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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

DREAMS

Thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep. Dreams have always fascinated people; the events experienced in dreams are too vivid and real to be ignored.

Ancient Understanding

From the earliest times people viewed dreams as a mystery, provoking speculation about another actual sphere of existence in which the person lived and acted while the body slept. Dreams, especially those of emperors and kings, were held to be messages from the gods.

Ancient recorded dreams focused on three main areas: religion, politics, and personal destiny. Religious dreams called for piety and devotion to the gods. Political dreams supposedly forecast the outcome of battles and the future destiny of nations. Personal dreams guided family decisions and presaged serious crises.

Sometimes the god took the initiative and forewarned the person about something unexpected. Sometimes the ruler or general would go to a pagan temple or holy place and sleep there, hoping to bring on a dream that would help him cope with some serious problem. In some dreams the message was clear; more often it had to be discovered by individuals who specialized in dream interpretation. Records were kept concerning specific dreams and the subsequent events.

Old Testament Use

Dreams played an important part in the lives of God’s people. Of the nearly 120 references to dreams in the OT, 52 come in Genesis during the early patriarchal period and 29 in the book of Daniel. In reality, however, only 14 specific dreams are recorded in the OT. Most of them are in Genesis and reflect God’s direct revelation to the patriarchs. Even Daniel tells about only two of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams—the large, manlike image and the gigantic tree chopped down—and his own dream about the four beasts and the Ancient of Days.

The OT understanding of dreams had several significant features. Like the rest of the ancient world, people of God believed that God communicated in dreams. Yet there is in the OT accounts a reserve that is lacking in the perverse and obscene scenes often described in pagan dream records. Another distinction is that God is the initiator; he gives the revelatory dreams when, where, and to whom he pleases—a truth painfully learned by Saul (1 Sm 28:6, 15). More significantly, the secular approach to interpretation was specifically rejected. Understanding of dream symbols came not by research in dream books or by natural human ability. When Joseph interpreted the dreams of his two Egyptian fellow prisoners and later of the pharaoh himself, he insisted on giving full credit to God (Gn 40:8; 41:7, 25, 28, 39). Similarly, Daniel informed Nebuchadnezzar that the God in heaven who reveals secrets would make known the king’s dream and its meaning, in which task professional dream interpreters had failed (Dn 2:27-28).

Unlike their neighbors, the OT saints knew that a dream was a “vision of the night” (Jb 33:15), and figuratively represented the spiritual realm (Jb 20:8; Pss 73:20; 126:1; Is 29:7-8).

God used dreams in OT days to protect his servants (Gn 20), to reveal himself to people in a special way (28:12), to provide guidance in specific circumstances (31:10-13), and to forewarn about personal future events (37:5-20). Dreams were also used to predict the history of nations (chs 40–41) and to foretell the four great successive world empires that would be replaced by God’s eternal kingdom (Dn 4:19-27).

During the approximately 1,000 years between Joseph and Daniel, only two dreams are recorded. One assured Gideon that God would defeat the Midianites (Jgs 7:13-15); the other concerns how Solomon became so wise after his humble, unselfish request for “an understanding heart” (1 Kgs 3:9, 15) thoroughly pleased God.

In the final OT dreams, God gave Nebuchadnezzar an overview of future world history (Dn 2:31-45) and a prediction of the king’s temporary insanity (4:19-27). Daniel’s dream of the four beasts was similar to the king’s first dreams, but with added details concerning future international relations (7:13-14).

Dreams were seen as one means by which God would speak to prophets (Nm 12:6). But how could the people of God distinguish a true prophet from an imposter? God gave two tests: the ability to predict the immediate future (Dt 18:22) and the consistency of the message with previously revealed truth (13:1-4). False prophets were put to death (v 5). False prophecy was a serious problem in the days of Jeremiah (Jer 23:25-32) and Zechariah (Zec 10:2). Despite repeated warnings by Jeremiah (Jer 23:32; 27:9-10; 29:8-9), the people preferred to listen to the false prophets with their empty messages of hope. Dreams were also a part of Israel’s prophetic hope (Jl 2:28).

New Testament Use

The few specific dreams in the NT all come from Matthew, five of these in the first two chapters. They emphasize the divine care and protection of the baby Jesus. First, there was God’s provision that Jesus would grow up in a home with a father and mother and thus avoid the cruelty and shame of being unjustly called an illegitimate child (Mt 1:19-23). Then the wise men were instructed in a dream not to tell Herod where Jesus was living (2:12). Jesus was further protected from jealous King Herod by the dream that told Joseph to flee to Egypt with Mary and the child (v 13). On Herod’s death, Joseph was divinely advised in a dream to return home from Egypt (v 20). Finally, God warned Joseph to avoid Judea, where Herod’s evil son Archelaus reigned, and to settle in Galilee instead (v 22).

The only other specific dream mentioned in the NT prompted Pilate’s wife to warn her husband, “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man” (Mt 27:19, niv).