Kishon again figures in the narrative of Elijah’s encounter with the false prophets (1 K 18"), The scene of this famous contest is, with tolerable certainty, located at el-Mahrakah, ‘the place of burnt sacrifice,’ a rocky plateau at the eastern end of the Carmel range. ‘Thence the doomed men were led down for slaughter in the Kishon, A
path, steep but practicable, leads to the river just at the base of Zed/ e/-Kassis, ‘hill of the minister,’ or ‘ presbyter.’ prolonge:
* On the very obscure expression O°>)7) ὑπ) (AV, RV ‘that Pen river’; LXX χωμάῤ᾽ους dpyaiwr) see, further, Moore, ad 00.
drought was, of course, dry; but the
The bed of the Kishon after the |
ΞΞΞ--------- “ Ὰ, ΠΤ 8888 τ ὃ ὖ ἷὦθὦὃἢ
KISS 5 down-rush from the coming storm would soon efface all evidence of the prophet’s ghastly work. Close by this hill the grim tragedy was probably enacted. Kishon is not mentioned again in the sacred records, and the name does not occur in Josephus. Eusebiusand Jerome mistakenly describe it as rising on Mount Tabor; 3enjamin of Tudela (A.D. 1173) speaks of jix*p 553 as descending from Mount Carmel. He evidently applies op ὉΠ) (Jg 5") to the Belus, Nahr Naaman, near Acre. , LireRature.—PEF' Mem. ii. 36, 96, etc.; Conder, Tent-Work tn Palestine, 69,97; Thomson, Land and Book, ii. 208-218, 230-234, etc.; G. A. Smith, HGHL 382, 304; Robinson, BRP ili, 228, 232, Later Res. 114, etc.; Macgregor, Rob Roy on the Jordan, 394, 398-404; Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, 336, 339, 395; Maundrell, Early Travels in Palestine (Bohn), 430.
W. EwIne.
KISS (verb, pv:, φιλέω and καταφιλέω; subst. 723, PlAnua).—A mark of affection or favour, given upon the lips, cheek, brow, beard, hand, clothing, even the ground trodden upon, ete., according as it bore less or more of the idea of respect or fear. As a common form of salutation, it had a place in the social life of ancient times, and still has in the East, which it no longer pee in modern European countries, being imited by our latter-day reserve to the more tender relationships of life. The OT affords no phenomena regarding the kiss distinctive from the usages of ancient peoples other than Hebrew: in NT we find one peculiar form (see below, 5). The various circumstances and occasions in which the kiss, in some form or other, finds place may be enumerated as follows :—
1. The kiss as a token of domestic affection. The mother caressing her infant, fondling it with hands or lips, is so natural that probably we need not go further for the origin of kissing: we have, however, no instance of this mentioned in the Bible (but οἵ, 1 K 3), The extension of the kiss to other family relationships (in law and blood alike) is but natural: we may distinguish three cases. (a) Parents kiss their sons and daughters, Gn 3155: 48! (grandchildren), Ru 19. (ὁ) Brothers and sisters kiss each other, Gn 334, Ca 8!; in Gn 294 Jacob kisses Rachel as her cousin ; the male cousin having the same right as the brother (as among the Bedawin, Wetzstein, ZDMG xxii. 93, 108). (ὁ) Children kiss their parents, Gn 278 50! (Joseph kisses his dead father, on which see Schwally, Leben nach d. Tode, p. 8, and ef. the solemn kiss at the end of the orthodox rite of burial [Neale, Holy East. Ch. ii. 104}}}, Ru D4
2. Connected with (a) we have (remembering that the relation of father to child was not without a stern element: in older times he had the power of life and death; see Benzinger, Heb. Archdol. 148) the kiss as a mark of condescension, Ὁ ἃ 15° (Absalom kisses the people) 19% (David kisses Barzillai); the king or prince as father of his people.
3. From (6) we may derive the kiss of friendship. From among brothers the privilege of kissing is sarried into relations outside of the family strictly taken, Gn 29 (Laban and Jacob), To 7° (Raguel and Tobias—cousins once removed); then among friends as such, 1S 20" (Jonathan and David). Meetings and partings were naturally the special occasions for the kiss ;—a fortiori for the family kiss as under 1—1 K 1939, To 1013, Lk 7, Ac 20% ; a still more fitting occasion was the reconciliation of friends, Gn 45", 2S 148, Lk 15%. Here, too, | belongs the false kiss, Pr 27°, Sir 20, Lk 22-45 also the kiss in a metaphorical sense, Ps 85",
Ezk 3" (AVm). ,
4. Again, from (c) we have the kiss as a mark ot respect growing into reverence, 1S 10', Pr 24, Lk 738. >. see also Gn 41” (but ef. Dillmann, Genesis,
| ad loc.) ; ef. the kissing of the royal hand, or the
ὃ KITE
KITTIM
pope’s sandal; slaves kissing the sleeve or skirt of their master, as still in the East; the conquered kissing the conqueror’s feet, or the ground he treads upon (‘licking the dust,’ Ps 72°, Is 49%, Mic 71”). Idols were kissed by their worshippers, 1 K 19%, Hos 18", to which may be sanpararthe kissing of the Black Stone in the Ka’ba at Mecca; towards the heavenly bodies as deities a kiss was thrown with the hand (Job 31”).*
8. In NT and the subsequent usage of the Church we find the kiss as a token of Christian brother- hood: a holy kiss (φίλημα ἅγιον), Ro 16", 1 Co 16”, 2 Co 13%, 1 Th 5%; a kiss of love (φίλημα ἀγάπης), 1 P54. In time this became a regular part of the Church service as the ‘kiss of peace’ (ἀσπασμὸς εἰρήνης, osculum pacis, Const. Apost. li. 57. 12, vill. 5. 5; Tertull, de Orat. 14). At first it was given promiscuously; later the men kissed the men, the women the women.