Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 515

Chap.

II]

THE INSTRUMENTS OF INSPIRATION

§ 82.

knowing how, and by which an outside power

491

leads us invol-

untarily into scenes which arise without our aid.

however, that the dream in revecommon dream, in which, simNot in the ordinary sense, but ply, other images appear. undoubtedly in a pregnant sense (sensu praegnanti), it is " And when Saul inquired of the said in 1 Sam. xxviii. 6 Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." Three distinct revelation-forms are here mentioned in which Saul might have received an answer, and of these three the dream is one. And it is noteworthy that next to false prophets the pseudo-dreamers also are separately mentioned as " the dreamers of dreams " in It

must not be

lation

is

nothing

said,

else

than a

:

Deut. xiii. 1, 3. Hence he who dreamed such a dream did by no means at his awakening entertain the opinion that it had been a common dream, which he could safely pass by and forget but he lived under the impression that something had been shown or told him which was possessed of symbolic or actual reality. The difference, therefore, between these two kinds of dreams was clearly perceived. This much, indeed, may be said, that in the scale of the means of revelation " the dream " does not stand high. The " dream " is, indeed, the common means of revelation for those who ;

stand outside of the sacred precincts, such as Abimelech, PhaThe false prophets imitated nothing

raoh, Nebuchadnezzar.

dream

and according as dream becomes rarer. Neither with Moses, nor with the Christ, nor with the apostles do we find the dream mentioned as a revelationform. When this dream was real, it consisted in this, that in the dream God appeared and gave His charge. When it was half-symbolic, as at Bethel, then the appearance of God so easily as the

(see Jer. xxiii. 32)

;

the revelation becomes richer and clearer, the

took place in a given surrounding. And if it Avas purely symbolical, as with Pharaoh, then it needed the interpretation (piri2),

and was in

itself unintelligible

and incomplete.

Revelation, therefore, by the symbolical dream consists of

two parts the dream itself and its interpretation, both of which bear a supernatural character. Every effort to :

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen