Holofemes. There was no sndi leader of tb« c^ mentioned in the case of David and SaaL fi^ whereas Miriam ** answered" tlie entiie ebon, Exod. XV, 21, the women in the latter case *■ one another as they played" (1 Sam. xvni, u ! ** answer" embodying the sentiment of the < and forming the burden of the song. Tht ''cal out" of the women to do this (Judg. xi, M; I :i xviii, 6 ; comp. ^ went out," Exod. xv, 20) e u feature worthy of note, and implies the object <lm ing, attending upon, and conducting home. SeJ^ thah's daughter met her &ther, the ''* womea of uj cities" came to meet and celebrate Saul aad Da and their host, but Miriam in the same wij "i out" before '* Jehovah" the **man of war," vf presence seems implied. This marks the peonla of David's conduct when, on the letnn of the li God fit>m its long sojourn among strangos aadi derers, he (2 Sam. vi, 5-22) was himself c&orepw,) here, too, Uie women, with their timbrels (see « ly ver. 5, 19, 20, 22), took an important share. Tit] feet brings out more markedly the feefings of Sii; daughter Miohal, keeping aloof from the occsaoa.ni| *' looking through a window" at the sceae. m should, in accordance with the examples of MniL etc., have herself led the female choir, and so eem cj to meet the ark and her lord. She stays viA a '* household" (ver. 20), and *' comes out to meet'' ki with reproaches, perhaps feeling that his seal nsi rebuke to her apathy. It was before **die hat maids," L e. in leading that choir which* die tte^\ have led, that he had ** uncovered" himself; ts => kingly exposure as she thought it, which the (Js" rendered necessary— the wearing merely the e^ ' linen tunic. The occasion was meant to be pojwkt viewed in connection with David's subjngatkn gfn- rious enemies and accession to the throne of In^ (see 1 Chron. xii, 28-xiii, 8) ; he according tbzfe only of the honor of God who had so advancrihsi and in that forgets self (comp. MQller, De Dariii i9 Arc. Ugolini, xxxii). From the mention of '^dc- sels," "timbrels," and ^'dances" (Pn. IxTii, 5 cxlix, 8; d, 4) as elements of religioas wooldpLt may perhaps be inferred that David's feeling led bs to hicorporate in its rites that popular mode of lee** celebration. This does not seem to have jmrrN him, for as Saalschdtz remarlu (ArekdcLderSdr.i 299), in the mention of religious revivals under Bev- kiah and Josiah, no notice of them occnn; sod t^ although the " words," the " writfaag," and the *ce- mandment of David" on such subjects are ik6BKij alluded to (2 Chron. xxix, 80; xxxv, 4, 15). Its possible that the banishing of thb popular eksMt- which found its vent no doubt in the idoJatrooi rse* of Baal and Astarte (as it certainly did hi those tit^ golden calf, Exod. xxxii, 19), made those eflorts tib a less firm hold on the people than they miglit ben done, and that David's more comprehensiTe ftbes' might have retained some ties of feeUng whick vf> thus lost. On the other hand was donbtleM tfae ^ of the loose morality which commonly attended h^- dances at heathen shrines. Certainly in later Ji^ ism the dance was included among some religioes fe^ tivities, e. g. the fidast of tabemades (Mishna, Swad^ V, 8, 4), where, however, the performers were ma This was probably a mere following the example ^ David in the letter. Also in the ewlier period of tbe Judges the dances of the virgins In Shiloh (Jadg. xr 19-28) were certainly part of a religions festintT. ^ seems also i^ora this last instance clear, end frm ^ others probable, that such dances were perfcnwd K maidens apart firom men, which gives an additsai! point to the reproach of Michal. What tin fuiatu ff figure of the dance was is a doubtful qnestioo, nor i* it likely to have lacked snch variety as would sdsfl '^ to the various occasions of its use. The tarns t9- ployed, however, all point to dandng in a ling* ^
DANCE
a59
DANCE
m Oriental dances a woman leads off the dance, >thers then follow her with exact imitation of her
OrieQtol Dancing-glrL
Stic and graceful attitudes. A parallelism of move- it is also incident to it (Saalschtttz, ib. p. 801). Pos- y Miriani so led her countrywomen. The same ter thinks that in Cant, vi, 18, the words riVna f*^^*!? (A. V. " company of two armies*') imply two fs of dancing girls, and that the address in the sin- iar nnmber, *' return, return,'* and again in vii, 1, >lies to the movements of the individual performer a kind of contre-dame. This interpretation, how- 3r, does not remove the obscurities of the passage. From being exclusively, or at least principally, re- Ted for occasions of religious worship and festivity, Dcing came gradually to be practised in common i on any remarkable seasons of mirth and rejoicing jr. xxxi, 4 ; Psa. xxx, 11). In early times, indeed, aae who perverted the exercise from a sacred use to rposes of amusement were considered pro&ne and famous ; and hence Job introduces it as a distin- lishing feature in the character of the ungodly rich, at they encouraged a taste for dancing in their Am- es (Job xxi, 11). During the classic ages of Greece td Kome society underwent a complete revolution of ntiment on this subject, insomuch that the Grecian lets represent the gods themselves as passionately nd of the diversion (Potter's Grec. ArUiq. ii, 400), id that not only at Rome, but through all the prov- ces of the empire it was a favorite pastime, resorted ' not only to en- ven feasts, but I the celebration f domestic joy Luke XV, 26; fatt xiv, 6). [ot^ffithstanding, owever, the trong partiality berished for this ■spiriting amuse- nent, it was con- Wered beneath he dignity of per- sons of rank and ihaxacter to prac- iseit Thewell- "»own words of Cicero, that "no ^ns dances unless ^ie 18 either drunk w mad," express