The Mystery of Mahanaim & The Dance

Genesis 32:2 GNT When he saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp”; so he named the place Mahanaim.

This subject matter is a mystery to many in the body and to some this may even be the first time you’ve heard, seen or paid attention to it. In my research I found out that there were no contention when it came to dealing with just the subject of the mahanaim because our God is the lord of HOST (JEHOVAH SABAOTH) and in several places in scripture we find this subject foundationally explain for even the baby believer to understand.

Our God has never moved alone after he created the universe, he surrounded himself with myriad of beings and wonderful things. God has a company and so in his delegation, gave unto those he has created (angels) to also have companies. In reference to the earth he called it families or clans.

Numbers 2:1-2 NLT Then the LORD gave these instructions to Moses and Aaron: [2] “When the Israelites set up camp, each tribe will be assigned its own area. The tribal divisions will camp beneath their family banners on all four sides of the Tabernacle, but at some distance from it.

This is the importance of it, it’s there to help keep and maintain order, to help distribute work and put everybody in their respective tribes, families clans or groups. Man was not the first to be introduced to this kind of arrangement, this has been the order of setting up families in the heavens. But the most important of them all was the military relevance it had.

For a man like Jacob who is used to seeing angels exclaim at the sight of these beings meant what he saw was beyond the basic comprehension of human even to him. Beloved you are not alone in this world, you have a family in heaven and you match under their banner and so wherever you go, you move with these heavenly host when you identify the camp you belong to.

Guess what, missionary Sam has already taught us that we all have a certain family group (Company) of angels we belong to hence the allocation of these ones as our guardian beings. Jacob saw these guys and it never clicked why they were there to meet him and so he allows the fear of his brother to fall on him. These are men, your tribes men who invisibly follow you wherever you go.

We meet another man who already knew that he came with his company and he wasn’t perturbed by the sight of physical troops around him:

2 Kings 6:16-17 MSG He said, “Don’t worry about it—there are more on our side than on their side.” [17] Then Elisha prayed, “O God, open his eyes and let him see.” The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A wonder! The whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha!

The confidence some people have in this world is because of the family they know they belong to or come from and so they move without fear.

Genesis 32:1-2 KJVS And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. [2] And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

The understanding of who these men are, are in their name (mahanaim) because of how they were set up when they met Jacob even to the point he had to name the place after what he had encountered.

Lemme quickly chip this in; we go about making noise one will kill a thousand 🤣🤣🤣, try it and see if you can even kill one. That witch in your family who has been after your life since birth, have you killed such an one? I show you a mystery, one will chase a 1000 because you are not alone, you come with a certain company. One can kill a thousand because of this numerical advantage. You do not go into battle with fear, you march under the family banner of the company you belong to, to engage them to assist in the fight. There are soo many things to share but I can’t type it all. Let’s proceed further into the subject matter and see what the lord has for us.

The Dance

Illustration: Sweet Media, Bible Illustrations, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Dancing is very profound in our worship and I don’t believe that there’s one single church in this universe that doesn’t dance, if there’s one then something must be very wrong with their worship and their hearts as believers who profess to be in a relationship with the father.

The Traditional hebrew view is that the body is a vehicle for the soul to serve God. Dancing is the language of the soul, allowing the deepest feelings of joy, gratitude and devotion to burst forth in physical movement, solidifying the individuals and the community connected to the Devine.

There’s what dancing does to your body in terms of keeping you fit and healthy and it’s said that those who engage in such regular and constant habit of dancing barely have joint issues, cardiovascular issues, stress related issues and they are more flexible than the average person who doesn’t. Unfortunately Mish Sam and myself are very terrible at dancing. So please find time to move your body around every now and then when you get the opportunity.

Enough said, there are several hebrew words for dancing or dance and this is going to be very important later on in our discussion concerning the DANCE OF THE MAHANAIM. There are several words but I am going to focus on just 2 of them.

Hebrew Words for Dance

1. MACHOL: which is a dance form performed in a circular manner. Michol denotes the joyful, often circular dance that accompanies festive music and praise, it is a covenantal dance of blessing.

   • Psalm 30:11 – The entrance of Joy
   • Jeremiah 31:13 – Unity and harmony
   • Lamentations 5:15 – Distress

2. RIKUD: Act of dancing in a general sense

3. KARAR: To dance and whirl about (this is a more vigorous kind of dance) 2 Samuel 6:14, 2 Samuel 6:16. The dance of vindication and also an expression of love for God which engages the heart, mind and body. Authentic worship may overflow into vigorous physical expressions, grounded in reverence. Karar celebrates God’s presence, magnifies his grace and invites the community of faith to participate with heart, voice and body in the joy of the lord just as David depicted.

4. Chūl: which also means to twist or whirls from which we get machol.

It is said that, the HASIDICS embraced the circle dance and it symbolizes the idea that all are equal in the presence of God without beginning or an end. It’s also the means by which we enter into a state of an intense religious enthusiasm and this is called HITLAHAVUT.

The Dance of The Mahanaim

There’s only one place in the bible we can see this statement clearly expressed though it can be found in coded language in the very pages of our bible. The dance of mahanaim appears only in the Song of Songs Chapter 6:13.

Many have debated on this subject because it’s not something that’s openly and outrightly understood just by flipping the pages of the bible. I know most of us have been wondering, what is this dance at all and what is the significance of this dance. There are many things to be said about this subject and it can only take the grace of God to deal with this exhaustively and I am not in that capacity but I will do my best as the spirit inspires, Amen.

The dance of the mahanaim is a love and peace dance, it is the rhythmic movement of the heavenly host as they enact the will of God upon the earth. It’s the unwinding and undoing of the will of man to bring to pass the will of God. Permit me to say, it’s the trafficking of angels to affect the affairs of men and to do the bidding of God here on earth.

Just as there are songs that no man can learn except those who belong to the company of the redeemed, it is the same way this dance can not be learned by those who do not belong to the company of the mahanaim. It is the dance of GRACE (Isaiah 25:9) and salvation. According to the mishanah, the passage speaks about the dance of a company of saved ones who have found grace in the sight of God and so will delight over their enemies. Below is the commentary I discovered when studying about this subject:

[In the future, God will make a circle (machol) and will sit among them. Each individual will point with his finger and say, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited, that he may save us; this is the God for whom we have waited, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation” (Isa. 25:9).]

There are two movement patterns when it comes to the dance of the mahanaim, there’s the linear or whirl motions and the circular motion.

1. The Linear or Spiral/Whirl Dance

This is the dance of the mahanaim in relation to angelic activities beginning in God and ending in God in an ascending and descending pattern without a contribution from man, it is God that sees to it. It’s purely the work of angels on whoever God chooses to honor (2 Samuel 6:14-16)

John 1:51 NLT Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”

Jesus is the very unit that upholds all things in this universe (all forms of life). What Jacob saw was the very one who could rewrite the programming of all things. Was the movement of angels necessary? Yes, this is necessary, mmmmmmmm, these angels called MESSENGER ANGELS and SCRIBAL ANGELS were translating and copying the very nature of life and they move up and down upon the son of man in the 5’ and 3’ prime order. Goodness me, no wonder jesus said he will even show nathaniel a greater thing, the son of man through whom all this are replicated and synthesized.

Colossians 1:16 KJVS For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

When Jacob had a visions he only saw the father (THE LORD GOD) up the ladder and this time it was just angels moving up and down without the mention of the son of man because God was dealing with his ancestry, issues of the earth.

Genesis 28:12-13 KJVS And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. [13] And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

In heaven Jesus is greater than Jacob but on earth, Jacob was that great ancestor of jesus and so there was no way he was going to be the one through whom his genome was going to receive that promise, i mean jesus was not the one who was going to be the DNA through whom Jacob was going to come but the other way round (the stairs was set up on on the earth, he was dealing with earthly matters). Universally all things came through jesus but concerning the earth and the possession of the human body, jesus had to come through someone who had the same life force. In salvation it is Jesus’s DNA that is synthesized and replicated, but for natural birth, it was Jacob’s DNA which was the primer for all that would qualify for that ultimate selection.

NOTE: AS THE ANGELS ASCEND AND DESCEND, they are constantly dancing on the son of man that his effect may be seen by all who look upon him. In Hebrews 1:14 bible said the ministering spirits are to minister for and not to those who will inherit salvation (The word FOR in Greek is dia which means the channel of act). The day you received salvation, you were initiated and taught this dance, it’s the dance of salvation, how do I know this [Luke 15:10 KJVS].

There was never the mention of joy [Simcah] without dancing and the playing of instruments following. The dance of the two camps is the rededication of your salvation vows to the lord, reminding him of how the angels in heaven greatly celebrated your inclusion as the bride.

I have heard stories where people through that drunkenness of the spirit danced their way out of situations prayer and fasting couldn’t have handled, barren women receiving children and countless testimonies. Do you know that dancing in the whirl or circular motion is a prophetic act? In 1 Samuel 19:18 downwards the KJV discusses this scene using “and they prophesied and Saul prophesied”, in the good news translation it says and he danced and shouted.

Song of Solomon 6:10 KJVS Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

When you engage in any of these motions of dancing you are making prophetic declaration to your situation you are making a bold statement to the cosmos concerning your situation that you do not care the eyes around, it is only to the lord.

Sister, brother when it looks like all has been exhausted just go to God like David and dance your heart out as you allow the spirit of prophesy to take over you.

The DNA Dance

When you take a closer look at the human gene it looks like a staircase when it’s not undergoing replication, transcription and whatever there’s to do. When Jacob had his vision bible say he saw angels ascending and descending and there’s no way Jacob was telling the truth if it was just one tall ladder he saw because in order for two angels to both ascend and descend they need two different ladders in order not to crash.

Don’t come and tell me that spirits don’t crash 🤣🤣, they are spirits to you because of the body they have, they are not immaterial objects of just air. Once they possess body they can interact with one another.

How then is his vision True? What Jacob saw was the beginning of rewriting, the make of he himself from Jacob to Israel because to have two companies of angels undertaking this activities the stairs must be split into two where one goes up and one comes down 🤭🤭🤭. Lemme shock you… when DNA is undergoing transcription that whole complex DNA must be split into two and then begin to code by moving up and down in a bidirectional sequence, one part moves from 5’ to 3’ and the other 3’ to 5’. From an ascending order we move from the highest number to the lowest number hence one camp of angels moving from 5 to 3 and the vice versa from 3 to 5 but guess what? These are also the times for angelic activities 🤭🤭🤭. Thy will be done on earth 3–5 in descending order as it is in heaven 5–3 in ascending order. This is how life is multiplied in a man.

This is called THE DNA DANCE and it’s very cardinal in changing who you are as a person. I believe in prayer and I believe in the word of God but I also believe in the simple act of dance with consciousness that as I move up and down with joy and excitement, angels of God are rewriting my code, they are reprogramming my members.

2 Samuel 6:16 NLT But as the Ark of the LORD entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she was filled with contempt for him.

The key thing here is BEFORE THE LORD. WHETHER IT SEEMS FOOLISH OR UNREASONABLE, UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS BEFORE THE LORD. Before the lord, theres nothing trivial, there’s nothing simple. Something as simple as a dance before the lord can lead to shutting the womb of a woman then there’s power in this act called dancing. The angels were ministering before the LORD as they rose up and come down. Take that step forward, take that step backwards, declare to yourself: to the one who stands above the ladder and the one on whom I move up and down, as i come to you with the lord’s song and gratitude of heart, go into manifestation for me (it is also called the warriors dance or drunken with the spirit dance).

2. The Circular Dance (Machol)

Song of Solomon 6:10 KJVS Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

We’ve already gone through the explanations of the mahanaim and their significance but take a look at this verse, the only time you see army banners is when scripture is talking about camps, families or tribe moving into battle and in the Book of NUMBERS we see how families moved according to the order of the lord. This person being described here is later revealed as the shulamite woman, who is further described to exhibits signs of the mahanaim.

In verse 10 she’s described as army with banners yet she’s is a single person. What is the writer telling us? He continues to have this vision and revelation as he pondered and searched and suddenly he is filled with lofty thoughts and the next thing that follows was the introduction of the shulamite woman and the dance of the mahanaim [that circular motion of alpha and omega].

We will come back to this later but let’s look at a very practical way of doing this dance:

Joshua 6:15 KJVS And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.

Why would they get up at dawn? Why not any other day? Because once they were fulfilling their part of the work on earth those angels responsible for interfering in earthly matters were called into action. Mind you, in the linear dance, it’s heaven meeting man to cause change in the affairs of men. In the circular dance we make God our center of focus. You stir God up in perpetuity of an ending loop of affair, what ever was ended will begin and whatever that began will be ended in him in that sweet experience. It’s a dance of turning situations around. No wonder the shulamite woman was sorted after because by the observation of a dance you can be blessed or cursed and the word return return was talking about returning to the same spot you started but not with the intention of retrogression.

Song of Solomon 6:13 KJVS Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.

The shulamite is the bride and she goes into these motions, she’s is unraveling certain mysteries concerning her that makes the grooms heart rapture and the groom can only describe what he is experiencing as a dance of two camps, just by a repeated 360 motions. She is the perfect woman, perfect bride, that perfect church the lord awaits, during one afternoon in the season of spring, the bridegroom goes out to look for his lover because spring is a season newness and fruitfulness. And in his adventure something heavy raptures his heart and he begins to have lofty thoughts, of all the things in heaven and on earth, why the dance of the shulamite woman?

Let’s do a simple breakdown [Return, return = in a circular motion, that we may Chazah (prophesy) upon thee. What will ye see (prophesy) in the shulamite woman? As it were the company (dance) of two armies mahanaim (mahanaim).]

Dance that we may look upon thee, what will you see in DAVID? will you see despise and shame or you will see a man or a woman who comes with the company of heaven displaying that joy the father gives which no man can give. This is the reason why God had to close the womb of this woman, you cannot despise the delight of God and call it profane just as Peter wanted to brand the holy things of God as mundane. The dance of the mahanaim is the relationship between the church and christ displaying our joy and overwhelmed pleasure at the thought and sight of him.

You see you can’t just get up and dance unless you have a witness, something must arouse you on the inside. It’s a stiring of the spirit to tell you that it’s time for intimacy.

There’s prophecy in this thing we do in church, it is not just to sweat and go home. Move, that the master will be delighted in you. I came across a hebrew text that said, one of the ways hebrew men chose for themselves wives was during dancing and during festive periods just like sukkot. The men will just observe and pick what delights their heart as these women dance on with joy.

Goodness me, isn’t the same thing that happened to Saul when he went after David to kill him after Michal helped him escape? Bible says when Saul and the soldiers got there they met a company of prophets prophesying (dancing) and they instantly fell under the same power. In this dance, we enter the realm of alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. The very unending circular range of motion where our beginning doesn’t make sense yet our end is said to be glorious, all is done and settled in him.

Even in our normal earthly lives, great men are recieved with dancing and sometimes we see these great people receiving this dance also join the dancers in excitement though they themselves may not be good dancers but you do realize the contagiosity of this activity, some even go as far as showering these dancers with money.

We know the delight and passion that burns within through dancing, bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks but do you also know that out of the abundance of that swelling and bubbling joy your bones begin to make noise and all of a sudden you start moving your body regardless of your dancing skills? Dancing is a way to achieve spiritual pleasure. Joy that remains in the heart is limited but if it is acted out, as in dance, it knows no bound. True joy is spiritual and when we engage such an act with this consciousness, we don’t contact potential but rather the actual.

Note: according to Rabbi commentaries when you dance you glide above ground (was this not this not the action of the spirit of God upon the waters, incubating and awaiting the seed to be released?).

The circle dance, according to the rabbis, there’s a great significance in the movement in circles, each individual takes another’s place and this is to prevent the claim that a righteous individual will have limited connection to God as we do in this world. Rather the movement in a circle shows that the righteous will connect to God from all angles and on every level.

I pray you get blessed by this even as you brood over these letters. Shalom.