The Traumreich, part three

"Then Joseph said to them, 'Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.'”

Outside of The Book of Revelation, the language of which is certainly written to capture the hallucinogenic imagery of dreams, the richest source for the influence of the Traumreich [the German term for “the realm of dreams”] is in the Gospel of Matthew. In fact, Matthew’s is the only Gospel that uses dreams to drive the narrative.

If the Joseph of Genesis was the greatest dreamer of the Older Testament, Joseph of Nazareth is so in the Newer. Beginning in Matthew 1, Joseph is instructed in a dream how to respond to the news that Mary is pregnant:

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’

Matthew 2 presents a funicular of dream-based activity, with each nocturnal experience of the Traumreich helping to guide the Magi and the Holy Family away from the clutches of the increasingly desperate Herod.

The first is a warning to the Magi, who were notoriously sensitive to the machinations of the Traumreich, aiding them in their trek away from Bethlehem:

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

The instructions to Joseph thus continue from there, each message one that is direct and without the need for elaborate interpretation:

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ [2:13]

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ [2:19]

But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’ [2:22-23]

The final dream in Matthew is received by the wife of Pontius Pilate when Jesus is on trial. As far as I can discover, and I appreciate any corrective aid in this from the readers, this is the only time in either the Older or Newer Testaments that a woman receives a dream message:

While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.” [27:19]

Clearly, the nativity was a time of heightened hyper-sensory sensitivity, more so that even the events of Holy Week. Just as clearly, with the final dream in the Gospels, one need not be particularly beloved of God, nor even a Jew, to discern God’s will in circumstances extraordinary.

The Traumreich’s communication standard works beyond language. For example, in both the Older and Newer Testaments, no fewer than eight languages are employed in communicating with the dream recipient.

Although, it could certainly be argued that dreams communicate in a standard that is beyond the conventions of language.

One could also argue, especially in light of the Pentecost experience, that God communicates through a type of language that does not require specificity of word, definition, tense, and syntax.

Whether or not the dreams were presented in a specific language, they were received and certainly communicated with linguistic specificity. In chronological order, the languages represented are:

Abimalech’s dream – Philistine

Pharoah’s dream - Egyptian

Nebachadnezzar’s dreams - Babylonian

Laban’s dream – Aramean

Midianite soldier’s dream (that of the marauding barley loaf) – Midian

Magi’s dream - Persian [probably]

Joseph’s dreams – Hebrew or Aramaic

Pilate’s wife’s dream – Latin

While not all dreams are communications from God, by the same regard we should not discount any of the ways in which God communicates with us through any portion of the Godhead.

To dismiss the asymmetrical experience of the Traumreich is to ignore a wealthy portion of divine inspiration and direction.

In other words, be attentive to your dreams. Appreciate them in the midst of prayer and meditation and use those common tools to discern if the dreams are an appropriate and helpful communication. As with any portion of our Christian experience, we should strive always to be open to the potential signs that are granted to us.