dance Summary and Overview

found in Judg. 21:21, 23; Ps. 30:11; 149:3; 150:4; Jer. 31:4, 13, etc., as the translation of "hul", which points to the whirling motion of Oriental sacred dances. It is the rendering of a word (rakad') which means to skip or leap for joy, in Eccl. 3:4; Job 21:11; Isa. 13:21, etc. In the New Testament it is in like manner the translation of different Greek words, circular motion (Luke 15:25); leaping up and down in concert (Matt. 11:17), and by a single person (Matt. 14:6). It is spoken of as symbolical of rejoicing (Eccl. 3:4. Compare Ps. 30:11; Matt. 11: 17). The Hebrews had their sacred dances expressive of joy and thanksgiving, when the performers were usually females (Ex. 15:20; 1 Sam. 18:6). The ancient dance was very different from that common among Western nations. It was usually the part of the women only (Ex. 15:20; Judg. 11:34; compare 5:1). Hence the peculiarity of David's conduct in dancing before the ark of the Lord (2 Sam. 6:14). The women took part in it with their timbrels. Michal should, in accordance with the example of Miriam and others, have herself led the female choir, instead of keeping aloof on the occasion and "looking through the window." David led the choir "uncovered", i.e., wearing only the ephod or linen tunic. He thought only of the honour of God, and forgot himself. From being reserved for occasions of religious worship and festivity, it came gradually to be practised in common life on occasions of rejoicing (Jer. 31:4). The sexes among the Jews always danced separately. The daughter of Herodias danced alone (Matt. 14:6).

DANCE . The Jewish dances were generally expressions of joy and gratitude, sometimes in honor of a conqueror, Jud 11:34; 1 Sam 18:6-7, and sometimes on domestic occasions. Jer 31:4, 2 Kgs 11:13; Luke 15:25. The dance was also introduced into the religious service, and the timbrel (tambourine) was employed to direct it. Some individual led, and the rest followed with measured steps and devotional songs. Thus, David and Miriam led such a band. 2 Sam 6:14; Ex 15:20. Individuals often expressed feelings of joy in the same way. Luke 6:23; Acts 3:8. Dancing was practised from a very early period as a natural exercise and amusement. Job 21:11; Mark 6:22. But the mingling of males and females which is so common in modern dances was unknown to the Jews. Indeed, the dancing was mostly done by the women alone, as is still the case in Egypt. A Hebrew word, mahhol, which occurs in some passages -e.g. Ps 150:4-and is rendered "dance" in our version, is supposed by some scholars to mean a musical instrument.

machol, literally, moving or leaping in a circle. Gesenius however translates machalath "a stringed instrument," and machol "dancing" Mendelssohn makes machol, "a hollow musical instrument" (Psalm 150:4, margin) Expressing joy, as contrasted with mourning (Ecclesiastes 3:4; Psalm 30:11). The woman nearest of kin to the champion in some national triumph or thanksgiving, and who had a kind of public character with her own sex, led a choir of women; as Miriam (Exodus 15:1-20) (while Moses led the men), Jephthah's daughter (Judges 11:34), Deborah (Judges 5) (while Barak led the men). Some song or refrain in antiphonal answer. forming the burden of the song, accompanied the dance (Exodus 32:18-19; 1 Samuel 18:7; 1 Samuel 21:11). The women are represented as "coming out" to do this and meet the hero. Miriam went out before "Jehovah, the Man of war" (Exodus 15:3; Exodus 15:20-21), and answered the entire chorus. But the women glorifying Saul and David, having no leader, "answered one another." The special feature of David's conduct before the returning ark (2 Samuel 6:5-22) is that he was choir leader, the women with their timbrels (2 Samuel 6:5; 2 Samuel 6:19-20; 2 Samuel 6:22) taking a prominent part. Michal ought to have led them; but jealousy of David's other wives, married while she was with Phaltiel, and attachment to the latter (2 Samuel 3:15-16), and the feeling that David's zeal rebuked her apathy, led her to "come out to meet" him with sneers not songs. The dance necessitated his taking off his royal upper robes to "dance with all his might." This she called "uncovering himself in the eyes of the handmaids." His leading thought was to do honor to God who had delivered him from all his enemies (1 Chronicles 13:8; 1 Chronicles 13:16; 2 Samuel 6:21-23). Enthusiasm was kindled by these religious dances, which enlisted at once the tongue and the other members of the body in acts of worship; which explains Psalm 35:10. David says, "All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto Thee?" the very language that the Israelites, while the women danced to the Lord, uttered as their song after the Red Sea deliverance (Exodus 15:11). The dance, however, was generally left to women (Judges 21:19-23). It is mentioned as a censure on their looseness that "the people rose up to play" at Aaron's calf festival (Exodus 32:6; 1 Corinthians 10:7), also that the Amalekites were "dancing" (1 Samuel 30:16). The woman leader usually in the East leads off the dance, and the other women exactly follow her graceful movements. In Song of Solomon 6:13 allusion possibly is made in the "two armies" to two rows of female dancers vis-avis in performing; but the spiritual sense refers to the two parts of the one church army, the militant and the triumphant. Dancing accompanied festivity of a secular kind (Jeremiah 31:4; Jeremiah 31:13; Lamentations 5:15; Luke 15:25), especially that of women and children (Job 21:11; Matthew 11:17). Dancing by men and women together was unknown; as indeed the oriental seclusion of women from men would alone have sufficed to make it seem indecorous. Maimonides says that in the joyous Feast of Tabernacles the women danced separately in an apartment above, and the men danced below. Herod's extravagant promise to Herodias' daughter shows that it was a rare deed in those regions (Mark 6:22-23).