Have you ever had a dream which you considered to be from God? Has anyone ever shared a dream with you that they said was from God? How can one be sure if a dream is really from God or simply from one’s own mind?

In this week’s Torah Portion we read about the account of Joseph with his brothers. Joseph was a man whom God used in this area of dreams throughout his life. Joseph had a strong faith in God and believed that God gave dreams to humans for a reason and also provided the interpretation of dreams (Gen. 40:8). I will focus this week’s study on the early years of Joseph’s life when he first received dreams.

Joseph was set apart from his brothers because he was the firstborn of Jacob’s (Israel’s) beloved wife Rachel. As a result, Joseph found a special place in his father heart:

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms. – Gen. 37:3-4

Although Joseph was beloved by his father, he was hated by his brothers. Joseph was ostracized and rejected by the majority of his family from a young age.

Joseph’s Dreams

As if the family infighting and hatred were not enough, Joseph was further alienated from his family through a couple of dreams which he received:

Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. – Gen. 37:5-11 

Joseph had received two different dreams and shared them with his family. Since he himself took center stage in both of the dreams, his brothers and father were a bit skeptical as to the veracity of these dreams. His brothers hated him even more and became jealous of him while his father rebuked him but kept these things in mind. 

Joseph’s dreams brought more division in the family circle which eventually led to his brothers plotting to kill him but settling for selling him into slavery. The brothers then disguised their act of betrayal toward Joseph with a bloodied robe which they sent to their father making it look like Jospeh was attacked and killed by a wild animal (Gen. 37:29-35). At the same time, Joseph was taken down to Egypt as a slave while his father Jacob mourned for the loss of his son. While all of this was going on the dreams that Joseph dreamt were buried in the soil being prepared to spring forth at the proper time.

Mockers of the Dreams

Before this act of betrayal to sell Joseph into slavery, Joseph’s brothers mocked him as a “dreamer” and plotted how they would put an end to the dreams which he had received by taking his life:

When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer! Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!” – Gen. 37-18-20

The brothers were angry, jealous, and offended by the love of their father toward Joseph. Above all of this, Jospeh had related to them two separate dreams which put his brothers in a position of subjection to Joseph as their lord and ruler. The brothers sought to put a quick and decisive end to these dreams, however, in the end the dreams became realized.

As we read the text of the Bible regarding the story of Joseph it is clear to us today that God had certainly given those dreams to Joseph to reveal to him what was to come in the future. Joseph’s brothers didn’t receive those dreams as being from God at that time but simply as human manipulation to lord it over them. 

How would you have responded to Joseph’s dream if you were amongst Joseph’s brothers at that time? How do you and I respond to people today when they receive dreams from God that supposedly tell us something about the future? Do we take time to consider the source of these dreams or are we quick to mock the “dreamers”?

Discerning God’s revelation from human will and desire is not easy when it comes to understanding the source of dreams. We are living in a day and age when dreams, visions, prophecy, and words of knowledge are becoming more and more prevalent. Not every dream, vision, prophecy, or word of knowledge is from the Lord. In my own personal experience with the body of believers around the world, I have learned that we need to have great discernment in our local body of believers in this area of God speaking to us through dreams, visions, prophecies, and words of knowledge. 

There have been times when someone had a word or a dream which they claimed was from the Lord but it proved to be otherwise. There have been other times in my experience when someone has received a word from God, whether from a dream or some other source, and it was proven to be true and from the Lord. We need to be discerning and see if a word is truly from the Lord or not. How can we know for sure if a word or dream is truly from the Lord?

Spiritual Discernment

This issue of how to tell if someone is really hearing from God or speaking on behalf of God is detailed in Deuteronomy 18. This chapter details different scenarios of those who are from God and those who are not, especially prophets, and then provides the following litmus test in the final few verses:

You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. – Deut. 18:21-22

In the simplest terms, we are to wait and see if the word that someone claims is from the Lord truly comes about or not. A person’s dream, vision, prophecy, or word of knowledge will either be confirmed or invalidated by the test of time. 

Pastors and church leaders have sometimes taken drastic positions on this subject of dreams, visions, prophecy, and words of knowledge. Some are overly accepting of anything people speak in God’s name and others are totally closed to anything outside of their theological boxes. God’s Word encourages us to not quench what His Spirit desires to do in our midst but to do so in an atmosphere of clear spiritual authority and order within our gatherings so as to build up the body of believers. Guidelines for handling spiritual gifts and supernatural revelation are clearly laid out in First Corinthians chapters twelve through fourteen. 

Dreamers & Mockers

When the Holy Spirit was first poured out on the believers as they were gathered together in Jerusalem, the people who heard and saw the evidence of the Holy Spirit struggled to understand what was really happening:

Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.” – Acts 2:5-13 

Just like the witnesses on the day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we can either respond by mocking the revelation of God or by acknowledging the mighty deeds of God in our midst. We need to use discernment but we also need to be careful to not dismiss the revelation of God as the foolish acts of men.

As we continue to read the account of what happened on that day of Pentecost (the Feast of Weeks), Peter gave a pertinent response to the people who gathered around them at that time:

But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; – Acts 2:14-17

Peter answered the mockers and explained to them that what they were witnessing was a direct fulfillment of prophecy as he quoted from the prophet Joel. 

Revelation of the Holy Spirit and God’s communication with His people need to be spiritually discerned and rightly aligned with God’s Word and His plans. Not every dream, vision, prophecy, or word of knowledge is from God or by His Spirit. We must have discernment and, at the same time, we must take each revelation as it comes and properly discern if it is truly from the God of heaven or not.

In the account of Jospeh and his brothers we saw how Joseph received his dream from God while his brothers mocked him. In the end, God confirmed that the dreams which He gave Jospeh were truly from Him as they were fulfilled. As we read in Acts chapter two, some saw the power of God while others mocked the newly baptized believers in the Holy Spirit. God’s Word tells us that God speaks through His selected servants on this earth to reveal His counsel:

Surely the Lord GOD does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets. – Amos 3:7

We need to be a people of spiritual discernment. We need to take the time to listen to those who claim to have received revelation from God and ask God if this is really from Him. God’s revelation will not contradict His Word and all prophecy will eventually be shown for what it is, either from God or not.

As those who believe in Yeshua as the Messiah and as the Son of God, we should expect that God can and will provide revelation through prophecy, visions, and dreams. While we continue to seek the Lord with all of our heart and mind, we should always welcome Him to speak to us, even through a dream!

Shabbat Shalom!

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*All Scripture take from NASB Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Torah Portion: Gen. 37:1-40:23

Haftara: Amos 2:6 – Amos 3:8

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