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Matthew 1:20 |
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But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Note 3 at Mt. 1:20: There are six times God spoke by dreams in the New Testament. Joseph had four of them (Mt. 1:20; 2:13, 19, 22), the wise men one (Mt. 2:12), and Pilate's wife one (Mt. 27:19).
There are fifteen definite times God spoke by dreams in the Old Testament. Six of these occurred to Jews: twice to Jacob (Gen. 28:12; 31:10-13), twice to Joseph (Gen. 37:5 & 9), once to Solomon (1 Ki. 3:5-15), and once to Daniel (Dan.7:1).
God spoke by dreams to Gentile kings five times: once to Abimelech (Gen. 20:3), twice to Pharaoh (Gen. 41:1-8), and twice to Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:1 & 4:5). God also spoke to Laban, Jacob's father-in-law, by a dream (Gen. 31:24), to the chief butler and the chief baker of Pharaoh (Gen. 40:9 & 16), and to one of the enemy soldiers in the Midianite army which was fighting against Gideon (Jud. 7:13).
Eliphaz, one of Job's friends, also had a dream (Job 4:12- 13), but since he was rebuked by God for the counsel that he gave (Job 42:7), it is uncertain whether that dream came from God. However, by comparing Eliphaz's terminology in Job 4:13 with Genesis 46:2, it is probable that Jacob's "vision of the night" was also a dream. That would bring the number of times God spoke by dreams in the Old Testament to sixteen.
The Word of God also speaks against false dreams of falseprophets (Jer. 23:27-32; 29:8; Zech. 10:2).
