If you’re new to interpreting dreams, and looking at them from a Christian or religious perspective, you might expect the symbolism in your dreams to originate from scripture.
“How can dreamers claim to interpret the dream elements like bulldozers? They aren’t included in my Bible,” you may think. Here’s my take:
How do I know what a component in a dream means if it’s not specifically mentioned in scripture?
From front to back, scripture is filled with symbolism. And the imagery therein can bring great insight into the deeper meanings of our dreams.
Just like other symbolic content‒ tabernacle elements, priest garments, Passover, festival details, and so on‒ dreams in scripture contain symbols.
- Joseph’s dreamed of sheaves of the field and the sun, moon, and stars bowing down to him.
- Pharaoh dreamed of fat and lean cows and ears of corn.
- Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a huge metallic and clay statue, and a large tree cut down to the stump.
- Jesus often chose to speak through parables and even gave his reason for it.
But confining the language used in a dream is like limiting God’s vocabulary.
Inspiration by its definition involves something coming from a higher realm.
Scripture includes a finite set of words, but the God behind it is infinite. He can speak any way he wants to. And if you believe some of your dreams are coming from Him, then consider that he might speak in universal, cultural, personal, and contemporary terms.
Consider the parables presented by Jesus. He spoke of everyday things the crowds were familiar with… fishing, farming, working, celebrating, etc.
BTW- HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF TERMS FOUND IN THE BIBLE
WHICH CARRY DEEPER & SYMBOLIC MEANINGS
Barn Basket of Bread Bear Beard Bed/Bedroom Belly Birds Birth Blood Boat
Bones Bowl Branch Bread Breastplate Bride Bridle Bronze Brook Bruise
Burning/Fire Butter Buzzard Calf/Cattle Cave/Lair Cedar Chaff Chariot Child
Clay Clothes/Cloth Cloud Coin Copper Corn Cornerstone Court Cream Crown
Crystal Cup Curtain Dance Dark/Darkness Death Deep Dew Disguise Dog
Donkey Door Dove Dragon Drink Dry/Dryness Dung Dungeon Dust Eagle East
Eating Eden Egypt Face Fall Famine Farm Fat/Fatness Father/Fatherhood Feast
Fence Field Finger Fire/Flame First Fish Flesh Flood Flower Fly/Flying
Foot Forehead Forest Fountain Fox Fruit Furnace Garden Gate Giant Goat
Gold Grain Grapes Grass Guard Guide Hail/Hailstones Hair Hammer Hands
Hang/Hanging Hardness Harp Harvest Head Heart/Hearts Heat Heavy Hedge
Height/High Helmet Highway/Road/Path Hill Hip Home Honey Horn Horse House
Housetop/Roof Humor Hunger Hunting Idleness Idol Incense Infant Inheritance
Injury Inn/Hotel Iron Island Jackal Jewels/Necklace Jordan River Journey King
Kingdom Of Heaven Kiss/Kissing Knee/Kneeling Ladder Lamb Lamp Land Law Leaf
Leanness Left/Left Hand Leg Leisure Leopard Leper Light Lightening Lily
Linen Lion Lips Locusts Lost/To Lose Low Lying Down Magic Manna Manure
Marble Marketplace Marriage Meal Measure Melting Messenger Milk Milk And Honey
Millstone Mirror Mist Money Monster Moon Morning Morning Star Mortar Mother
Mountain Mouth Nakedness Narrow Neck Needle Net Night Nose/Nostrils Nurse
Oak Oath/Vow Odor/Perfume/Scent Olive Orphan Owl Oxen Palm Tree Pasture Pearl
Pig Pigeon Pillar Pit Plague Plants Plow Potter Prison Pruning Queen
Race Rain Rainbow Ram Right Hand Ring River Robe Rock/Rocks Rod Root
Rose Rubbish Rudder Rust Sage Saliva Salt Sand Sandal/Shoe Scale Sea
Season Seat Second Heaven Seeds/Sowing Serpent/Snake Shadow Shaking Shaving Sheep
Shepherd Shield Ship Shoulder Silk Silver Singing Skin Sleep Smoke Snow
Sparrows Stain Standing Stars Stew Stomach Stones Storing Stork Straw
Street Sulfur Sun Swallow Sweat Sword Table Taste Teeth Tent Theater
Thigh Thirst Thorn Throat Throne Thunder Times of Day Toe Tomb Tongue
Tower Treasure Trees Trumpet Valley Vine/Vineyard Voice Vomit Wage Walk/Run
Wall War Water Weapon Weeds West Wheat Wind Window Wine Wing Womb
Wood Wool Worm Wound Wrestle Yeast/Leaven Yoke
Remember: Each of us receives our own dreams, and each of us knows our own state of affairs. Dreamers are intended to make the best interpreters of their own dreams as they grow in understanding of the parabolic language of dreams.
I’m not you, but that’s my view! Every Blessing!
Lynmarie
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