Job and Dreams

Job 33:14-16 reads, “For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it.   In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men while slumbering on their beds. Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction.”

Without looking at the context of this quote and who spoke it, some authors are claiming that God communicates in dreams, today.  There’s a multitude of reasons that can be given, some of which have been already explored in other articles but the text alone is sufficient to give us a clear understanding.

First, this is Elihu’s false accusation in response to Job’s troubles.   First, it is an indictment against God who he claims sends a dream instead of clear instruction.  The idea is that God does this to seal the fate of those who are under his condemnation.  It’s possible that he had misread Job’s complaint (33:8-13).   Elihu claims that Job complained that God had not given sufficient warning of his sin and Elihu tells him that God does speak in dreams to warn us while sleeping.   In the next chapter, he charges Job with sin (34:10-12).  He claims that God afflicts men to turn them away from sin lest they face His judgment. Accordingly, God is just and suffering comes only when men deserve it.  If Job is suffering, then Job must deserve it.  The passage suggests that God has been warning him in a dream and if Job would be paying attention to the repeated dreams, he would not be suffering (33:13-18).  He further suggests that even now that he’s suffering because of his sin, he’s still not paying attention (33:19-22) but claims to be innocent (33:8-12).   Elihu and Job’s other friends were wrong about their assessment of Job’s suffering.  The book opens with a statement of Job’s character.  He did not sin and he did not blame God because of all his suffering.  God vindicates Job in the end by telling Eliphaz, “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has” (Job. 42:7).  

Having looked at the context surrounding the comment of Elihu regarding dreams, two conclusions are obvious.   First, it is clear that he was not saying that God’s means of communication is through dreams.   Ironically, many teachers have sided with Elihu, not recognizing that it was spoken by one who “has not spoken of God what is right.”   Elihu falsely claimed that God had warned Job through dreams, thinking that if He had warned Job in a direct way, Job would have gotten the message.  People customarily call this “grasping for straws.”  God did not warn Job in dreams or in any other way regarding his sins, nor was he suffering because of his sins (cf. Job 1:22, 42:7).  This was a slanderous lie against a righteous man.  Why would anyone use a falsehood spoken by a lying slanderer to prove that God speaks us today?  

Second, the purpose of the dream, according to Elihu, was to warn sinners of their wicked ways.  He was not advocating that God uses dreams to provide the godly timely direction in life’s decisions.  The purpose specified in the text by this liar had nothing to do with leading good people.   Even if we side with Elihu that God speaks to us today through dreams, we could use the text only to show that the dreams were designed to convict us of sin.  Yet, I hear no one advocating God’s use of dreams for that purpose.  

So, we have people using an example of a (1) lying slanderer (2) probably living before Abraham’s day, (3) whose use of dreams is for warning sinners as a proof-text for God’s method of communicating to His people today to give direction for life’s decisions.   I would much rather one just admit that we can choose to believe, practice and teach whatever we desire without any accountability than to abuse God’s Word and twist His holy will to fit our own will and agenda.  But, this is the work of false teachers who desire the approval of others to maintain their place as spiritual giants.  They will continue to say, “Thus says the Lord” to give some semblance of respect for God and His Word while pursuing the imagination of their own heart (cf. Jer. 9:14).