Luke 7:45

Thou gavest me no kiss, &c.— Since it was customary for the master of the house to receive his guests with such a salutation, to provide them with water to wash their feet, &c. it is possible that Simon might have omitted some of these civilities, lest his brethren who sat at table with him should think he paid Jesus too much respect; and if there was any such slight intended, it might be an additional reason for our Lord's taking such particular notice of the neglect. The author of the Observations remarks, that our Lord reproaches the Pharisee that he had given him no kiss; whereas the person whom the Pharisee had been censuring in his heart, had not ceased kissing his feet from her entrance into the house. It is visible by the contrast which our Lord here supposes, between the woman's kisses and the attention he had reason to expect from the Pharisee, that he did not look for his kissing his feet, but for some other salutation. But what?—Not the kisses of equality most certainly, but rather that kissing his hand, which marks our reverence,—the reverence customarilypaid in the east to those of a sacred character, and which, contrary to the rules of decorum, he had omitted. Thus Norden tells us, that a Coptic priest, whom they took in their bark from the neighbourhood of Cairo a considerable way up the Nile, carried it pretty high, insomuch that he dared to tell them more than once, that he could not take them for Christians, since not one of their company had offered to kiss his hands; whereas the Coptics ran every day in crowds round him, to shew their respect by such marks of submission. And at Saphet in Galilee, where the Jews have a sort of university, Dr. Pocock saw the inferior rabbies complimenting the chief, who was elegantly habited in white satin on the day of Pentecost, by coming with great reverence, and kissing his hand. See Observations, p. 262.