Job 21:11

11. Like a flock His wounded heart conceives of the choicest of God’s gifts under the beautiful figure of a flock. Epiphanius has observed that in the early ages of the world the child rarely died before the parent. Hence the emphasis laid upon the death of Haran before that of his father, Terah, (Genesis 11:28,) who, he thinks, was thus punished for his idolatry. (Joshua 24:2; Joshua 24:14.) The thought of his dead family must have added to the perplexities of Job, and may account somewhat for his confusion as to the moral government of God.

Children dance וקד , jump about, ( Delitzsch,) like the young of the flocks. The children of the wicked disport themselves under the skies (this is implied by ישׁלחו , they send them forth, namely, out of doors) like the sheep of the pastures. (Umbreit.) There is no evidence that their diversion corresponded to the modern dance. The harmless frolicking of the children was simply one of the features of domestic happiness that crowned the homes of the wicked. While the passage has no bearing on the question of dancing, as such, it is not unworthy of remark that the moralist, having in view the well-being of the soul, has ever felt himself called upon to condemn dancing as practiced in modern times.