Mime In The Bible

Nonverbal actions can communicate many powerful feelings and truths. The prophets of Israel used the medium of mime to reveal profound messages of judgment and promise. Mime was also used in joyful celebration and praise on occasions of military and spiritual victory. Although scriptural evidence does not always clearly explain the nature of the mimetic gestures used, it does indicate the movements and gestures were an important aspect of both proclamation and praise.

Prophetic Mime Throughout Scripture, God used dramatic expression to communicate his will and his Word. Mime is one such dramatic expression. Mime or pantomime is listed by Finis Jennings Dake as occurring 40 times throughout the Bible (Ezek. 3:26; 4:1–17; 5:1–17; 6:1–14; 7:23–27; 12:1–26; 20:45–49; 21:1–23; 24:1–27; 32:17–21; 37:1–25; Jer. 13:1–14, 18, 19; 25:15–36; 27:1–28:17; 43:6–13; 51:62–64; 1 Kings 11:30–40; 2 Kings 13:15–19; Isa. 20:1–6; Hos. 2–3; Acts 21:10–13; Rev. 18:21). There are also explicit references to God's dramatic action. Consider, for example, this verse from Hosea: I have also spoken [to you] by the prophets and I have multiplied visions [for you] and [have appealed to you] through parables acted out by the prophets. (Hosea 12:10, Amplified Bible) The phrase parables acted out is a translation of the Hebrew word damah, which indicates a silent enactment of judgment. Other versions translate this passage as: similitude, a representation of another thing (kjv), representation, an active illustration (Septuagint), parable, by active comparison (Knox), and perish, judgment of God by the prophets (Moffatt). All of these translations refer to an active demonstration of the prophetic word by the prophets. In addition, there are many other appearances of "Jewish mime." Jewish mime is not related to modern white-faced mime or the masked Greek and Roman mime. Here the word mime is used in the generic and widest sense of the word, referring to a form of silent gestural communication. The word mime or mimetic is also the best word to describe the willed and developed actions of the prophets. Their gestures were often highly stylized and placed in specific order to help support a concise thought. Jewish mime is the use of stylized gestures to communicate a thought, story, truth, or prophecy. Generally, mime was only performed by the prophets to communicate the word of the Lord, although there are some references to mimes done in praise and worship (Ps. 149:6–9 [by tradition enacted], Exod. 15:20 [Latin Vulgate saltator or pantomimed dance). Prophetic mime was delivered in the following manners: 1. Actions without words (Ezek. 3:26, 4:1–3). 2. Actions with words preceding or following action (2 Kings 13:14–19). 3. Actions with words delivered at the same time (Acts 21:10–13). Prophetic mime shows us that God not only speaks to us through words, but also through gestures. Hosea 12:10 reveals that he has more than one way for revealing his word, listing three different voices for the word: (1) the uttered word, (2) the revealed word, (3) the dramatic word. The messengers who used this prophetic voice of drama include Agabus, Ahijah, an angel in Revelation, Elisha, Ezekiel, Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. There are many reasons why God might have used mime. Eighty percent of human communication is nonverbal. The message delivered with mime can be powerfully clear and very well communicated. Mime involves the observer's "eyegate." God used mime when the people would no longer listen to the spoken word alone, as in the cases of Jeremiah and Ezekiel when the children of Israel listened to the false prophets and had closed their ears to the truth. Now they would see the Word of the Lord that they had chosen not to hear. Mime challenged the people to reflect upon the meaning of the gestures used to open themselves to the truths being presented. A parable is a story that reveals truth to those who were ready to receive it at their own level. The same is true for mime, a parable acted out. Mime is used to show God's judgment (1 Kings 11:30–40); to show God's provisional will (2 Kings 13:15–19); to illustrate judgments of shame (Isa. 20:1–6); to foretell and warn (see the prophecies of Ezekiel and Jeremiah); and to make clear the results of one's actions (Acts 21:10–11). Mime is used to clarify, illustrate, and demonstrate. Ezekiel. Ezekiel stands out as the prominent Jewish mime of Scripture because of his unique call and the conditions during which he prophesied. In 597 b.c., Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem, plundered the city, and deported king Jehiachin and many others to Babylon. Ezekiel was deported at this time and took residence at Tel-abib beside the river Chebar along with the majority of the exiled ones. While in captivity, the thirty-year-old Ezekiel received his commission from Yahweh. He then ministered through mime, speech, acting, visions, symbols, allegories, and parables. Because the Jews would not listen to the Word of the Lord in spoken form, the Lord made Ezekiel mute: "I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house" (Ezek. 3:26, kjv). The only time Ezekiel was able to speak during the early years of his ministry was when God spoke through him saying "thus saith the Lord" (3:27). The rest of the time he was silent and mimed his prophecies. His use of mime extended throughout his ministry. Over one-third of his prophecies are in mime and "parabole," that is, in figure, illustration, comparison, or parable. We note this in his first prophecies, seen in chapters 4–6. An Example of Jewish Mime. In Ezekiel 4:1–3, Ezekiel is commanded by God to enact the capture and defeat of Jerusalem. He is to do so in silence. He first draws the city of Jerusalem on a brick and sets this brick in front of him. Then he shows the different stages of attack that the city will go through by attacking the brick. After showing the siege of the city, he then shows that there is a barrier between the city and God (seen by the use of the iron pan). It is possible this barrier was created by the rebellious sins of Israel. This barrier stopped God from helping them, and because of it they could not get through to God with pleas for help. This prophecy is fulfilled in 2 Kings 23:23–25:30 and 2 Chronicles 35:20–36:23. Mime in Praise Mime in praise is a natural extension of the joy or happiness expressed through gestures in everyday life. The victory dances of the Old Testament illustrate the connection between movement, joy, and everyday experience. The developed style of Jewish mime is evidently only truly found as a form of prophecy. However, there are possible occurrences of Jewish mime as praise which are worth analyzing. They are found in Psalm 149:6–9 and Exodus 15:20. It is not certain that these were indeed "Jewish mime," and different interpretations are possible. Psalm 148:6–9 reads as follows:

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all his saints. (kjv)

This passage deals with expressions of praise, including singing, dancing, rejoicing. The action continues into the spiritual warfare of the believer. The Hebrew word used for high praises is romemoth, which means to rise exultantly, to lift up praise in an active sense. The praises are from deep within and are expressed in an outwardly acted fashion. This is seen with the loud audible praise of God that issues from the worshipers in a grand outburst of spiritual song. Their praises commemorate and retell the high and mighty acts for which God is to be praised, including our salvation and his victory over sin and death.

Psalm 149 depicts the worshipers as they take the two-edged sword (the Word) (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12) in their hands and mime the spiritual warfare of believers (Eph. 6; 1 Tim. 1:18; 2 Cor. 10:4–5). Israel once battled physical enemies with songs of praise for God in their mouths (2 Chron. 20:15–17, 21, 28; 1 Sam. 17:47). Now God's people can fight spiritual enemies in the same way.

C. H. Spurgeon said, "We will not copy the chosen people in making literal war, but we will fulfill the emblem by carrying on spiritual war.… we sing joyfully and war earnestly with evil of every kind. Our weapons are not carnal, but are mighty, and wound with both back and edge. The word of God is all edge; whichever way we turn it, it strikes deadly blows at falsehood and wickedness … the verse" (C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David [Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1977]). Thus, Psalm 149:6–7 indicates a happy blending of the chorister and the crusader: "When Godly men give battle to the powers of evil each conflict is high praise unto the God of goodness. Even the tumult of our holy war is a part of the music of our lives" (Ibid.). The hearts of such active worshipers are seen "in their performance [of high praises]: the Lord … [requires] the duty of high praise to be performed with a great measure of Scripture-light, with a high degree of effectual faith, and with a more ample proportion of practical holiness than any other of the most solemn exercises of his public worship" (selections from a sermon entitled "The Prisoner's Praise" (1650) by Samuel Fairclough, quoted by Spurgeon in The Treasury of David). In fact, just as Israel executed judgment on the heathen and punishments (1 Sam. 17:45; 2 Sam. 8:1; 2 Sam 1:18; 2 Cor. 6:7; Neh. 4:17, 6:17–19; Heb. 4:12 [example of the heathens to be judged, and the saints who brought judgment]), we shall overthrow evil and judge the world (Rom. 6:13 [instruments: weapons]; 2 Cor. 10:4–5; 2 Cor. 10:4; Ps. 44:5; Luke 10:19; Rom. 8:37; 1 John 5:4; Rev. 2:26; 3:5, 12, 21; 21:7). As Israel humbled their great enemies by the power of God, so are the chief powers of evil restrained. Evil shall be bound by a great chain and cast into the bottomless pit to be trodden under the feet of all (2 Sam. 22:39–41). Jesus has and will always win this battle for us as we enact what he has already done. We celebrate this victory when we mime and express in movement the spiritual battle we have won: "this honor have all his saints" (Ps. 149:9). With these thoughts a scenario unfolds. The following is an adaptation of Psalm 149:6–9, applying the principles found in Ephesians 6 for spiritual warfare. The worshipers take the two-edged sword, which is the Word of God, into their hands (power and means). They overcome evil by the power of the sword of the Spirit, and swing the mime sword in mime of war as they proclaim the Word of the Lord. The enemy is slain by the word of truth and the judgment of the blood overcomes the power of sin and death, bringing the effects of sin in life to an end. They mime the binding of kings and nobles, binding them with the actions of his praise and life, and with the spoken word they bind principalities and powers of darkness. Evil is placed under their feet as they are shod with the gospel of peace. We are all spiritual warriors fighting the good fight. Psalm 149 was both a literal event (2 Chron. 20:15–17, 21, 28; 1 Sam. 17:47) and a commemorative mime of the battle won. The text gives us the guidelines for the story, though it leaves out the actual gestures. Battle dances and commemorative dances were common to the ancients. Greece and Rome had their Pyrrhic (military) mime/dance. The Egyptians acted out the battles of the gods and kings. In the Middle East it was common to greet the victor of a battle with mimic dances, which reflected the battles won. It is for this reason that the dance of Miriam in Exodus 15:20 is considered as a mime/dance commemorating God's victory over the Egyptian armies. The children of Israel might have been affected by the Egyptian traditions of dance in which the mime/dance leader, called the first-dancer or leading dancer like the Greek archimimus, leads the others in song, dance, and mimetic interpretation. Miriam could be considered the first-dancer (mime leader) as she leads out in this mimetic dance of victory. The victory dances of the Old Testament may well have been mimetic dances set to music. The influence of the Egyptians on the Hebrews can be seen by the dance of Exodus 32 (dancing before the golden calf) and the prohibition against Egyptian art (idolatrous art) in the Ten Commandments. Scholars debate this hypothesis, arguing that the Hebrew children seem to have a mimetic tradition of their own without the influence of Egypt. The Hebrew word used in this verse (32:19) is macholah, suggesting a dance company or chorus (mime). The Greek Septuagint used the word for chorus, suggesting a "pantomimic dance done to song." The Latin Vulgate uses a form of saltator meaning "to dance" which is a synonym for "a pantomime." These words do not mean that the Israelites mimed in a Greek or Roman fashion; they simply identified a movement style which related a story or had mimetic qualities, in addition to expressing feelings of joy. (The expression of dance in Scripture is used as a synonym for joy [see Eccl. 3:4, Ps. 30:11]. The dance of Miriam portrayed the battle as well as expressed the joy of victory, and thus is as much a mime as it is a dance. The same is true for the dances listed in 1 Samuel 18:6, 21:11, 29:5.) In Scripture, dance is considered "the physical expression of the internal joy" and it generally does not express a story. In contrast, mime expresses thoughts and stories. Miriam's "dance" retold the story of God's victory in throwing the Egyptian army into the sea. Therefore it qualifies more as a mime than a dance. A mixing of popular translations of Exodus 15:20–21 recreates a mimetic picture of the event:

Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, (kjv) went out with a tambourine in her hand, (Knox) and all the women went out after her with timbrels, (kjv) with flutes, (8prl) with choruses [mime], (ylt) and with tambourines with which they danced. (ber) And she (Miriam) led them in the refrain, (nab) "Sing ye to the Lord, (kjv) For He hath triumphed, He hath triumphed, (8prl) hurling horse and chariot into the sea." (Moffatt)

Consider the following: Miriam leads the women out of the camp. The men sing with Moses and Joshua the story of God's victory. As the men sing, the women with Miriam repeat the words and mime the actions of the song with the accompaniment of the flute and timbrels, just as the pantomimes of Rome were to mime to the sound of the flute centuries later. Miriam's gestures recreate the horse and the rider as they are thrown into the sea by the right hand of God. The whole story told in Exodus 15 is full of mimographic imagery (gestural illustration). It shows God's arm in battle and the very elements doing his bidding as the enemy is overwhelmed by the forces of the deep, fire, and the earth itself. The poetic retelling of this story is a mime's delight. Miriam may have been influenced by Egypt in this style of mimetic dance, or it could have been an existing Hebrew custom. However, even if it was not, it became a custom in celebrating victories (see 1 Sam. 16:6 and Judg. 21:21). These dances were in all probability mimed. Mimetic Movement and Praise There are different types of gestures: natural gestures—those which we are born doing (crying, laughing, smiling); learned gestures—those which are learned for comfort and by living (sitting, walking, crossing the arms or legs); cultural gestures—those which we do by the influence of education and society (hugging in greeting, waving hello, thumbs up for approval, shaking hands); mimetic gestures—those which copy life or represent an idea or foreign thought (playing an animal, pretending to fly, posing as mad, faking a smile). Scripture is full of mimetic gestures used in praise and worship. Mimetic gestures include clapping the hands (Ezek. 25:13; Ps. 47:1) to represent triumph; lifting the hands (Ps. 23:2; 63:4; 119:48; 134:2; 141:2; 143:6) to show praise and surrender; bowing (Ps. 72:9; 95:6) to show the humbling of our human stature; lifting our head (Ps. 24:7) to give total attention to God; kneeling (Ps. 95:6—barak: to kneel expectantly and quietly before Him, to bless the Lord; Ps. 145:21; 34:1; 63:4; 72:15) to humble ourselves; laughing (Gen. 21:6; Ps. 126:2) with the joy of the Lord; washing each others' feet (Luke 7:44, 1 Tim. 5:10; John 13:4–14; Gen. 19:2) as a sign of servanthood; sharing Communion (Matt. 26:26; Mark 14:22; Acts 10:37; 13:24) in commemoration of the death and resurrection of our Lord; being baptized (Acts 2:38; Rom 6:3; Col. 2:12; 1 Pet. 3:21) as a sign of putting away the old nature and rising in new nature by the resurrection power of Jesus, taking off one's shoes (Exod. 3:5; 2 Sam. 15:30) on holy ground to show we are not worthy and have no ownership or rights before God, we become sensitive to his will; rending clothes (Josh. 7:6; 1 Sam. 4:12; Lam. 2:10; Rev. 18:19) as a sign of mourning; hitting one's chest (Luke 18:13) in sorrow; putting dust (Josh. 7:6; 1 Sam. 4:12; Lam. 2:10; Rev. 18:19) on one's head to represent the worthlessness of oneself; fasting (Matt. 6:16) to be seen as holy, etc. The list continues, pointing out the fact that mimetic gesture is a very strong part of Scripture. Mimetic movement is used in the simplest expressions of life and in the celebration of the cornerstone of our faith, Communion. Therefore, mime and gesture can open people to a greater understanding of the word and our devotion to God in praise and worship.