Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
Stood at his feet behind him - In taking their meals, the eastern people reclined on one side; the loins and knees being bent to make the more room, the feet of each person were turned outwards behind him. This is the meaning of standing Behind at his Feet.
Began to wash his feet with tears - - , She began to water his feet - to let a shower of tears fall on them. As the Jews wore nothing like our shoes, (theirs being a mere sole, bound about the foot and ancle with thongs), their feet being so much exposed had frequent need of washing, and this they ordinarily did before taking their meals.
Kissed his feet - With affectionate tenderness, , or kissed them again and again. See on Matthew 26:48 (note).
The kiss was used in ancient times as the emblem of love, religious reverence, subjection, and supplication. It has the meaning of supplication, in the way of adoration, accompanied with subjection, in I Kings 19:18, Whose mouths have not kissed Baal; and in Job 31:27, My mouth hath not kissed my hand; I have paid no sort of adoration to false gods; and in Psalms 2:12, Kiss the Son lest he be angry, - close in with him, embrace affectionately, the offers of mercy made unto you through Christ Jesus, lest he (the Lord) be angry with you, and ye perish: which commandment this woman seems to have obeyed, both in the literal and spiritual sense. Kissing the feet was practised also among the heathens, to express subjection of spirit, and earnest supplication. See a long example in Raphelius, produced from Polybius, concerning the Carthaginian ambassadors when supplicating the Romans for peace. With an humble and abject mind, , they fell down on the earth, ͅ ͅ , and kissed the feet of the council. See also several examples in Kypke. Kissing the feet is a farther proof that this person had been educated a heathen. This was no part of a Jew' s practice.
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