe in video taping their chruch services and I assume they don’t believe in using web cams although they had e-mail. So I couldn’t get them to send me a video of the men in or from any of their chruches kissing. In the two instances I found of two adult strait brothers who said they kissed on the lips, I couldn’t even get an e-mail to go through to the first one so I didn’t get to ask him to send me a video of him and his brohter doing it. Teh second said he couldn’t and woudn’t do it. He didn’t say if he went to a chruch that did that. If I remember, he just said it was a tradition in his family. I think I did ask him if he went to a church that did that. I know I asked him if his country in South Africa did that and he said no.
I’m sorry if I appear obcessed with this because I am. The reason for this is because it’s obviously uncommon for strait men to kiss on the lips in any country evidently, and I’ve searched for it so long.
I became interested in this because I was watchinig a Christian TV news program in which a certain country was being discused. I saw two men embrace each other. When they went into the embrace I thought I saw them quickly kiss on the lips. They backed up from each other a little, but were still hugging. But if they kissed, it happened so fast I wasn’t sure if they did or not.
To begin with, this made me uncomfortable of course. But I took a course several years before this about Bible customs. It said that in Bible times men kissed each other on the lips not as an immoral thing although that happned of course with Sodom, but as a greeting. It was said to be a sign of good will and in my net scouring for it, I also learned it was a sign of equality.
Later on after I started scouring, one night I just happend to be watching a Bible story on TV, not online. It was about David. In the anointing scene after Samuel anoints him, he kisses him once on each cheek, then once on the lips. It was a quick peck but it was long enough where you knew he’d done it.
Again, at first this bothered me somewhat. But the more I thought about all these things, the mroe beautiful these scenes became. In one of my false information sources I found, it said that immediate male family members such as fathers and sons, grown sons, and grown brothers kiss on the lips. But again I was told this doesn’t happen.
Sorry, Darrell, you are looking for something that no one here can help you with. Kissing is a practice with different meanings in different cultures. It would be a misinterpretation to try to state that Christians should greet one another in America by kissing just because it was done in ancient Israel. And frankly your emphasis on men kissing each other sounds like a personal obsession.