True, it was among some of these very prophets that the most interesting kind of sacred dance—the ecstatic dance—was in vogue, with its wildness and extravagances; in this they, or at least the earliest of them, did not differ from certain classes of “holy men” all the world over; where they did differ was in their development of the conception which underlay the purpose of the ecstatic dance, _i.e._ union with the deity; and it is just here that they stand out in such bold relief from all others. The earliest prophets believed that this sacred dance was the means whereby the divine spirit came upon them; this belief they shared with others; but they rose to the higher belief that _this_ means was not necessary for achieving the purpose for which it was used. It had served a useful purpose; but having served its purpose it was dropped. The prophets came to the realization that there were more spiritual means whereby union with the deity was brought about; then the sacred dance found no further place among them. They shed the husk, but retained the kernel. It was the same principle upon which St Paul acted in later days in regard to the Law. The sacred dance, too, was in its way a “school-master” (Gal. iii. 24), leading men to better things. When, centuries later, the far more cultured Greeks were still “raving” in honour of Dionysos, the Hebrew prophets had long since learned that it is God Himself Who puts His spirit upon men (cp. Isa. xlii. 1), and that this is not a thing to be effected by the will or act of man. “Who hath directed the Spirit of Jahwe?” asks one of them in fine irony (Isa. xl. 13). Thus the history of the ecstatic dance among the Hebrew prophets is one of many illustrations showing their uniqueness. It is not, however, with these extraordinarily gifted prophets that we are now concerned. We are thinking of the very ordinary and very human Israelites as a whole who, like innumerable men and women of other races, were endowed with emotions and aspirations which were common to humanity. And it is a curious but interesting phenomenon that the sacred dance was among the Israelites, as among all other peoples, one of the means whereby these emotions and aspirations were expressed.