Leaping And Dancing
The ark of the Covenant represented God’s presence with the nation of Israel. In a way, the ark was God’s “incarnation” with His people. So when the ark was brought into David’s hometown of Jerusalem, King David rejoiced and worshipped God with emotional abandon. In 2 Samuel 6:14 we read, “David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.”
But not everyone was pleased with David’s expressive display of worship. Michal, the daughter of Saul, despised David for his shameless “leaping and dancing.” When David returned home, she said with sarcasm, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”
David had evidently broken some cultural taboos and failed to meet the expectations of how a dignified king should behave (at least from Michal’s point of view).
David replied, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”
Who’s The Audience?
David’s response to Michal’s criticism is very revealing. For many of us, we worry so much about what others think of us. We worry so much about our reputation. However, David’s comment shows us that, at the very core of our worship, we have an audience of One. And in the final analysis, the only opinion that truly matters is God’s opinion. All those other voices of praise and criticism will fall submissively in silence next to God’s verdict on our lives.
David danced for God. Although he understood well the expectations placed on him as the king of Israel, he was more interested in simply expressing his heartfelt joy that the King of every nation had come to live in his hometown.
Whoa! Hold Yer Horses Pard’ner!
But before everyone starts dancing around and acting “all crazy,” we need to address a very real concern. Please do not overextend the interpretation of this passage into meaning that God doesn’t care if we act like blatant fools as long as we do it with the “right motives.” Although our motives do matter exceedingly in God’s economy, they are not to be our only guide in deciding the “right thing to do.” And sometimes, having good motives may actually lead us into doing the wrong thing (see Matthew 16:21-23).
In Titus 2:6-8, Paul writes, “Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.”
And in 1 Tim 3:2-3, Paul writes “Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.”
In other words, God calls us to act “respectably”.
“Respectable” Dancing
Acting “respectably” is sometimes difficult to define. What is considered dishonerable in one situation may be perfectly acceptable in another. For example, running naked in the hallway is not usually considered respectable. But, if your apartment is on fire, running naked in the hallway to save your life might not be such a bad idea!
David’s “leaping and dancing” was not some random and spontaneous act. His dancing was not something “thrown together” on a whim. It was a specially planned event for the joy and blessing of himself and all Jerusalem! God had come to dwell with His people! This was no simple birthday party! This celebration foreshadowed the overwhelming joy of Christ’s birth into “our hometown”—and at that moment in history, the angels sang with great abandon! Really, the only respectable thing for David to do was to leap and dance with all gladness. And I can imagine David shouting something like this: “Joy to the world! The Lord is come!”
