2 Samuel 6:14-15 And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.… The nations of the East have ever combined the dance as well as music with their most solemn religious ceremonies. There is nothing frivolous or trifling in the manner in which Orientals strive by the rhythmical movements and gestures of the body to express joy and praise. Just as our music might be divided into sacred, martial, and operatic (including in the latter all lighter melodies), so there are still among the Mohammedans three very distinct classes of dance, corresponding to these three divisions. From the various allusions to the dance in Holy Scripture, we may reasonably believe that their dances as well as their music have come down with little change from their Jewish predecessors. Of the third class of dance, performed exclusively by women, we need say nothing. Such was the dancing of the daughter of Herodias before Herod; such are the exhibitions of the dancing girls of Egypt, or the Nautch girls of India — all of them an abomination to the Lord. In the East the sexes always danced separately; nor was it otherwise when David led the triumphal procession before the ark. The men preceded with a leaping step, swaying to the sound of the music; then followed the musicians, and after them the damsels dancing by themselves. I had an opportunity of seeing such a religious dance in 1881, when Arabi Pasha led the procession with the sacred carpet, for the Kaaba of Mecca, out of Cairo on its way to the prophet's shrine. This is one of the greatest ceremonies of Mohammedanism; and the carpet, the gift of the khalif, is renewed only at intervals of several years. It was borne aloft on camels, and surrounded by troops; but in front was a vast crowd of ulemas and dervishes, with the chief muftis at their head, leaping, bounding, swaying their arms, and whirling round in time to the din of drums, trumpets, and cymbals which followed them. (H. B. Tristram, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.WEB: David danced before Yahweh with all his might; and David was clothed in a linen ephod. |
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