Nowadays, when we think of Christmas dreams, we imagine visions of sugar plums dancing in the heads of children in the classic poem The Night Before Christmas. However, Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, had some important dreams regarding the Christ Child. In his first dream, the archangel Gabriel came to Joseph assuring him that Mary had indeed conceived of the Holy Spirit and encouraged him to take Mary as his wife rather than quietly divorcing her. The angel said to name the Child Jesus for He was destined to save people from their sins (Mt 1:19-21). After the visit of the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him to take his family and flee into Egypt because Herod sought the Child to kill him (Mt 2:13-15). The Magi had also been warned in a dream not to reveal the Baby's whereabouts to Herod (Mt 2:12). Eventually, Herod died and an angel again appeared in one of Joseph's dreams. This time the angel told Joseph to bring Jesus and Mary back to Israel (Mt 2:19-21). On the way home, Joseph received another dream warning from God. He was told to make a home for the Child in Nazareth in the region of Galilee (Mt 2:22-23).
Throughout history, people have been greatly influenced by dreams. Stories of men and women falling in love with dream people and then meeting them have endings both good and bad. The Irish Angus Mac Og was sick until he found his dream woman. Great literature such as Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Coleridge's Kubla Khan were born of dreams. Inventors such as Elias Howe, who invented the sewing machine, were often surprised to find solutions to their mechanical difficulties in dreams. Sometimes large movements, such as the Native American Ghost Dances of the late 1800's, were sustained by dream prophecies. Dreams about famous babies or their mothers which later proved oracular caused many to believe that certain individuals were destined to greatness. Before his birth, Cyrus's grandfather dreamed that both a flood and a vine came from his mother's womb and spread throughout Asia. Later Cyrus conquered the Asian world (Tertullian, Part First, Chapt. 46). People have sometimes mended their ways after a particularly vivid dream. Gregory of Nyssa made his first public profession of Christianity after the Forty Christian Martyrs beat and reproached him in a dream for his lack of enthusiasm at a ceremony held in their honor (The Life & Writings of Gregory of Nyssa). Crises are said to be revealed in dreams. An apocryphal work relates that Eve saw her son Cain drinking the blood of his brother in a dream. When she went with her husband to check on their sons, they discovered that Cain had indeed killed Abel (Revelation of Moses, Apocrypha of the New Testament, Fathers, Ante-Nicene v. 8 (8)).
What happens to us while we dream? Today, most people believe that dreams are simply sounds and pictures which pass through one's mind during sleep. However primitive people thought that the soul escaped the body during sleep and enjoyed a life which it shared with other dreamers' souls. If the soul were injured or captured during sleep the dreamer might die. Because of this belief, many people have been afraid to awaken dreamers or sleep-walkers for fear they might wake up before their souls return to their bodies. If this happens, the dreamer is believed to die, sicken, or enter a vegetative state. Shamans, witch-doctors, and sorcerers were employed to retrieve lost souls. They might also enter the dream world to speak to various spirits. The Aborigines of Australia believed that creation occurred during the Dreamtime when spirits walked the earth, creating and teaching people and animals.
Lactantius and Tertullian believed that the capacity to dream was given to us by God so that the never-sleeping soul might be occupied while our earthly bodies slept. Without dreams, they reasoned, our bodies would perish for lack of sleep. False dreams are given merely for the sake of rest while true dreams come from God for the purposes of instruction, rebuke, or guidance. Demons, too, might send dreams to humankind to torment them or turn them from the true path. Although demonic dreams may come true, they do so only to cause us to chase after idols or waste our time in introspection. Tertullian taught that, since we have no control over our dreams, we are unlikely to receive either divine reward or punishment for actions undertaken while sleeping (Lactantius, On the Workmanship of God, Chapt. 18 - Fathers, Ante-Nicene; Tertullian, Part First, Chapt. 45-49).
Although some biblical characters received dream messages from God, most dreams were thought to be frivolous fantasies and were not paid much attention. Some people thought dreams were caused by too much activity or commerce (Eccl 5:3). Asaph considered the wicked little more than images in a dream (Ps 73:20). They would disappear, leaving no more mark upon righteous souls than dreams of eating and drinking would leave upon the bodies of the hungry and thirsty (Job 20:8-9; Is 29:8). Solomon declared that dreams were vanity (Eccl 5:7). Two hundred years before Christ, the son of Sirach chastised those who sought advice in dreams; it was much better to seek the opinions of the righteous. The following maxims were recorded by him: "Vain hopes delude the senseless, and dreams give wings to a fool's fancy. Paying heed to dreams is like clutching a shadow or chasing the wind. What you see in a dream is nothing but a reflection, the image of a face in a mirror. Truth can no more come from illusion than purity can come from impurity. Divination, omens, and dreams are all futile, mere fantasies, like those of a woman in labour. Unless they are sent by intervention from the Most High, pay no attention to them. Dreams have led many astray and disappointed those who built their hopes on them. The law is perfect without such illusions; wisdom spoken by those faithful to the law is complete" (Ecclesiasticus 34:1-7 REB). When Cyrus gave the exiled Jews permission to return to Zion and rebuild the Temple, they were so surprised and so happy that they thought they must be dreaming (Ps 126:1).
Modern psychologists, following the direction of Freud and Jung, discuss dreams with their patients in order to understand the problems they are experiencing in real life. Freudians believe that sexual problems, anxieties, and repressed desires are hidden in dreams. Jungians believe that dreams are composed of fairly universal symbols. They can reveal the problems in a patient's life but they can also help us to understand the myths and symbols of various cultures.
Dreams, especially the dreams of kings and holy men, were very important to ancient cultures. They could reveal the will of the gods or allow communication with the friendly dead and other spirits. Because they were thought to come from supernatural sources, dreams gave birth to myths, rituals, sacred songs, amulets, and taboos the world over. A person might be named, killed, declared innocent or guilty, pardoned, accepted into a society, or sent to war at the whim of a dream. Dreams might also give insight into the cause or cure of an illness. Native Americans used dreams to locate game animals and make other important decisions. They invented the dreamcatcher which is like a hand made spider web to protect sleepers from harmful dream spirits. Some North American tribes believed that their members had dream guides which helped them throughout their lives. Other Native Americans engaged in dreamcatching rituals during which an initiate 'caught' the images sent to him from the spirit world. When Job complained that God did not respond to the arguments of man, Elihu contradicted him, saying that God does indeed speak to men on their beds - sometimes with dreams which are forgotten and other times with pain and sickness. Either method sufficed to keep man from the Pit (Job 33:14-19).
Although now considered a superstitious practice, ancient people around the world once sought oracles in dreams. Pharaohs, priests, kings, and ordinary people often slept in temples or other special places with the intent of receiving a dream answer to a specific question. These are known as 'incubation dreams.' Sick people in ancient Greece sometimes slept in the temple of Asclepius hoping to receive a dream prescription. Some passages in Isaiah are thought to refer to the forbidden practice of sleeping in tombs to receive oracles from the dead (Is 8:19-20; 28:15-22; 65:4). It appears that biblical characters inquired of the Lord in dreams. It was thought that God refused to send oracular dreams to His people when they failed to live up to His standards. A nation serious about obeying Him received visions in abundance (1 Sam 3:1; 14:37-38; 28:6, 15; Lam 2:9; Ezek 12:22-23; Joel 2:28; Mic 3:6-7; Acts 2:17). It was not unusual for Jewish mystics to seek dream answers from God. The French rabbi, Jacob of Margeve (12c. - 13c.), became famous for his many incubation dreams which he collected in a book called Responsa From Heaven. Usually his answers came in the form of a Bible verse. Some dreams promised that the Messiah would come when people obeyed the messages. Jewish practice forbids the making of legal decisions based on dreams.
Although it was often thought that God preferred to bless the righteous prophets rather than the ordinary people with dreams and visions, the Bible is filled with dreams sent to pagans such as Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, the Magi, Pilate's wife, etc. (Gen 20:1-7; 40:7-23; 41:1-36; Dan 4; Mt. 2:12; 27:19). An apocryphal work has Peter arguing that dreams are untrustworthy oracles; who can know if one speaks to a demon or not? Nor can one be sure that one's dreams will contain anything pertinent to his situation. He says that the pious man has no need of dreams for "the truth gushes up natural and pure in his mind, not worked up through dreams, but granted to the good through intelligence..." Moses himself had no need of dreams for God spoke plainly to him without images and their interpretations (Pseudo-Clementine Literature, Homily 17, Chapt. 14-18, Fathers, Anti-Nicene v. 8 (8)).
False prophets were a constant problem in ancient Israel. They would pretend to receive the word of the Lord in dreams in order to draw attention and money to themselves. They deceived their countrymen in order to further their own political agendas or to draw others into idol worship. The result was that God's people spent a lot of time in exile (Jer 23:32; 29:8; Zec 10:2). Lying dreamers or false apostles were a problem in New Testament times (Jude 1:8). When the Lord spoke to Moses, he warned the Israelites not to be taken in by the oracular dreams of false prophets. He allowed some of these dreams to come true as a test to see if the people would forsake their God and follow these dreamers. According to Mosaic law any dreamer who tried to get the Israelites to worship other gods should be put to death (Deu 13:1-5).
The art of dream interpretation was very important in the ancient world. Shamans, soothsayers, witch doctors, wise men, priests, and royal advisors were expected to be well versed in this art. In the Bible, both Joseph and Daniel were skilled at the interpretation of dreams (Dan 1:17; Gen. 40:9-23; 41:1-36). The ancient Chinese believed that dream pictures foretold the exact opposite of what would actually happen. As early as 1601 modern dream books were printed to help the public interpret their own dreams. Rabbi Chisda, in one of his many comments on dreams, said "A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read." Jewish rabbis considered many dreams prophetic. A person could avoid the fulfillment of a bad dream by prayer, fasting, and repentance, or by announcing to three people that he had indeed had a good dream rather than a bad one. "All dreams go after the mouth" is a popular Jewish proverb implying that however a dream is interpreted, so shall it be. To prove this proverb Rabbi Banah had one dream interpreted by twenty four different people and every one of the interpretations came true (Edershem - Sketches of Jewish Life, App. 2 - Extracts from the Babylon Talmud).
Biblical dreams differ significantly from other dreams. Most of the time they are spoken messages delivered by an angel or God Himself. When symbolism is involved, the dreams remain fairly straight forward and may even include an angelic interpretation. Bad dreams were thought to come from bad angels. Prophetic dreams would abound in the last days due to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17). Since the terms "vision" and "dream" were used interchangeably in biblical times, it is difficult to say in what manner specific messages were received. The Lord said He spoke to the prophets in dreams or visions but to Moses He spoke "face to face" (Num 12:6-8).
According to Nave's Topical Bible the following people had their dreams recorded in scripture:
Except where otherwise indicated all scripture quotes are from the NKJV.
More information about dreams is available at:
© 1999 by Suzetta Tucker
To cite this page:
Tucker, Suzetta. "ChristStory Christmas Symbols - Dreams."
ChristStory Christian Bestiary. 1999. http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/legend01/dreams.htm
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