According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, there are 58 words associated with praise. When David had the Ark of the Covenant brought into Jerusalem, in his excitement he possibly demonstrated them all, from Gadal (to magnify, to increase in estate, to honor) to mizmowr (instrumental music used for psalms), to ragad (to stomp, to spring about wildly, make noise and shout). He went from very priestly and dignified in I Chron. 15:27: "Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the singers and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod" to leaping and dancing wildly in the midst of the parade in a hardly priestly or kingly way. He told his embarrassed wife, "I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes" (II Sam. 6:21b-22a). That same day David wrote this psalm of thanksgiving:

Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts. Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always. Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles, and the judgements He pronounced, O descendants of Israel His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones. He is the Lord our God; His judgements are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, the word He commanded for a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the oath He swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: to you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit. When they were few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. He allowed no man to oppress them; for their sake He rebuked kings: 'Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.' Sing to the Lord all the earth; proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and joy in His dwelling place. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Bring an offering and come before Him; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. Tremble before Him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it can not be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns!' Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them! Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the Lord, for He comes to judge the earth. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. Cry out, 'Save us, O God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your Holy Name, that we may glory in Your praise.' Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting" (I Chron. 16:8-36).

David, the chosen of God, the king of Israel, the victor over Goliath and the Philistines--David the great, became David the foolish, as he celebrated before God in the sheer joy of experiencing His presence. He began the celebration in solumnity wearing the garb of a priest, but his joy was too great to be contained, and he broke out into ragad, jumping, shouting, and praising His King from the depths of his spirit.

I remember one day when I was in college. It was a Saturday and most of the students had gone off for the weekend. It was also raining very hard. I'm a fan of walking in the rain, so I pulled on my hoodie and headed off across campus. In the middle of the quad, I came to a huge puddle. I looked around and thought, "Why not?" And jumped in. I was having a ball just splashing around and stomping the water, rain still pouring down, when all of a sudden, I heard someone call my name--oops! I looked around and under an overhang on one of the buildings, I saw a girl who lived on my hall. I went over and had to ask, "How in the world did you know that was me from that distance with my hood pulled over my head?" She answered, "You're the only one I know who would be out in this weather stomping around in a puddle." Something inside told me I ought to be embarrassed, but I just couldn't be--it was fun and the release of joy by dancing in a puddle was a harmless thing. I felt GOOD! Although I wasn't dancing before the ark, I felt rather akin to David in spirit. Expressing the joy of the Lord is no bad thing, and as far as the world's opinion--who cares! "I'll become even more undignified than this . . .   "