Dreams

I went to church to pray and saw a bunch of Encyclopedias concerning the Bible (Family Bible Encyclopedia). I pulled one out, not knowing I would run into something interesting. Sure enough, I run into "dreams", and all of a sudden, I'm super curious. Here's what it said:

DREAMS

Dreams in the ancient world were thought to place man in communication with the world of the gods and of the spirits. It was believed that dreams were revelations of things hidden; that they foretold the future; that they contained warnings, hints, and omens with reference to the everyday world. Dreams and dreaming were regarded very seriously throughout the ancient Near East. They were often considered real events, the dreamer actually being visited by the Spirit of God, actually performing or witnessing the events which occurred in the dream. Dreams took on great importance, especially in Egypt and Babylon, where there grew up a large class of priests and magicians who traded in dreams. Parallel to this, many people actively sought to dream so as to be in contact with divinity. Thus drugs and charms were used to induce dreaming. The practice of "incubation," or sleeping in or near a sacred place in order to receive a communication from a deity, became commonplace.

The ancient Israelites shared this estimation of dreams as being divinely inspired. Joseph was noted for his ability to interpret dreams so as to foretell the future (Gen. 37:5-11; 41-42). Gideon, upon hearing one of his soldiers tell another of his dream, praised the LORD because the interpretation of the dream clearly prophesied victory for the Israelites; and Daniel, who successfully interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar concerning the future of the realm, was made "master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers" (Dan. 5:11) of Babylon. One of the counselors of Job tells the stricken man that his advice to him cam "in thoughts from the visions of the night" (Job 4:13).

Dreams could also bring warnings from God even to the godless: "When he [Pontius Pilate] was set down on the [judgement seat], his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man [Jesus Christ]; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him" (Matt. 27:19).

Despite this almost universal and unquestioning confidence in the power of dreams, the Book of Deuteronomy decrees that "that false prophet, or that dreamer [interpreter] of dreams, shall be put to death" (13:5). This apparently only applied to men who led the Israelites away from YAHWEH to other gods. Nevertheless, the interpreter of dreams was considered dangerous. The prophet Jeremiah warned against believing everyone who claimed to have had a revelation in a dream: "I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed" (Jer. 23:25); nevertheless, YAHWEH did make himself known to men in dreams: "If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream" (Num. 12:6).

Throughout the OLD Testament ad even the NEW Testament, dreams were regarded as messages sent from God. Thus "the angel of the LORD appeared unto him [Joseph] in a dream, saying '. . . take unto thee Mary thy wife'" (Matt. 1:20) when he was about to put her away for carrying a child that was not his. Divinely inspired dreams are recorded frequently in the NEW Testament. The wise men, after visiting the infant Jesus, were "warned" of God in a dream that they should not return to [Herod]" (Matt. 2:12) and when the infant's life was threatened: "an angel of the LORD appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, 'Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt'" (Matt.2:13). These visitations were never taken as miraculous and, indeed are stated very matter-of-factly: "In [Gibeon] the LORD appeared to [Solomon] in a dream by night: and God said, 'Ask what I shall give thee'" (1 Kings 3:5); "And God came to [Laban], the Syrian, in a dream by night" (Gen. 31:24).

Although the Bible does not mention incubation as a practice among the ancient Hebrews, we have a close parallel to it in the Book of Genesis (28:11 ff.) when Jacob stopped at Bethel and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a ladder. Although Jacob did not deliberately choose this place to sleep in order to dream, he recognized the place as having divine significance and he marked the sanctity of the spot by setting up a sacred pillar.

Dreams were wholly accepted as legitimate experiences in biblical times. The danger lay in the false prophets and magicians who only claimed to have dreams or who interpreted dreams in a way dangerous to orthodox faith. Thus even in the OLD Testament, the interpretation of dreams was restricted to persons to whom God had given the gift.