Dream

Dreams served throughout Scripture as a medium of divine revelation, though the prophetic tradition was careful to distinguish genuine God-given dreams from idle imagination and deceptive claims. In the patriarchal period, God communicated directly through dreams to Abimelech (Gen. 20:3), Laban (Gen. 31:24), Jacob (Gen. 28:12; 31:10), and Joseph (Gen. 37:5–9); Joseph also interpreted dreams for the cupbearer, the baker, and Pharaoh, whose dreams of seven cows and seven heads of grain revealed seven years of abundance followed by seven of famine (Gen. 41). Gideon was encouraged by a Midianite's dream of a barley loaf toppling a tent (Judg. 7:13–15). Solomon received his foundational commission in a dream at Gibeon (1 Kgs. 3:5).

The prophets drew a firm distinction between genuine revelation and the dreaming of false prophets (Jer. 23:25–28). In the New Testament, Joseph in Matthew's Gospel is guided repeatedly by angelic messages in dreams (Matt. 1:20; 2:12–13, 19, 22), and Pilate's wife urges clemency for Jesus based on her dream (Matt. 27:19). Joel 2:28, quoted by Peter at Pentecost (Acts 2:17), places dreams among the Spirit's gifts in the last days.