Salutation: "Eastern modes of salutation are not unfrequently so prolonged as to
become wearisome. The profusely polite Arab asks so many questions
after your health, your happiness, your welfare, your house, and other
things, that a person ignorant of the habits of the country would
imagine there must be some secret ailment or mysterious sorrow
oppressing you, which you wished to conceal, so as to spare the
feelings of a dear, sympathizing friend, but which he, in the depth of
his anxiety, would desire to hear of. I have often listened to these
prolonged salutations in the house, the street, and the highway, and
not unfrequently I have experienced their tedious monotony, and I have
bitterly lamented useless waste of time" (Porter, Through Samaria,
etc.). The work on which the disciples were sent forth was one of
urgency, which left no time for empty compliments and prolonged
greetings
(Luke 10:4)
