THE KISS OF DEATH

Showalter explains that in a biblical context, “the kiss appears most frequently as a sign of greeting.” Thus he points to passages such as Genesis 45:15; Exodus 4:27; Luke 15:20; Romans 16:16; I Corinthians 16:20; II Corinthians 13:12; I Thessalonians 5:26; and I Peter 5:14. Ellul says, “The 'holy kiss' (Rom xvi.16; 1 Pet. v. 14), which later entered into the Church's liturgy, was an expression of Christian love and presumably was restricted to one's own sex.”

But that is not by any means the only context in which kisses appear in the Bible. For example, “In the Old Testament, I Samuel 10:1, “kissing 'God's anointed', possibly may be, as Ps. ii.10, a religious or cultic rite analogous to that found among idol cults: to kiss the hand (Jb. xxxi.27), or an image (1 Ki. xix.18; Ho. xiii.2), as an act of religious worship.” (Ellis)

Furthermore, an anonymous writer in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery states that “kissing may represent nothing more than the cynical promises of political campaigning. Absalom's kiss (2 Sam 15:5-6), which stole the hearts of the people of Israel, has its modern counterpart in today's electioneering [often known as baby-kissing]. Such feigned intimacy may or may not deliver the goods.”

And another writer in DBI says, “Every kiss is an outward expression of some sort of intimacy...By far the most common biblical examples of kissing involve the warm emotional embracing of relatives or close friends. These are variously indications of intimacy restored (...Gen 45:15), the intimacy of reconciliation (...Gen 33:4; the prodigal son, Lk 15:20) or intimacy disrupted (Naomi and her daughters-in-law, Ruth 1:9; Paul and the Ephesian elders, Acts 20:37).”

However, since a simple greeting between friends is the usual context, a kiss can also be a perfect screen for some scheme of betrayal as well. Below are some examples of those sort of evil kisses pointed out by Showalter, as well as accompanying comments from scholars on each one. The last three on the list are parallel accounts of the most notorious example of all – Judas' kiss of death.

Genesis 27:26-27

This is the famous story in which Jacob and Rebekeh successfully plot to deceive the blind Isaac into giving the blessing to the younger brother. Kline explains that “Rebekeh's comprehensive deceit was directed to all Isaac's remaining senses, except hearing; but touch, taste and smell silenced his ears.”

The fact that Rebekeh initiated this deception has prompted Payne to write: “Jacob's deceit was perhaps less blameworthy than his mother's but he compounded a direct lie (v. 19) with the near-blasphemous double entendre (v. 19).” That latter refers to his statement in v. 20: “The LORD your God helped me find it.” And Ross expresses Jacob's actions even more strongly: “The first lie ['I am Esau your firstborn'] was enough to deceive, but the second was blasphemy.”

Hamilton: “Isaac's request that his son kiss him may be one last attempt by Isaac to resolve any lingering doubts” as to his identity.

Interestingly, as Schnittjer brings out, “Jacob uses language from the blessing he stole from Esau” in his subsequent blessing on Judah in Genesis 37:8-10.

II Samuel 20:9-10

In this assassination story, Joab uses a greeting kiss in order to get close enough to Amasa to stab him to death. Holladay points out that the greeting used means literally, “Is it peace to you?” Thus, we see a possible ironic twist to the common phrase in this particular case.

“Judas' kiss (Lk 22:47), like Joabs's sham overture that hoodwinked the unwary Amasa (2 Sam 20:10), was the ultimate in treachery, violating all propriety and social conventions.” (DBI)

As to Joab's motive for this murder, Baldwin explains that he “had his own reason for wanting to eliminate Amasa, the cousin who had been promoted in his place. Posing as a friend, he treacherously killed his rival (cf. 2 Sa 3:27).”

D.R. Davis outlines the action as follows:

    A. Pursuing after Sheba (7)

        B. Amasa appears (8a)

            C. Joab's wardrobe (8b)

                D. Detail about sword (8c)

            C. Joab's greeting (9)

                D. Detail about sword (10a)

            C. Joab's blow (10b)

        B. Amasa dies (10c)

    A. Pursuing after Sheba (10d)

Personally, I feel that this does not do enough justice to the parallels in this narrative. My own preference for the center section is as follows:

        B. Amasa appears (8a)

                C. Joab drops sword (8b-c)

                        D. Joab's greeting (9)

                C. Joab has a sword (10a)

        B'. Amasa is killed (10b-c)

There is some controversy as to how many swords Joab had, either one or two. If it was two, then Joab let one fall so that Amasa would not be on his guard. If it was only one, then the second “C” section above could be labeled “Joab picks up his sword” instead. Tsumura, for one, is satisfied with either scenario and feels that it really makes no difference to the story. In either case, Joab's actions were obviously carefully planned ahead of time.

Proverbs 27:6

This simple poetic couplet can be diagrammed as seen below:

        “Faithful are

                the wounds of

                        a friend;

        Profuse are

                the kisses of

                        an enemy.”

“Wounds and kisses might be some sort of contrast, as they are opposite kinds of physical contact between persons. However, in this proverb friends are making wounds and enemies are giving kisses. Surely something other than concrete kisses and wounds are being considered here. How is it that faithfulness can be a property of a wound or deceitfulness a characteristic of kisses? The answer lies in the figurative uses of the words in Proverbs 27:6.” (Mouser)

Waltke elaborates by first translating the second line as: “but the kisses of an enemy are excessive” and admits that the “meaning of n'trwt is uncertain...The versets of this antithetical proverb present two oxymorons, 'friendly wounds' and 'wounding kisses..'” He explains the first phrase as “a metaphor for the painful and plain words that must be spoken in a true friendship in order to heal the beloved and/or to restore a broken relationship.” By contrast, the second phrase “denotes one who detests, abhors, despises, disdains another...The deceiving element is already contained in the oxymoron 'kisses of a hating one.'”

Matthew 26:48-49

C.J. Collins likens Judas' kiss in this passage (and parallels) to II Samuel 20:9. In addition, you may note the prominent mention of “swords” both before and after the kiss in both Matthew and II Samuel.

And Blomberg states, “As the events are set in motion leading to Jesus' arrest, Judas' traitorous kiss (26:49) illustrates Prov. 27:6.”

“Judas's kiss of friendship, perhaps an unusually elaborate welcome on this occasion, heightens his treachery...with this approach he may be trying to avert any hostile uprising by the rest of the disciples.” (Borchert)

Albright and Mann bring up another interesting aspect to Judas' action: “Moses Aberback has pointed out that in any group of teacher and disciples the disciple was never permitted to greet his teacher first, since this implied equality. Judas' sign, therefore, was not only a final repudiation of his relationship with Jesus and a signal to the mob, but also a studied insult. We may have an indication in the Johannine account (John xviii 4ff.), which does not mention the kiss, that those who accompanied Judas were taken aback even at this stage by the treachery of a onetime disciple.”

Regarding Christ's reply to Judas in verse 50, France says, “This form of address is peculiar to Matthew in the NT; cf. 20:13; 22:12. In each case there is an element of reproach and of distance which is hard to reproduce in any accepted English idiom. 'My friend,' taken in its lexical sense, is too warm and welcoming, but we do sometimes use it in this rather formal way to address someone who is not in fact a friend at all. In all three Matthean uses it 'denotes a mutually binding relation between the speaker and the hearer which the latter has disregarded and scorned' (K.H. Rengstorf)...R.E. Brown...stresses the ironic function of the term here and in its other Matthean uses.”

Mark 14:45-46

Marcus, in contradiction to Albright and Mann, feels that at this time kissing between a follower and teacher was normal. Thus, “Luke 7:45 seems to presuppose the formal greeting kiss...The later rabbinic strictures against kissing, moreover, are directed against contemporary customs and thus are a witness to the very thing they oppose. The greeting kiss, then, was not unusual in Jesus' world.”

Mann notes that “all in the Markan account is subservient to a stark brevity...Apart from Jesus there are no names – a fact which led some manuscripts to add the name of Judas again in v. 44.”

Luke 22:47-48

Ellis says, “In contrast to Mark (and probably using another tradition), Luke subordinates the action to the teaching words of Jesus. His poignant question to Judas (47ff.), his rebuke – in word and deed – to the disciple (51), and his interpretation of the arrest (52f.) climax the three parts of the episode. All are Lukan and the meaning that the event has for Luke's theme.”

In Jesus' rhetorical question ('Judas, are you betraying the Son of man with a kiss?'), “He for the last time tries to bring him to his senses and to a realization of his terrible conduct, so that he may still come to true repentance in time.” (Geldenhuys)

Although Mark and Matthew say that Judas actually kissed Jesus, Luke does not. Craddock notes that “an enemy comes with a kiss and a friend with a sword; things are not always what they seem. But Jesus sees through it all, stops both the kiss and the sword, and confronts his captors with the truth.

Marshall feels: “It would be wiser to say that in Lk. the question [regarding the difference between the two forms of “kiss” in the Gospels] is left open.” And finally, he cites as other examples of misuse of a kiss Genesis 27:46-47; II Samuel 15:5; Proverbs 7:13; 27:6; Sir[ach] 29:5; “and especially” II Samuel 20:9.

All the biblical citations above have already been discussed except for Proverbs 7:13, a passage in which a prostitute lures an naive lad into her clutches by giving him a kiss.

John's Account

“Some have questioned the historicity of the Judas kiss because of its absence from John. Stahlin, however, points out that the Fourth Gospel's stress on Jesus' sovereignty provides a plausible motive for omission: by announcing 'I am he' (John 18:5-6) Jesus identifies himself rather than being singled out by Judas' kiss.” (Marcus)