Dance has been part of Hebrew culture since the earliest of times. It was (and continues to be) an important part of the feasts, as well as everyday life and important events.
Dance is but one of the many things that sets the Messianic Movement apart from much of both traditional Judaism and Christianity. We see multiple examples of it within the pages of Scripture; e.g., Ex. 15 and 1 Chron. 15:27-29. The Bible even tells us that the angels rejoice in Heaven (Luke 15:7, 10). That is important, because the English word “rejoice” is translated from a Hebrew word that denotes dancing.
Dance is defined as moving rhythmically to music, typically following a set sequence of steps; to move in a quick and lively way; and a series of movements that match the speed and rhythm of a piece of music. Thus, if you have ever swayed to music, tapped your toes, kept beat with your fingers, bopped your head around, or clapped your hands in time to music (which each of us has done at some point in time), you could be said to have danced.
So where did dance come from? The Bible tells us in John 1:3:
All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has come into being.
Romans 11:36 concurs and bears witness to His creation of all things:
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.
In other words, if it exists, it was created by G-d. Dance exists, so according to these verses it had to be created by Him. Notice also that according to Gen. 1, He pronounced everything He created as good, plus Rev. 4:11 informs us that everything He created was for His pleasure. Taken together, these verses tell us that dance was created by G-d for His pleasure and is good.
There are numerous verses in the Bible that explicitly address the subject of dance. For example:
Ps. 149:3: Let them praise his name with dancing, make melody to him with tambourine and lyre;
Ps. 150:4: Praise him with tambourines and dancing! Praise him with flutes and strings!
But did you know that there are 13 different Hebrew words in our Bibles that are directly translated into English as dance or rejoice, with dance being the form of rejoicing? Some of those words mean “to skip or leap,” and even “spin around in joy,” with one denoting a circling or ring dance–the primary form of dance used in our services. In the Aramaic language (the language most commonly spoken in Israel during Yeshua’s time), the words for rejoice and dance are the same, with no distinction between them, in contrast to the English language where they are different.
Dancing was an important part of the feast celebrations. See Judges 21:19-21 as one example, as well as the Strong’s Concordance definition of the Hebrew word khaq (translated as feast or festival in our Bibles), which confirms that the feasts were celebrated by processions and dancing.
The people would dance to celebrate a victory in war (1 Samuel 18:6 & 7; 21:11) and to show hospitality and express celebration (Judges 11:34; Luke 15:25). The birth of children, a bar or bat mitzvah, weddings – you name it. All were occasions for joyous dance to thank G-d for His blessings. It was also a way of expressing gratitude to G-d when He delivered them from difficult times (Psalm 30:11; Jeremiah 31:4).
In Exodus 15, Miriam led the women in a celebratory dance after they had safely crossed the Red Sea and stood on dry ground to watch their enemies being drowned by G-d. Note that the first thing the people did as a community to celebrate their deliverance from bondage was to dance.
We often think of David as having danced spontaneously with abandon in 1 Chron. 15:27-29, but the word used for dance in that passage refers to a choreographed dance used to express community joy in the presence of G-d. In other words, David’s dance was intentional – not just something he did on the spur of the moment because of his joy as he brought home the Ark.
While in exile, Jeremiah stated in Lamentations 5:15 that “joy has vanished from our hearts, our dancing has turned into mourning.” But when prophesying before the exile, Jeremiah had prophesied the nation’s restoration, with dance again being one of the prominent signs: “Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance…and I will turn their mourning into joy.” (Jer. 31:13)
Dance was still a customary and appropriate way to express joy during Apostolic times, as we see from Luke 6:23:
Be glad when that happens; yes, dance for joy! because in heaven your reward is great. For that is just how their fathers treated the prophets.
Even G-d Himself dances:
Adonai your G-d is right there with you, as a mighty savior. He will rejoice [dance] over you and be glad, he will be silent in his love, he will shout over you with joy. (Zeph. 3:17)
We are made in the image of G-d. This verse may explain why a very young child who is much too young to understand what dance is will often respond to music by moving his or her body to its rhythm. We were created in the image of G-d, and as part of that image He put dance within us.
Dance is obviously Biblical, so why is there such a resistance to it in so many of our houses of worship? Much of it stems from the fact that dance became associated with pagan and secular societies after the Biblical period. But that, in and of itself, should not cause us to kick dance out because the same can be said of circumcision. Just because the enemy perverted something does not mean that it can no longer be used to glorify G-d. We just need to ensure we handle it appropriately.
There are two passages that are often cited in support of rejecting dance as a form of worship. The first is in Ex. 32, verses 19 and 20. After the miraculous deliverance at the Red Sea, the people quickly returned to their pagan ways by erecting a golden calf and worshipping it.
9 But the moment Moshe got near the camp, when he saw the calf and the dancing, his own anger blazed up. He threw down the tablets he had been holding and shattered them at the base of the mountain. 20 Seizing the calf they had made, he melted it in the fire and ground it to powder, which he scattered on the water. Then he made the people of Isra’el drink it.
If you continue reading the story in Exodus, you will find that nowhere in it does Moses ever say anything negative about the fact that they were dancing. His anger was directed towards the idol that they had made–not dancing in and of itself.
The second passage comes from Matthew 14. King Herod had taken his sister-in-law Herodias as his wife. Herodias’ daughter then did a seductive dance and so pleased Herod that he offered to give her whatever she wanted. At the urging of her mother, she requested the head of John the Immerser. But again, it wasn’t dance per se that was the problem here–it was the misuse of dance. And note that even in this passage where it was so grossly misused, the Bible doesn’t speak against dance itself.
The truth is that nowhere in the Bible are we prohibited from using dance as a way to worship G-d. Our Father never denounced dance as something to be resisted or avoided; instead, we are encouraged to use it in the proper manner, which is to glorify and worship Him.
We have written evidence both within the Bible and in extra-biblical sources of dance being used routinely as part of worship during the time of the Temple–and even after its destruction. With the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, dance all but ceased as part of worship services within Judaism; however, it continued to be used within the Gentile Christian church. For example, early church fathers Justin Martyr (100-163 CE) and Hippolytus (200 CE) both describe joyful circle dances as a part of the order of worship.
As the transition of the faith become more Roman, the role of dance continued but became more formal, with some of the early church fathers even bemoaning the loss of ecstatic and joyful dance. One of those was Clement of Alexandria, who said in AD 215:
I will show you the word and the mysteries of the word and describe them for you as an image of your own fate. This is the mountain beloved of G-d, Zion, and on it rejoice G-d’s daughters, the most beautiful lambs which reveal the reverent festival of the word to the accompaniment of constantly repeated choral dancing. By righteousness, man may partake in them also. The song is a holy hymn to the King of all creation. Oh in truth, Holy mysteries, oh what pure light whilst torches are born before me, I perceive the heavens and the Lord. I am led into the service of G-d. I become sanctified, thou also if thou wishest mayest let thyself be led. Then shalt thou dance in a ring dance, together with the angels around Him who is without beginning or end.
Clement also stated in another writing:
When persons dance on earth, they also dance with the angels.
Ambrose, in AD 390, said:
Everything is right when it springs from the fear of the Lord. Let’s dance as David did. Let’s not be ashamed to show adoration of G-d. Dance uplifts the body above the earth into the heavenlies. Dance bound up with faith is a testimony to the living grace of G-d. He who dances as David dances, dances in grace.
Even Saint Augustine, in AD 394, stated:
Let’s keep the sacred dances.
Sadly, dance moved from the sacred to the frivolous and carnal during the Dark Ages, and because of its misuse was ultimately deemed wicked and moved into the realm of being used primarily in social settings apart from a worship environment. Some elements of religious dance remained, but many people tried to spiritualize or entirely eliminate dance from worship. For example, Epiphanius focused on the allegorical method of teaching Scripture, and to him dance consisted of symbolic movements of the soul, rather than actual physical movements. Where it remained, it became more formal, such as liturgical processions, and the joy and worship that had been previously known were no longer. Despite these changes and challenges, dance continued to play a role within Christianity up until the 1700s.
It was the Reformation–and the introduction of rational thinking in the Age of Enlightenment–that actually dealt the death-knell for dance within the church. The reformists such as Martin Luther felt dance had no part in the church, putting priority on the mind rather than the body. In the mind of the thinker, dance was just too subjective to be appropriate for church liturgy.
At about the same time that dance was being ousted from the Christian church, however, it was being restored to Judaism. It began in Poland with the Hasidic movement of the 18th century with the Baal Shem Tov, who recaptured the dance and reintroduced joy into the Jewish religious service.
Fast forward to 1967. The Messianic Movement was birthed in earnest when the nation of Israel recaptured Jerusalem. As more and more Jewish believers sought to recapture their Jewish heritage, the Movement began to grow, and dance became an important part of the new congregations that sprang up. And it continues to be an important part of our services today.
Dance should, first and foremost, be for G-d’s glory, and therefore can indeed be used as part of our praise and worship of our Creator. G-d created dance for His pleasure. It is powerful, and it is good.
If you would like more information about the use of dance in worship, we recommend the following resources, from which some of the above information was taken: