אבנימ

Biblical Hermeneutics Part Second Chapter 20

In this chapter the author discusses the revelatory media of dreams and prophetic ecstasy, by which God communicates His messages to His prophets. These are understood as the normative means, according to Numbers 12.6, in contrast to the extraordinary case of Moses, to whom God spoke “face to face.”

Dreams are especially prominent in the early history of divine revelation, and seem to decrease in frequency as revelation progresses. Notable instances include Abimelech (Genesis 20.3-7), Jacob (Genesis 28.12), Laban (Genesis 31.24) Joseph (Genesis 37.5-10), the butler and the baker (Genesis 40.5-19), Pharaoh (Genesis 41.1-32), Solomon (1 Kings 3.5, 9.2), Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2 & 4), et al. Terry observes that dreams have both natural and supernatural elements. There is an innate human prescience, which yields impressions, forebodings, and other insights that are more frequently present in sleep than in waking conscious thought. God takes this natural aptitude as the means by which he communicates the divine message in a dream.

The interpretation of prophetic dreams in Scripture presents few difficulties. Often the interpretation of the dream’s symbolism is explicitly given, e.g. the dreams of Joseph and Daniel. When it is not, as in the case of Jacob’s dream at Bethel, a careful application of the analogy of faith, and other sound hermeneutical principles will yield the correct interpretation.

A higher form of revelation than dreams is prophetic ecstasy, in which the spirit of the prophet becomes possessed by the Spirit of God, and made to understand things which are beyond the scope of any natural perception. In such cases, the mortal man’s senses are temporarily joined with the those of the Eternal Spirit, such that he knows not whether he is “in the body, or out of the body.” He sees, hears and perceives with a spiritual sense above and beyond his own normal and natural time-bound life. The highest form of this is when the prophet is so consumed by the Word of God that he speaks as the mouth of God Himself, and utters in the authority of the Spirit “thus saith the Lord.”