What Does the Bible Say About Dancing?
Chad Johnson
July 16, 2010

"And David danced before the Lord with all his might." II Samuel 6:14 KJV

But When Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. Matthew 14:6 KJV

There are two types of dancing mentioned in the Bible: worldly dancing and spiritual dancing. Worldly dancing is practiced by men and women together and is associated with sin and immorality. Spiritual dancing is practiced before the Lord to worship him.

There was a time when Christian would not be involved in worldly dancing, but now it is very common. Now, let us take a look at the two types of dancing in our text. First we see that David danced before the Lord. I have had people try to use this verse to justify dancing. David was dancing before the Lord. The Philistine had taken the ark of the Lord. They placed it in Ashdod in the house of their god Dagon.

The ark of the Lord was very precious to Israel. It represented to them the presence of God. The ark had been gone 20 years and when David saw it come back to Zion, he danced before the Lord. I have wondered what this dancing looked like.

I am sure David had his hands in the air. No doubt he was running and leaping. David's mouth was full of shouting and praise. A person would have to be dumb of scripture to say this is the same was the world's dancing.

The next person we find dancing is the daughter of Herodias. Herod had taken his brother's wife. John the Baptist told them it was not lawful.

This made Herodias so mad that she vowed to get revenge. Herod had a birthday party and Herodias told her daughter to dance before Herod. She used her body to get Herod so worked up that he offered her half the kingdom. It is a wicked parent who teaches their children to dance. This shows how powerful dancing can be. She did not want the kingdom, but the head of the Baptist preacher that preached against their sin.

John the Baptist lost his head for preaching on adultery and he lost it at a dance.

So before you as parents let your children go to the prom and other school dances, remember that sin and immorality abound and it is a poor testimony for Christ.

Amen!