Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
SALUTES Matt 10:12. SALUTA'TION. Luke 1:41. The salutations of the Jews were usually of a religious character - at least, in form - and were attended with much ceremony, as they are to this day among the Orientals, even the Bedouins of the desert. " To this last and most common form striking allusion is made by our Saviour. John 14:27; Matt 20:19, Acts 11:26. It passed into the epistolary salutation. Rom 1:7, etc. The time occupied in the ceremonies of salutation, repeatedly bowing, kissing the beard, etc., was often very considerable, Modes of Salutation in the East.
Gen 33:3-4, and hence the caution in 2 Kgs 4:29; Luke 10:4 against saluting.