Dancing

A Celebration Before the Lord

In primitive and civilized cultures alike, dance has been an important means of expressing the deepest feelings of the human soul. Like any art form, dance has the power not only to express emotion but to stir it up, in both participants and observers. As the story of Herodias’ daughter shows (Mark 6:17–28), dance can easily be abused when used as a tool of sensual power in which the chief end is selfish pleasure or the lustful arousal of others. Job warned about people who were so busy dancing and playing that they rejected serving the Lord (Job 21:11–14).

In Scripture, dance was used to express joy and praise to the Lord (2 Sam. 6:14; Ps. 149:3; 150:4; Jer. 31:4, 13). Dancing was a part of the celebration of the prodigal son’s return to his father in Jesus’ parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:25). The Hebrew people used to dance to celebrate the glory of God and His marvelous works. David danced before the Lord in a joyous celebration of the return of the ark to Jerusalem. Such exuberant dancing, when described in the text of Scripture, was generally done by women (Ex. 15:20, 21; Judg. 21:19–21), singly or in groups, but not by a man and woman together; it was often spontaneous and unchoreographed (1 Sam. 18:6)—a genuine expression of spiritual delight (Ps. 30:11, 12).

In any case, every believer is responsible before God for living a holy life without moral compromise (Rom. 14:21; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Gal. 5:16; 1 Thess. 4:3–8) and with diligence to glorify God in every sphere of life (1 Cor. 10:31).

Taken from The Woman’s Study Bible