I
An illustration of the processional type of dance among the Israelites which immediately suggests itself is that of “David and all the house of Israel dancing before Jahwe with all their might” (2 Sam. vi. 5)[52]. The picture is that of an imposing procession, headed by the king going in front of the Ark into Jerusalem. The entire body of those forming the procession is described as dancing, but special attention is drawn to David, and the words used in reference to his mode of dancing are instructive; he not only dances in the ordinary sense of the word (sāḥaq), but he “rotates (kārar) with all his might” (verse 14), and “jumps” (pāzaz, verse 16), and “whirls round” (ḥūl); and in the parallel passage 1 Chron. xv. 29, his dancing is described as “skipping” (rāqad) or the like; it is the word used in Isa. xiii. 21 of the “hopping” of satyrs, and also of “galloping” horses (Joel ii. 5) and “jolting” chariots (Nah. iii. 2). The self-abandonment of this dancing can be imagined in the light of Michal’s jibe that the king had shamelessly uncovered himself. Nevertheless, the religious character of the processional dance is obvious, and is emphasized by the phrase “before Jahwe,” and by the fact that David “was girded with a linen ephod” (verse 14), the officiating priest’s dress (see 1 Sam. ii. 18).
It is probable that the sacred processional dance is again referred to, though one cannot say so positively, in such passages as Ps. cxlix. 3: “Let them praise His name in the dance; let them sing praises unto Him with timbrel (tôph) and lyre”; cl. 4: “Praise Him with timbrel and dance,” etc.; and although in Ps. lxviii. 24, 25 (25, 26 in Hebr.) there is no special mention of the dance, it is clearly implied by the reference to the damsels playing on the timbrel, which was the usual accompaniment to dancing; the passage runs: “They see Thy goings forth [i.e. processions in honour of Jahwe], O God, the goings forth of my God, my King, into the sanctuary; the singers go before, behind (are) those playing stringed instruments, in the midst (are) damsels playing timbrels,” see also Ps. lxxxvii. 7.
Further quotations are unnecessary, for it is clear that the sacred processional dance formed a normal adjunct to worship among the Israelites.
In studying these types of the sacred dance among other peoples we are faced with the same difficulty that meets us in the case of various passages where the dance is mentioned in the Old Testament, viz. it is by no means always possible to say whether a processional dance is meant or not. It is, therefore, inevitable that some uncertainty should exist in the case of some of the illustrations to be offered; but if not always of the processional type, the examples to be given will all illustrate the sacred dance as an act of honour to some superhuman power.