Peter’s Mistake (3)
And it shall happen afterward: I will pour My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your elders shall dream dreams, your young men see visions. And even upon male slaves and slavegirls in those days will I pour My Spirit. Joel 3:1-2 Robert Alter
Dream dreams – Even English doesn’t have the vocabulary to deal with dreams. Does it bother you that the verb and the noun are the same? What does it mean to “dream dreams”? Oh, we all think we know because we all have dreams, but what exactly is dreaming?
Dictionary: a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep.
Science: “A dream is something you are aware of at some level. It may be fragmentary, disconnected, and illogical, but if you aren’t aware of it during sleep then it isn’t a dream.” The scientific world has not yet come up with an answer to why we dream, “there’s no universally accepted definition of dreaming. One fairly safe catch-all is ‘all perceptions, thoughts, or emotions experienced during sleep.’”[1]
Freud: a disguised fulfillment of a repressed wish.
Aristotle: imagination’s influence on human thought during sleep.
Bible: “The Scripture declares that the influence of the Spirit of God upon the soul extends to its sleeping as well as its waking thoughts,”[2]
Maybe ḥălômot ya-ḥălômun is as good as we can get. We should notice that the verb ḥālam (to dream) is spelled the same way as the verb that means “to be healthy, strong.” Maybe dreams are essential in ways we don’t understand. Do you think God understands dreaming? Ah, but He never sleeps. Is that a problem?
There is a primitive connection between “to dream” and “to be strong.” Unfortunately, it’s gender specific.
Whether the verb ḥālam “to be strong,” is a homonym or if there is a more primitive meaning for ḥālam “be strong” is moot, but it is interesting that if “be strong” is the primitive source, it came to mean “to dream” by virtue of the fact that erotic dreams of males at puberty, accompanied by seminal emissions connect the idea of “be strong” with “to dream.” Evidence is the cognate Arabic, KB unites the two roots under one entry, There is no other Hebrew word for a dream in the ot.[3]
Not all dreams are erotic, and not all dreams have religious significance, as the Bible clearly demonstrates. So how do we know which ones are “from God’’ and which ones aren’t? Ah, good question. What is clear from Joel is that “dreaming dreams” is not a general category applied to his prophecy. Not all dreams count. These are specific dreams—religiously significant dreams. And once again we’re back to the question: How do we know? By the way, “envisoning visons” presents the same problem.
Maybe Paleo Hebrew is best: separating control and chaos.
What can we say now? Well, maybe only this much: Whatever Joel is talking about, it hasn’t happened. Slaves and slavegirls still exist but God’s spirit doesn’t seem to be poured out on them yet. Elders and young men aren’t madly proclaiming the glory of God because they had dreams and visions. And Peter blew it. Cornelius is the proof.
Dream on.
Topical Index: dream, ḥălôm, Joel 3:1-2, Joel 2:28-29
[1] https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/dreams-more-prominent-in-the-bible-than-they-are-now.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] Culver, R. D. (1999). 663 חָלַם. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 290). Chicago: Moody Press.
