DREAM (חֲלﯴם, H2706, ὄναρ, G3941, a dream.) A dream is a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep; any seeming of reality occurring to one sleeping; a more or less coherent “imagery” sequence occurring during sleep. Fromm defines “dream” as a meaningful and significant expression of any kind of mental activity under the condition of sleep.
Psychologial description. Dreams seem to be the reappearance of thoughts which have, in some form or other, been formed in our minds. They are portions of our former conceptions and impressions revived, and randomly reassembled. Bergson conceives of a dream as being the direct link between sensation and memory; being constructed around what we have seen, said, desired, or done, and their elaboration depends on memory images collected and preserved in the unconscious since earliest childhood. The same faculties function when we dream as when we are awake, but in one instance they are tense and in the other relaxed. The fullness of our mental life is available in our dreams, but with a minimum of tension, effort, or movement.
The importance of dreams. Doubtless the primary function of the “dream” is that of the “guardian of sleep.” Though a person be in a state of sleep, stimuli are still present and registering on the human nervous system. Various stimuli, simple and/or complex, single and/or mingled, may prompt certain memory images or perceptions which the mind associates with those stimuli. These stimuli the unconscious mind puts together, producing the “dream,” and thus allows the person to continue in a sleeping condition, and not awake to consciousness.
Dreams attest to the infinite bounds of the human mind. They are a forceful suggestion of the manifold and extensive possibilities within the mind and soul of man, waiting to be called forth. Of this arresting quality of dreams much has been written. “The slumber of the body seems to be but the waking of the soul....It is the litigation of sense, but the liberty of reason; and our waking conceptions do not match the fancies of our sleep” (Sir J. Browne). “Dreams, these whimsical pictures, inasmuch as they originate from us, may well have an analogy with our whole life and fate” (Goethe). “Dreams have a poetic integrity and truth....Their extravagance from nature is yet within a higher nature. They seem to suggest to us an abundance and fluency of thought not familiar to the waking experience....A skillful man reads his dreams for his self-knowledge; yet not the details, but the quality” (Emerson). “We are not only less reasonable and less decent in our dreams but we are also more intelligent, wiser, and capable of better judgment when we are asleep than when we are awake” (Fromm).
Dream analysis is the fundamental technique of psychoanalysis. The free associations which occur within the unconscious as revealed in the dream are seen as guides to the person’s motivational schema and underlying dynamics. Ideas, images, and events occurring in the dream may be interpreted as symbols of repressed anxieties, fears, or wishes. Such is suggested not only by the analysts, but by playwrights such as Goethe,...“Inasmuch as they originate from us, may well have an analogy with our whole life and fate.”
Views held by ancient Eastern culture. Ancient Eastern peoples, esp. the Jews, held dreams in high regard; they noted them, and sought out those who professed or were known to explain and/or interpret them. Dream interpreters were highly esteemed; such is witnessed in the Egyptians of Joseph’s time (Gen 40; 41). Oppenheim observes that in the ancient Near E, dream experiences were noted on three clearly differentiated planes: dreams as revelations of deity which may or may not require interpretation; dreams which reflect, symptomatically, the state of mind, the spiritual and bodily “health” of the dreamer, which are only mentioned but never recorded; and thirdly, mantic dreams in which forthcoming events are prognosticated.
As used in the Old Testament. The Bible treats “dreams” as being of three origins and importances: (1) natural (Eccl 5:3), (2) divine (Gen 28:12), and (3) evil (Deut 13:1, 2; Jer 23:32).
The major use of the word “dream” in the OT is that of it being a medium of a message from God: “I the Lord...speak with him in a dream” (Num 12:6); “For God speaks in one way, and in two...in a dream...that he may turn man aside from his deed, and cut off pride from man; he keeps back his soul from the Pit, his life from perishing by the sword” (Job 33:14-18). In this manner, “God came to Abimelech,” and spake to him (Gen 20:3), “spoke through an angel of God” to Jacob (31:10, 11), “came and spake” to Laban (31:24), and “appeared” to Solomon (1 Kings 3:5).
Another use of the word “dream” in the OT concerns the prophetic function, the foretelling of events, including: Joseph’s dreams which he related to his brethren (Gen 37:5-11); the Egyp. baker’s and butler’s dreams and the interpretations by Joseph (40:5-22); Pharaoh’s dream (41:1-32); Gideon’s encouragement in the Midianite camp from hearing a Midianite relate his dream of Gideon’s forthcoming victory (Judg 7:13-15); Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of world empires (Dan 2:1-45); Nebuchadnezzar’s “tree” dream (4:4-28); Daniel’s dream of the four winds, the great sea, and the four great beasts (7:1-28). The Israelites were instructed to show discernment concerning dreams and interpreters, for they may be evil (Jer 23:28). They were not to place them above the commandments of God (Deut 13:1-5).
Dreams were indicated too, as coming from natural causes, “For a dream comes with much business” (Eccl 5:3); also as a source of empty words, “For when dreams increase, empty words grow many” (5:7).
The word “dream” is employed also as a figure of speech, an expression to denote: that which is fleeting and/or transient, “fly away like a dream” (Job 20:8), “destroyed in a moment, swept away....like a dream when one awakes” (Ps 73:19, 20); the unbelievable, the overwhelming, and amazing, “like those who dream” (126:1); and as being descriptive of the vain hopes and utter ruin of the enemies of Ariel (Jerusalem), “And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel...shall be like a dream, a vision of the night. As when a hungry man dreams he is eating...as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking” (Isa 29:7, 8).
As used in the New Testament. All occurrences of the word “dream” in the gospels, being six times in Matthew, concern the person of our Lord Jesus. Through a dream: an angel spake to Joseph about Mary’s conception of the Christ child by the Holy Ghost (Matt 1:20-23); the wise men were warned concerning Herod (2:12); Joseph was warned to flee with the child and Mary to Egypt (2:13); an angel told Joseph to return to Israel from Egypt (2:19, 20); Joseph was warned that Archelaus reigned over Judea in place of his father Herod so that he (Joseph) withdrew to Galilee (2:22); the wife of Pilate suffered over Jesus and warned Pilate to have nothing to do with Jesus, “that righteous man” (27:19). The only other passage in the NT using the word “dream” is a direct quotation of Joel 2:28 (Acts 2:17).