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Bible Dictionaries
Greetings
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or GREETINGS.—‘To greet’ and ‘to salute’ stand in NT for the same Gr. verb, ἀσπάζεσθαι: Authorized Version renders indifferently ‘greet’ and ‘salute’; Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 almost uniformly ‘salute.’ The exceptions are Acts 20:1 Authorized Version ‘embraced,’ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘took leave of’; Acts 21:6 Authorized Version ‘took leave of,’ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘bade farewell’; Hebrews 11:13 Authorized Version ‘embraced,’ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ‘greeted.’ χαίρειν is used for ‘greeting,’ and in imper. in the sense of ‘hail’ or ‘farewell’; i.e. χαίρειν is the greeting, while ἀσπάζεσθαι is general, circumstances determining in each case what the greeting is. Thus in Mark 15:18 ἤρξαντο ἀσπάζεσθαι αὐτὸν Χαῖρε, ‘they began to salute him, Hail.’
The Oriental has always attached great importance to the formal courtesies of life. However easy in demeanour and free in conversation he may be, the laws regulating social customs, sanctioned only by immemorial usage, are punctiliously observed. Any breach of these is regarded as a grave offence. His honour (sharaf), in all matters of ceremony, is very delicate and brittle, but strangely tough in things of greater moment. He will bear lightly an exposure that would cover us with perpetual shame; treat him with less formal respect than he desires, and he will fall into a paroxysm of rage over his ‘broken honour.’
Greetings vary with the rank of parties, from the abject prostration of the subject before his sovereign, to the familiar kiss of friendly equals. One of humbler station salutes in silence, showing respect by bending his hand to the ground, then touching his lips and forehead. He will, at times, kiss the hand of his superior, and raise it to his brow. One interceding for another (Mark 7:25), or begging a favour (Matthew 18:26; Matthew 18:29), will fall down flat; while in token of utter submission one may kiss a benefactor’s feet (Luke 7:38; Luke 7:45). Slaves or servants kiss the sleeve or skirt of their lord’s clothing. To touch (Matthew 9:20) or kiss the hem of the garment indicates great reverence. Dervishes and other ‘holy men’ are thus saluted. In the Greek Church worshippers often kiss the skirt of the priest’s robe. To kiss upon the cheek is a sign of warm affection (Luke 15:20), of the love and esteem of friends. This stains with a darker infamy the treachery of Judas (Matthew 26:49 etc).
Usually the rider salutes the footman, the traveller those whom he passes on the wayside, the smaller party the larger (one speaking for the rest in each case), and the young the aged. In a crowded street it is, of course, impossible to greet everyone. Only venerable sheikhs, or men distinguished by rank, wealth, or sacred learning, are saluted. The Jews freed the Rabbis from all obligation to salute. To be saluted ‘Rabbi’ was a coveted honour (Matthew 23:7, Mark 12:38). They merely acknowledged the salutation and passed on. The Moslem salutes both on entering (Matthew 10:12) and on leaving a house.
To every form of salutation custom prescribes an answer. To use any other is regarded as proof of ignorance or vulgarity. The common salutation is salâm ‘aleik, ‘peace be upon you’ (Luke 24:36), to which the answer is, ‘And upon you be peace.’ It is a Moslem’s duty to give this salutation to another; but it may be omitted without sin. When, however, the salutation is given, the Moslem is bound to return it. The Moslems claim this as ‘the salutation of Islâm, and not for the mouths of the heathen, with whom is no peace nor fellowship, neither in this world nor in the next’ (Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 503). Once Mr. Doughty was gravely imperilled because he ‘had greeted with Salaam Aleyk, which they [the Arabs] will have to be a salutation of God’s people only—the Moslemîn’ (ib. ii. 369). If a Moslem by mistake give it to a non-Moslem, it should not be returned. On discovery the former may revoke it, as he does should a Moslem fail to return it, saying, ‘Peace be on us and on the righteous worshippers of God’ (Luke 10:6). The insecure life of Hebrew and Arab, ever exposed to alarm of war or robber raid, no doubt gave special meaning to the greeting ‘Peace.’
At meeting of friends, greetings are lengthy and wearisome. Of the Arabs, Doughty observes, ‘The long nomad greetings … are for the most, to say over a dozen times with bashful solemnity the same cheyf ent, cheyf ent, “How dost thou? and how heartily again?” ’ (ib. i. 433). Dr. Mackie gives a good example of the more elaborate trifling of the Syrians (Bible Manners and Customs, p. 150). The phrases are set and conventional, the maximum of words conveying the minimum of meaning.
The Rabbis forbade one mourning for the dead to salute. Interruption of prayer was forbidden, even to salute a king, nay, to uncoil a serpent from the foot. The Rabbis all agreed that, to avoid distraction, no one should be saluted immediately before prayer (Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus, ii. 137). The nature of the salutations indicated above sufficiently explains these restrictions, and also enables us to understand the prohibition of Jesus, ‘Salute no man by the way’ (Luke 10:4). The urgency of that mission could brook no such delays.
W. Ewing.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Greetings'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/g/greetings.html. 1906-1918.
