Worshiping the Lord in Dance

Q: What are the names of the women in the bible that worship God in dance?

A: Thank you for your question. Dancing in the Bible was a mixed bag. Often times the names of the women are not given and the reasons for their dancing varied. One of the most noteworthy instances is just after God parted the Red Sea when rescuing the Jews from their Egyptian pursuers. "When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea (Exodus 15:19-21).” Here we see Aaron's sister Miriam, the prophetess, mentioned as the one leading all the Jewish women in song and dance. Miriam is the only one mentioned by name here. However, given that nearly 2 million Jews left Egypt, it is safe to say that there were countless women worshiping the Lord for what He had done for them.

Tradition states that women would celebrate military victories by dancing. While women are not mentioned by name, when David and his men were working with the Philistines, the Philistine commanders protested David being able to participate in the battle. "But the Philistine commanders were angry with him [Achish] and said, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place you assigned him. He must not go with us into battle, or he will turn against us during the fighting. How better could he regain his master’s favor than by taking the heads of our own men? Isn’t this the David they sang about in their dances: "‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands (1 Samuel 29:4-5)’?” The Philistine commanders were acquainted with the way the women worshiped David in song and Dance. The women were obviously not worshiping God directly, but David was the apple of God's eye (Psalm 17:8). In a way, one might say they were worshiping the Lord through David because they were thankful for His allowing David to win in battle. Women celebrating David in dance is also mentioned in 1 Samuel 18:6.

At least on one occasion, celebratory dancing had unintended and tragic consequences. In Judges 11, Jephthah was fighting the Ammonites when he vowed to the Lord that if He allowed him to have victory over the Ammonites, "whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering (Judges 11:31)." However, when Jephthah returned home in victory, "who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines (Judges 11:34)!" Jephthah was forced to keep his vow to the Lord. He granted his daughter two months with her friends to go the hills and weep because she would never marry. "After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin (Judges 11:39)." The name of Jephthah's daughter is not given in the text, but it is clear her celebratory dancing had terrible and unintended consequences.

As you can see, many of the dances performed were done in celebration of military victories and God delivering the Jewish nation. Unfortunately, many times the names of the women dancing are not given. There are moments were names of dancing women are given, but do not qualify as an answer to your question because they were not worshiping the Lord or celebrating victories. For example, John the Baptist died as the result of Salome, King Herod's step daughter, dancing provocatively before the King. The King granted her one wish. Influenced by her mother, Salome requested that John the Baptist be beheaded (Matthew 14:1-11). There are other forms of dancing described in scripture that are not related to worshiping God nor are any names mentioned (Judges 21:21-23). There have been women dancing in worship to the Lord, dancing in celebration of military victories and dancing in order to seduce, amongst other reasons. Sometimes their names are given and in many cases the names are withheld for reasons we may never know. I pray this has helped you in some way with your search for answers.