The circle dance

 

Ex 23:14

“Each year you must celebrate three festivals in my honour.

When God gave Moses this instruction for the Israelites, He then also clarified what He meant by describing the names and details of the feasts He wanted them to keep. The name He used for ‘Feast’ was the Hebrew word Khag, which Strong’s defines as:

 châgag, khaw-gag'; a primitive root (compare H2283, H2328); properly, to move in a circle, i.e. (specifically) to march in a sacred procession, to observe a festival; by implication, to be giddy:—celebrate, dance, (keep, hold) a (solemn) feast (holiday), reel to and fro.

It therefore implies the gathering together for a festival, usually in the form of a circle for dancing and feasting.

God loves to see His people filled with joy and happiness and expressing this in jubilant dancing before Him, which is why He named His Feasts with a word that means just that. In fact, Abba has anointed His Son Jesus with abundant joy, giving Him a measure above all others as we read in Heb 1:9 You love justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.” We know that Jesus attended wedding feasts, and I can easily picture Him joining a dancing circle on these occasions and celebrating with exuberant joy and laughter!

If we think about it, we can even come to realize that the khag is not limited to humans only, the earth also takes part in it as it performs its circle dance around the sun, joyfully proclaiming God’s greatness and power.

Certainly, dancing is not restricted to the Old Testament – there are quite a few words in the New Testament which equates joy with dancing or movement. In Matthew 5:12 the word ealats means ‘to jump for joy’ and pazaz means ‘to leap or bound’; in Acts 6:5 Prochorus was a Christian deacon, and his name means “one who leads in the circle dance”.

Pearls to ponder:

Are we prepared to bring a new dimension to the praise and worship of our God by dancing before Him? Knowing that it pleases Him, knowing that He instructed His children to do this? Or are we going to let tradition and legalism stand in our way?

Some churches have a formal dance group who will on occasion dance in front of the church to songs they have practised movements to, and this is to be commended - it gives talented dancers a platform to express their worship in a beautiful and godly way, so different from the way people dance in the world.

To those who would not dare to do so publicly, I encourage you to start moving before the Lord as you praise Him in the privacy of your own home. You do not need dance lessons, the Lord just wants your heart to be close to His, and your dance with Him will take you on a personal journey way above what you could ever have imagined!

Shavuot 2025