Reference: Dreams
Hastings
Sleep impressed primitive savages as a great mystery; and they consequently attributed a peculiar significance to the dreams of sleepers, as phenomena which they could not control by their will or explain by their reason. In the lowest stage of culture all dreams were regarded as objectively real experiences; the god or spirit actually visited the dreamer, the events dreamed actually occurred. Hence any one who was subject to frequent dreaming was looked on as a special medium of Divine energy, and many sought to produce the state by artificial means, e.g. fasting or the use of drugs. In process of time dreams came to be treated rather as Divine warnings than as actual occurrences. Such admonitions could be deliberately sought, e.g. by sleeping in a sacred spot, such as the temples of Asklepios or Serapis or the grotto of Trophonius; or they could come unsought, when the gods wished either to reveal or to deceive. (Plato, however, while allowing that the gods may send dreams, denies that they can wish to deceive men). Thus, for instance, among the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Arabs, the Egyptians, a profound importance was attached to dreams; there were professional interpreters of them (cf. Ge 40:5,8; 41:1; Da 2:5), and manuals were compiled to aid the work of elucidation (cf. the Oneirocritica of Artemidorus of Ephesus). Wiser theorists might discriminate between dreams, but popular superstition tended to regard them all as omens, to be explained, as far as possible, in accordance with definite rules.
1. Among the Jews.
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And God will come to Abimelech in a dream at night, and say to him, Behold, thou dead, for the woman which thou didst take, and she having married a husband.
And he will dream, and behold a ladder placed in the earth, and the head of it reaching to the heavens: and behold the messengers of God ascending and descending upon it. And behold, Jehovah was set upon it, and he will say, I Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaak: the land which thou liest upon it, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. read more. And thy seed was as the dust of the earth, And thou didst spread abroad to the sea and east, and north, and south: and in thee shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed, and in thy seed. And behold, I am with thee, and I preserved thee in all which thou shalt go, and I turned thee back to this land; for I will not forsake thee, till that I have done what I said to thee. And Jacob will awake from his sleep, and he will say, surely there is Jehovah in this place and I knew not And he will be afraid, and will Say, How terrible this place is not this but the house of God, and this the gate of the heavens? And Jacob will rise early in the morning, and take the stone which he put at his head, and will set it a pillar, and pour oil upon its head. And he will call the name of that place the house of God: and Ailam Luz the name of the city at the beginning.
And it shall be in the time the sheep shall conceive, and I shall lift up mine eyes, and I shall see in a dream, and behold, the he-goats ascending upon the sheep, banded, speckled and sprinkled with spots.
And he will say to them, Hear, now, this dream which I dreamed.
And he will dream yet another dream, and he will recount it to his brethren, and he will say, Behold I dreamed a dream yet again: and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars worshipping to me.
And they will dream a dream, they two, a man his dream in one night, a man according to the interpretation of his dream; the cup-bearer and the baker which were to the king of Egypt, who were bound in the house of the fortress.
And they will say to him, We dreamed a dream, and there is none interpreting it And Joseph will say to them, Are not interpretations to God? Relate now to me.
And they will say to him, We dreamed a dream, and there is none interpreting it And Joseph will say to them, Are not interpretations to God? Relate now to me.
And it will be the end of two years of days, and Pharaoh dreamed; and behold, he stood by the river.
And Joseph will say to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh, one: this which he did; God announces to Pharaoh.
And he will say, Hear ye now, my word: If there shall be your prophet of Jehovah, in a vision I will be known to him; in a dream I will speak to him. Not so my servant Moses; he was faithful in all my house. read more. Mouth to mouth I will speak to him, and in appearance and not in enigmas; and the portion of Jehovah shall he behold: and wherefore were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?
There shall not be found in thee him causing his son or his daughter to pass through in fire, divining divinations, practicing magic, and taking omens and a sorcerer, And charming a spell, and asking of a necromancer, and a wizard, and seeking to the dead.
And Gideon will come, and behold, a man recounting a dream to his neighbor; and he will say, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a round cake of barley bread rolling into the camp of Midian; and it will come even to the tent, and it will strike it, and it will fall and will turn it over, so that the tent fell.
And Samuel will say to Saul, Why didst thou disturb me to bring me up? And Saul will say, Distress to me greatly: and the rovers warring against me, and God departed from me, and he answered me no more, also by the hand of the prophets, also by dreams: and I will call to thee to make known to me what I shall do.
In the hill Jehovah was seen to Solomon in a dream at night: and God will say, Ask what I shall give to thee.
In a dream, in a vision of the night, in the falling of deep sleep upon men, in slumbers upon the bed;
For in the multitude of dreams, and vanities, and many words: but fear thou God.
I heard what the prophets said, prophesying a falsehood in my name, saying, I dreamed, I dreamed.
The prophet whom with him a dream, he will recount a dream; and whom my word with him, he will speak my word in truth. What to the straw with the grain? says Jehovah.
Behold me against them prophesying dreams of falsehood, says Jehovah, and they will recount them, and will cause my people to wander by their falsehoods and by their boasting; and I sent them not, and I commanded them not; and helping, they shall be of no profit to this people, says Jehovah.
And ye shall not hear to your prophets and to your divinations, and to your dreamers, and to those of you practicing magic, and to your sorcerers, which they are saying to you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babel:
For thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel, Your prophets in the midst of you shall not deceive to you, and your diviners and you shall not hear to your dreams which ye dream.
The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The word went out from me: if ye will not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, ye shall be made pieces, and your houses shall be set dung-hills.
But there is a God in the heavens revealing secrets, and he made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what to be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, it is thus:
In one year to Belshazzar the king of Babel, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: at that time he wrote the dream, telling the head of the words.
For the family gods spake vanity, and the diviners saw falsehood, and they will speak dreams of falsehood they will comfort in vain: for this, they removed as a flock, they were afflicted for there was no shepherd.
And reflecting upon these things, behold a messenger of the Lord appeared to him saying, Joseph, thou son of David, thou shouldest not fear to take to thyself Mary thy wife: for that begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.
And they, having gone back, lo, the messenger of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph, saying, Having risen, take to thyself the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt, and be there till I speak to thee; for Herod is about to seek the young child to destroy him.
Having risen, take to thyself the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they seeking the soul of the young child have died.
And the following night the Lord, having stood by him, said, Take courage, Paul: for as thou hast testified the things concerning me at Jerusalem, so must thou also testify at Rome.
For the messenger of God stood by me in this night, whose I am, and whom I serve,
Morish
Though associated in some passages with trifles and vanities, Job 7:14; Ec 5:7, there is yet abundant evidence in the scriptures that God often conveyed His mind to people by means of dreams, and this not only to those who obeyed Him, but also to the heathen. Ge 20:3,6; Jg 7:13. "God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed: then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man." Job 33:14-17. God said that He would instruct His prophets in dreams. Nu 12:6. He also used dreams in the case of Nebuchadnezzar and of Daniel in order to reveal His will and purpose concerning, the future.
Joseph, the reputed father of the Lord, was directed several times by means of dreams; and Pilate was warned by his wife to have nothing to do with that just man because of what she had suffered in a dream. Mt 1:20; 2:12-22; 27:19. It is to be remarked that in the last days when God pours out His Spirit on all flesh the sons and daughters will prophesy, and the young men shall see visions, and the old men shall dream dreams. Joe 2:28; Ac 2:17. This will be the way that God will make known His mind in those days.
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And God will come to Abimelech in a dream at night, and say to him, Behold, thou dead, for the woman which thou didst take, and she having married a husband.
And God will say to him in a dream, I knew also that in the uprightness of thy heart thou didst this; and I also will restrain thee from sinning against me: for this I suffered thee not to touch her.
And he will say, Hear ye now, my word: If there shall be your prophet of Jehovah, in a vision I will be known to him; in a dream I will speak to him.
And Gideon will come, and behold, a man recounting a dream to his neighbor; and he will say, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a round cake of barley bread rolling into the camp of Midian; and it will come even to the tent, and it will strike it, and it will fall and will turn it over, so that the tent fell.
And thou didst terrify me with dreams, and thou wilt make me afraid with visions:
For God will speak at once, and at a second time, and he shall not regard it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, in the falling of deep sleep upon men, in slumbers upon the bed; read more. Then he will uncover the ear of men, and will seal in their instruction, To remove man from working, and he will bide pride from man.
For in the multitude of dreams, and vanities, and many words: but fear thou God.
And it was after this I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters prophesied, your old men shall dream your young men shall see visions.
And reflecting upon these things, behold a messenger of the Lord appeared to him saying, Joseph, thou son of David, thou shouldest not fear to take to thyself Mary thy wife: for that begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.
And having received intimation of the divine will in a dream not to turn back to Herod, by another way they went back to their own country. And they, having gone back, lo, the messenger of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph, saying, Having risen, take to thyself the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt, and be there till I speak to thee; for Herod is about to seek the young child to destroy him. read more. And having risen, be took to himself the young child and his mother by night, and turned back in Egypt: And was there till the death of Herod: that it might be completed having been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. Then Herod, seeing he was deluded by the magi, was very angry, and having sent, destroyed all the children which in Bethlehem, and in all its bounds, from two years and under, according to the time he examined thoroughly of the magi. Then was completed that spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, A voice was heard in Rama, wailing, and weeping, and much lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, for they are not. And Herod having died, behold a messenger of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Having risen, take to thyself the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they seeking the soul of the young child have died. And having risen, he took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. And having heard that Archelaus reigned over Judea, instead of Herod his father, he was afraid to go there; and having received intimation of the divine will in a dream, he turned back into the parts of Galilee.
And he sitting upon the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, Nothing to thee and that just one: for I have suffered this day many things in a dream, on his account.
And it shall be in the last days, says God, I pour out from my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your elder dream dreams:
Smith
Dreams.
The Scripture declares that the influence of the Spirit of God upon the soul extends to its sleeping as well as its waking thoughts. But, in accordance with the principle enunciated by St. Paul in
dreams, in which the understanding is asleep, are placed below the visions of prophecy, in which the understanding plays its part. Under the Christian dispensation, while we read frequently of trances and vision, dreams are never referred to as vehicles of divine revelation. In exact accordance with this principle are the actual records of the dreams sent by God. The greater number of such dreams were granted, for prediction or for warning, to those who were aliens to the Jewish covenant. And where dreams are recorded as means of God's revelation to his chosen servants, they are almost always referred to the periods of their earliest and most imperfect knowledge of him. Among the Jews, "if any person dreamed a dream which was peculiarly striking and significant, he was permitted to go to the high priest in a peculiar way, and see if it had any special import. But the observance of ordinary dreams and the consulting of those who pretend to skill in their interpretation are repeatedly forbidden.
De 13:1-5; 18:9-14
Schaff.
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When there shall arise in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he gave to thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come which he spake to thee, saying, We will go after other gods which we know not, and we will serve them, read more. Thou shalt not hear to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams: for Jehovah thy God tries you to know whether ye are loving Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall go after Jehovah your God, and ye shall fear him, and his commands shall ye watch, and to his voice shall ye hear, and ye shall serve him, and to him shall ye cleave. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall die, for he spake a turning away from Jehovah your God, having brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed thee from the house of servants, to thrust thee away from the way which Jehovah thy God commanded to go in it: and put thou away the evil from the midst of thee.
When thou comest to the land which Jehovah thy God gave to thee,. thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found in thee him causing his son or his daughter to pass through in fire, divining divinations, practicing magic, and taking omens and a sorcerer, read more. And charming a spell, and asking of a necromancer, and a wizard, and seeking to the dead. For every one doing these things is an abomination to Jehovah And on account of these abominations, Jehovah thy God destroys them from thy face. Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God. For these nations which thou shalt possess them, they will hear to those practicing magic, and to those divining: and thou, not thus, gave Jehovah thy God to thee.
What therefore is it? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray also with the mind: I will play on the harp in the spirit, and I will play also on the harp in the mind.
Watsons
DREAMS. The easterns, in particular the Jews, greatly regarded dreams, and applied for their interpretation to those who undertook to explain them. The ancient Greeks and Romans had the same opinion of them, as appears from their most eminent writers. We see the antiquity of this attention to dreams in the history of Pharaoh's butler and baker, Genesis 40. Pharaoh himself, and Nebuchadnezzar, are instances. God expressly condemned to death all who pretended to have prophetic dreams, and to foretel futurities, even though what they foretold came to pass, if they had any tendency to promote idolatry, De 13:1-3. But the people were not forbidden, when they thought they had a significative dream, to address the prophets of the Lord, or the high priest in his ephod, to have it explained. Saul, before the battle of Gilboa, consulted a woman who had a familiar spirit, "because the Lord would not answer him by dreams, nor by prophets," 1Sa 28:6-7. The Lord himself sometimes discovered his will in dreams, and enabled persons to explain them. He informed Abimelech in a dream, that Sarah was the wife of Abraham, Ge 20:3,6. He showed Jacob the mysterious ladder in a dream, Ge 28:12-13; and in a dream an angel suggested to him a means of multiplying his flocks, Ge 31:11-12, &c. Joseph was favoured very early with prophetic dreams, whose signification was easily discovered by Jacob, Ge 37:5. God said, that he spake to other prophets in dreams, but to Moses face to face. The Midianites gave credit to dreams, as appears from that which a Midianite related to his companion; and from whose interpretation Gideon took a happy omen, Jg 7:13,15. The Prophet Jeremiah exclaims against impostors who pretended to have had dreams, and abused the credulity of the people: "They prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him tell it faithfully, saith the Lord," Jer 23:25,28-29. The Prophet Joel promises from God, that in the reign of the Messiah, the effusion of the Holy Spirit should be so copious, that the old men should have prophetic dreams, and the young men should receive visions, Joe 2:28.
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And God will come to Abimelech in a dream at night, and say to him, Behold, thou dead, for the woman which thou didst take, and she having married a husband.
And God will say to him in a dream, I knew also that in the uprightness of thy heart thou didst this; and I also will restrain thee from sinning against me: for this I suffered thee not to touch her.
And he will dream, and behold a ladder placed in the earth, and the head of it reaching to the heavens: and behold the messengers of God ascending and descending upon it. And behold, Jehovah was set upon it, and he will say, I Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaak: the land which thou liest upon it, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.
And the messenger of God will say to me in a dream, Jacob: and I shall say, Behold me. And he will say, Lift up now thine eyes and see all the he-goats ascending upon the sheep, banded, speckled and sprinkled with spots; for I saw all that Laban did to thee.
And Joseph will dream a dream, and he will announce to his brethren: and they will add yet to hate him.
When there shall arise in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he gave to thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come which he spake to thee, saying, We will go after other gods which we know not, and we will serve them, read more. Thou shalt not hear to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams: for Jehovah thy God tries you to know whether ye are loving Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
And Gideon will come, and behold, a man recounting a dream to his neighbor; and he will say, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a round cake of barley bread rolling into the camp of Midian; and it will come even to the tent, and it will strike it, and it will fall and will turn it over, so that the tent fell.
And it will be when Gideon heard the recounting of the dream and its breaking, and he will worship, and turn back to the camp of Israel, and he will say, Arise, ye, for Jehovah gave into your hand the camp of Midian.
And Saul will ask through Jehovah, and Jehovah answered him not, also in dreams, also in Lights, also in the prophets. And Saul will say to his servants, Seek out for me a woman, mistress of necromancy, and I will go to her and inquire of her. And his servants will say to him, Behold, a woman mistress of necromancy in the Fountain of Dor.
I heard what the prophets said, prophesying a falsehood in my name, saying, I dreamed, I dreamed.
The prophet whom with him a dream, he will recount a dream; and whom my word with him, he will speak my word in truth. What to the straw with the grain? says Jehovah. So is not my word as fire? says Jehovah; and as a hammer, it will break the rock in pieces.
And it was after this I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters prophesied, your old men shall dream your young men shall see visions.