MOURNING OR FUNERAL DANCES
Dance of Manahaim Study Course
Losses in our lives come in various forms. At times, and griefs come to all of us. Grief is particularly difficult to bear when it's mingled with guilt such as in the loss of a child, as in the case of David and Bathsheba's infant son born of an adulterous relationship, in 2 Sam. 12:18-23. Yet God works in the midst of this grief to restore the family.
On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, "While the child was still alive he would not listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm! When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, "Is the child dead?" They replied, "Yes, he's dead." So David got up from the ground, bathed, put on oil, and changed his clothes. He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then, when he entered his palace, he requested that food be brought to him, and he ate. His servants said to him, "What is this that you have done? While the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!" He replied, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, 'Perhaps the Lord will show pity and the child will live. But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back? I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!" So David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had marital relations with her.She gave birth to a son, and David named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved the child and sent word through Nathan the prophet that he should be named Jedidiah for the Lord's sake. (2 Samuel 12:16-22.)
There are times however, when Satan takes advantage of the grieving processes which we go through. Grief can give rise to acute bondage, accompanied by undue remorse, guilt, or blaming others for the loss. One can blame themselves for things totally beyond the realm of their control, amd say: If only...Such was the case of Yeshua/Jesus own close family friend Martha, at the death of her brother Lazarus. (John 11:5)
Yeshua/Jesus knows how we feel. He is touched with our feelings of grief, when: A friend dies and we didn't have a chance to say goodbye. David wept for Jonathan and sang him this song, as a means of processing his own grief:
I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women. (2 Samuel 1 26)
With the death of a loved one, it is natural for us to greatly miss the presence of this person who has meant so much in our lives, or to wish we could somehow buy back the time spent with them. What we can do is to thank God for the gifts which we had.
Expressions of grief vary throughout the world, and it was not uncommon even in ancient or biblical times, for people to write mourning songs. The bible records the mourning or funeral song which David wrote for Saul and Jonathan, in 2 Samuel 1:19-27. The Hebrew text tells us that this song is called "The Song of the Bow." It set an example for Israel at the changing of the dynasty, by honouring the past leadership, in spite of the fact that Saul had not always behaved in an honourable way.
Dances were employed as an expression of grief by the Hebrew people from ancient times. One reason for this is that the Hebrew tephillah's or song prayers accomodated this form of expression.
Sometimes, it is not just our own "mourning song or the dance movements with which we begin to unbow ourselves and truly give thanks to God who knows all things, and is all our wise, King Eternal. The revelation of the nearness of God's presence may come through the dance of another, that God will use to set us free. In a lovely testimony from John G. Lake's daughter, whose father was an apostle and healing evangelist, comes this story. There was a woman in a Christian congregation who had lost her baby. She grieved so greatly, and seemed unable to recover from her deep sense of loss. One day, God moved by His Spirit upon a woman intercessor in the congregation. The intercessor stood up in church and began to dance, as if holding the baby in her arms. As the grieving woman watched this, she was set completely and totally free.
On the road to Emmaus, Jesus appeared to two of his disciples, yet they didn't recognize him. They were still filled with grief. Their God seemed a stranger to them, as He drew near to comfort and console. But Yeshua/Jesus has things to share with those who grieve, to give them a hope and a future. From childhood, many have been comforted by the gentle "rocking motion" of a mothers arms. Funeral dances comfort in a similar way. Have you ever danced before the Lord and had God "turn your mourning into dancing?
One of the severest grief's people experience is religious persecution. Remember Jesus words: Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they separate you from their company; and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For behold your reward is great in heaven: for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets! (Luke 6:22-23)
Along with a spiritual blessing that will come from your praise and worship in these times, there is an actual physical transformation that takes place in the body when you leap and dance. Endorphins are released in the physical body, giving a feeling of well being to the individual.
Main Back Page 52
5214 South 2nd Avenue, Everett, Wa. 98203-4113, USA / Telephone: (425) 252-2981