3574. And he came near, and kissed him. That this signifies presence and unition, is evident from the signification of “coming near,” as being presence; and from the signification of “kissing,” as being unition or conjunction from affection (n. 3573). That “kissing” has this signification is evident also from the following passages in the Word.

In David:

Serve Jehovah with fear. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, for His anger will soon be kindled. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him (Psalms 2:11-12); where the Lord is treated of, whose Divine Human is the “Son;” to “kiss Him” is to be conjoined with Him through the faith of love. Again:

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Psalms 85:10);

“righteousness and peace have kissed each other” denotes their conjunction together.

In Hosea:

Ephraim spoke horror, and became guilty in Baal; and now they sin more and more and have made them a molten image of their silver, even idols in their own intelligence, all of them the work of the craftsmen; they say to them, Let the sacrificers of men kiss the calves (Hos. 13:1-2);

“Ephraim” denotes intelligence, here, man’s own intelligence, that is, those who believe themselves to be wise, and who desire to be wise, not from the Lord; the “molten image of their silver” denotes good falsified; “all of them the work of the craftsmen” denotes self-intelligence. They who are such are said to “kiss the calves,” that is, to embrace magic and to adjoin themselves thereto. In the first book of Kings:

Jehovah said to Elijah, I have caused to be left seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth that hath not kissed him (1 Kings 19:18); where “to kiss” denotes to join one’s self from affection, thus to worship.