Dreams in the bible
The dreams served to show events and kingdoms to come. Theologians have attributed each beast to a certain kingdom (Babylon, Medo-Persians, Greeks, and Romans/End Times Kingdom).
After stating that understanding dreams comes from God, Joseph explained that in three days, each prisoner would have his fate sealed. Joseph did what no one else could he interpreted the dreams. Birds were eating the bread out of the top basket. The chief baker dreamt of bearing three baskets of bread on his head. In the dream, the cup bearer pressed the grapes and presented the cup of wine to Pharoah. The cupbearer dreamt of a grape vine with three branches laden with clusters of grapes.
The second pair of dreams came to his fellow prisoners, Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief baker, on the same night in the Egyptian prison ( Genesis 40). Rachel’s obeisance to her firstborn would have to wait until after the resurrection of the dead. The brothers, and possibly Jacob himself, could (and would) serve their younger brother in the future. The Sages explains that despite the obvious flaw, Jacob nonetheless believed the dream was prophetic. This explanation is problematic, however, as all of the details in the remaining dreams were precise and necessary. Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai: “Just as it is impossible to have grain without straw, it is impossible to have dreams without frivolous details.” Rabbi Berechiah said: “A dream, even though some of it may come true, not all of it will come true.” From where does he know this? From Joseph, as it says: (Gen 37:9) “and behold, the sun and the moon…” The Talmud (Berachot 55a) offers an explanation, suggesting that the inclusion of the sun and the moon was a “frivolous detail”: Though the eleven stars clearly represent the eleven brothers, the sun and moon, which seem to represent his parents, are a problem as Rachel is already deceased and Jacob does not accompany his sons to Egypt when they bow down to Joseph.
The first dream came true when the brothers went to Egypt to buy food from their brother and bowed down to him ( Genesis 42:6).īut the details of the second dream are problematic, almost refuting the obvious meaning. The meaning behind these two dreams was obvious to all, and caused his brothers to be angry with him and his father to rebuke him.