dream Summary and Overview

God has frequently made use of dreams in communicating his will to men. The most remarkable instances of this are recorded in the history of Jacob (Gen. 28:12; 31:10), Laban (31:24), Joseph (37:9-11), Gideon (Judg. 7), and Solomon (1 Kings 3:5). Other significant dreams are also recorded, such as those of Abimelech (Gen. 20:3-7), Pharaoh's chief butler and baker (40:5), Pharaoh (41:1-8), the Midianites (Judg. 7:13), Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:1; 4:10, 18), the wise men from the east (Matt. 2:12), and Pilate's wife (27:19). To Joseph "the Lord appeared in a dream," and gave him instructions regarding the infant Jesus (Matt. 1:20; 2:12, 13, 19). In a vision of the night a "man of Macedonia" stood before Paul and said, "Come over into Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9; see also 18:9; 27:23).

DREAM . From a very early period dreams have been observed with superstitious regard. God was pleased to make use of them to reveal his purposes or requirements to individuals, and he also gave power to interpret them. Gen 20:3-6; Gen 28:12-14; 1 Sam 28:6; Dan 2; Joel 2:28. And if any person dreamed a dream which was peculiarly striking and significant, he was permitted to go to the high priest in a particular 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. Deut 13:15; Deut 18:9-14. The words dreams and visions are sometimes used indiscriminately. Gen 46:2; Num 12:6; Job 20:8; Job 33:14-15; Dan 2:28; Zech 7:1, though elsewhere they would seem to be distinguished. Joel 2:28. In the vision the subject may be awake even though it take place at night. 2 Kgs 6:17; Acts 18:9; Acts 23:11; Acts 27:23. Paul's vision, 2 Cor 12:1-2, Ex 6:4, was an ecstasy. To his mind heaven was open, yet so real was the vision that he could not tell whether he were in the body or out of it. Some commentators place this vision while Paul lay on the ground at Lystra as if dead from the stoning. Sometimes miraculous revelations of God's will are called visions. Luke 1:22; 1 Sam 3:15. See Vision, Trance. The power of interpreting dreams was, of course, a supernatural gift, so far as the dreams had reference to future events; for these are necessarily unknown, except to the supreme Disposer of them. Gen 40:5, 1 Kgs 15:8; Gen 41:16. Since the fuller revelation of God's will has been made to us in the gospel, all confidence in dreams as indicative of future events is presumptuous and delusive, and all pretension to the power of interpreting them must be regarded as in the highest degree impious and absurd.

The revelation of God's will in dreams is characteristic of the early and less perfect patriarchal times (Genesis 28:12; Genesis 31:24; Genesis 37:5-10); to Solomon, 1 Kings 3:5, in commencing his reign; the beginnings of the New Testament dispensation (Matthew 1:20; Matthew 2:13; Matthew 2:19; Matthew 2:22); and the communications from God to the rulers of the pagan world powers, Philistia, Egypt, Babylon (Genesis 20:3; Genesis 40:5; Genesis 41:1); Elihu, Job 33:15; Daniel 2; Daniel 4:5, etc. The dream form of revelation is that most appropriate to those outside the kingdom of God. So the Midianite (Judges 7:13), Pilate's wife (Matthew 27:19). But it is the Israelites Joseph and Daniel who interpret; for pagandom is passive, Israel active, in divine things to the glory of the God of Israel. Dreams were a frequent means of imposture and idolatry Deuteronomy 13:1-3; Zechariah 10:2). The dream form of revelation is placed below that of prophecy and even divination (Numbers 12:6; Joel 2:28; 1 Samuel 28:6). "Trances" and "visions" are mentioned in the Christian church, but not dreams. While God has acted and can act on the mind in a dream (wherein the reason and judgment are dormant, but the sensations and imaginations active and uncontrolled by the judgment), His higher mode of revelation is that wherein the understanding is active and conscious; consequently, the former mode appears more in imperfect stages of the development of God's scheme than in the advanced stages. "In the multitude of dreams are divers vanities" (Ecclesiastes 5:7), i.e., God's service becomes by "dreams" (foolish fancies as to what God requires of worshippers); and random "words," positive vanity of manifold kinds; compare Matthew 6:7, "they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."