What Does 2 Samuel 15:5 Mean?
And it was so, that when any man came near to bow down to him, he stretched out his hand, and gripped him, and kissed him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it was so, that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him.THE KEY
The outstretched hand turns a bow of submission into a moment of intimacy, making allegiance feel like welcome.
THE MEANING
The bowed visitor is met with an outstretched hand, drawn close, and kissed. The gesture turns public deference into personal contact, though closeness by itself does not reveal the intention behind it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A kiss does not prove care; intimacy can be used to draw someone’s allegiance.
THE ROOT
נָשַׁק
nashaq
GROWS FROM
נשק
To kiss, making contact with the lips.
“kissed” in this verse is nashaq. The Hebrew keeps the act physical: this is a kiss, a gesture of contact, not a word that guarantees affection. Proverbs uses a form from the same root for kisses that deceive, revealing how intimacy can carry a hidden intention.
ALSO GROWS
neshiqah: A kiss.
נְשִׁיקָה
The noun preserves the same physical gesture named by the verb in this verse.
neshiqot: Kisses.
נְשִׁיקוֹת
This plural form appears in Proverbs’ warning that an enemy’s kisses can deceive.
שָׁלַח
shalach
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send out or extend; by extension, to release or send away.
“stretched out his hand” in this verse is shalach. The hand is described as sent forth, so the motion carries the sense of reaching outward. The same root can describe release, holding together extension and letting go within one word family.
ALSO GROWS
shiluach: A sending away or release.
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch shows that what is sent outward may also be released from one’s grasp.
shaliach: An envoy, one who is sent.
שָׁלִיחַ
The sent person and the sent hand share the root’s movement outward from a source.
THE PATTERN
A gesture of intimacy can carry allegiance while concealing betrayal.
And in this manner Absalom did to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.Steady are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.But Jesus said unto him, Judas, are you handing over the Son of Man with a kiss?THE THREAD
Steady are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.The Hebrew verb translated “kissed” here, נָשַׁק (nashaq), is the root behind Proverbs’ word for “kisses.” The shared root links the physical gesture to the warning that its apparent intimacy does not disclose its intent.
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