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, Gen.
xl. 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, Deut. xiii, 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,” 1 Sam. xxviii, 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, Gen. xx, 3, 6. He showed Jacob the mysterious ladder in a
dream, Gen. xxviii, 12, 13; and in a dream an angel suggested to him a
means of multiplying his flocks, Genesis xxxi, 11, 12, &c. Joseph was
favoured very early with prophetic dreams, whose signification was
easily discovered by Jacob, Gen. xxxvii, 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,
Judges vii, 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. xxiii, 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, Joel ii, 28.
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, Gen.
xl. 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, Deut. xiii, 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,” 1 Sam. xxviii, 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, Gen. xx, 3, 6. He showed Jacob the mysterious ladder in a
dream, Gen. xxviii, 12, 13; and in a dream an angel suggested to him a
means of multiplying his flocks, Genesis xxxi, 11, 12, &c. Joseph was
favoured very early with prophetic dreams, whose signification was
easily discovered by Jacob, Gen. xxxvii, 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,
Judges vii, 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. xxiii, 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, Joel ii, 28.