Daniel 2:4 - "Then the Chaldeans said to the king, ‘O king, live for ever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.’ "

Genesis 40:8 - "They said to him, ‘We have had dreams and there no one to interpret them.’ And Joseph said to them ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them I me, I pray you.’ "

I can remember a neighbor woman who used to come visit our home when I was a little girl. She herself probably wouldn’t have been remembered except for one specific thing - she invariably had with her a dream book, from which she would interpret dreams that anyone cared to tell her about. (I’m afraid that we were naughty children, sometimes, and made up some dingers for her benefit!) The point is - she really thought that she could look up in a book the various things that had happened in a dream, and then give an accurate interpretation of it.

I don’t imagine that the dream interpreters of the ancient would would have given her a hearing. To them, dream interpretation amounted almost to a science. And, certainly it has distinct religious overtones. Because, you see, dreams were felt to be the means of communication between the gods and men. And, since the gods seldom speak intelligibly to the majority of us, a whole class of men arose who could translate these dreams into understandable terms.

The popularity of these interpreters was probably at its highest in Egypt and Babylonia, since these peoples were especially preoccupied with dreams. We will remember the stories of the interpretations given by Daniel and Joseph, when the professionals were stumped. And we also recall the great honors and riches that were bestowed on them when they gave the right interpretation. It was a very lucrative profession to enter.

And, just as in every age, there were charlatans, men who were in it just for the money. You see, the way it worked, the client came to the interpreter and told him about his dream. If the interpreter inquired further, the client was obligated to give any additional information about himself. Then the interpreter, with suitable magical flourishes and much stage-dressing, gave the meaning. And, here’s where he had a distinct advantage. Since the client was quite sure that the interpreter knew what he was talking about - well, there wasn’t any harm in helping him by giving him some nice gift! That’s one way to ensure a favorable reading!

Now, of course, these were the wealthy people, who could afford to pass out gifts. But even the humble people were great believers in dreams. During the early part of the Christian era, Jerusalem had at least 24 interpreters - each known to render a different meaning to the same dream! And all for about sixteen cents in our money!

Today, in spite of our current interest in the occult, I don’t suppose that many people really consider dreams as precursors of the future. But dreams do still play a very important part, at least in one area of sociological reckoning. This is the part that dreams play in our mental health. Ever since Freud published his monumental work, The Interpretation of Dreams, psychologists and psychiatrists have recognized the importance of the acting out of fears, hostilities, aggressions, etc., in dreams.

So, in a very real sense, our psychoanalysts and psychiatrists today are dream interpreters. Of course, they don’t stop there and make a whole profession of it, as the ancients did, but they certainly recognize the importance of dreams and utilize them in helping their patients.