Dreaming of Droughts: Genesis 37.1–11 in Dialogue with Contemporary Science

In Genesis 37.1–11, a young Joseph dreams of being in a position of status during a time of drought. The report of the dreams (vv. 5–11) is preceded by an exposition of characters (vv. 1–4) which sets the scene. Verse 1 subtly introduces a sense of instability in terms of living conditions: ‘Now Jacob lived in the land of journeys (m^egûrî) of his father in the land of Canaan’. According to Rabbi Isaac Jerusalmi, the verb gur has to do with being a ‘sojourner, temporary dweller, dweller in Israel with certain conceded, not inherited rights. ¹ Verse 2 begins with the toledoth formula: ‘these are the lines of Jacob’. As in Genesis 1, the writer uses the toledoth formula in an unconventional manner. ² There is not the usual listing of the descendants one expects following the formula, A begat B, and B begat C, etc. Instead, biographical information is offered for Joseph in v. 2b, followed by a statement concerning the social relationship between Joseph and his brothers: Joseph tended flocks with his brothers; he brought a bad report about them to his father. Jerusalmi describes this report as ‘whispering, defamation, bad or evil report’. ³ Next, Jacob/Israel is introduced, but in terms of his relationship to Joseph, in comparison to his relationship to Joseph's brothers: he loved Joseph more than his other sons (v. 3). This preferential affection is symbolized with a gift, the ornamented coat. In 2 Sam. 13.18, the same type of garment is mentioned as that worn by children of royalty. The passim in the Hebrew phrase may be an adaptation of the Akkadian pisannu, ‘a technical term denoting appliqué ornaments on costly vests’, ⁴ and not long sleeves, or many colors as in traditional renderings. The brothers are then introduced in relation to Joseph: ‘the brothers saw (because of the ornamented robe) that their father loved him more than any of his other sons and they came to hate him’ (v. 4). The writer introduces all characters in terms of the state of their social relations to the other characters. Instead of the typical toledoth account of family lines, the writer structures the presentation of the description of characters in relational terms of actions and emotions, revealing the emotionally intertwined nature of the ‘lines’ of Jacob.

After this presentation in terms of enmeshed emotional ties, the first dream report begins. The writer's inclusion of this unit of the relationships between the characters of Joseph, his brothers, and father in the exposition suggests that this information is important to what follows, the content of the dream report. As John Sanford states in Dreams: God's Forgotten Language, ‘our dreams are not limited to data from our personal life, but by a symbolic thinking relate us to issues in life beyond ourselves’. ⁵ Emotional relationships in the social environment feed into the psychic unconscious, providing fodder for the dreaming mind. The writer adeptly moves from a description of the relationships to the dream reports, which reveals a logical and intuitive depth of understanding of the nature of dreams.

The structure of vv. 5–11 is comprised of two dream reports which are parallel in structure. The first dream report (vv. 5–8) contains four elements: an introduction, a dream speech, a response in the form of two rhetorical questions by the brothers, followed by a narration of the consequences in terms of the brothers' feelings. The second dream report (vv. 9–11) consists of an introduction, a dream speech, a response in the form of two rhetorical questions this time by the father, followed by a narration of the consequences in terms of the brothers' feelings in which the narrator includes the father's thoughts. The reporting of emotions thematically ties in with the exposition. Both the form and content convey emotion as an important element for understanding the nature of dreams.

The dreams serve multiple functions in the Joseph novella. According to Coats, the dreams serve a literary function by foreshadowing major events in the story. ⁶ This foreshadowing is implicitly signaled in the last statement of this unit (v. 11b) that Jacob ‘kept this matter (Joseph's dream) in his mind’, and ‘indicates for the writer that dreams should not be discounted offhand’. ⁷ Joseph's eventual position of power in Pharaoh's court described in 39.1–41.57 and the brothers bowing down to him in 43.26 illustrates the evident reality of the dreams.

According to Brueggemann, ‘the dream functions in the Joseph narrative as the oracle of 25.23 does for the Jacob narrative’. ⁸ In Genesis 25, the divine speaks directly to Rebekah, stating that there are two nations in her womb, one of which would be stronger than the other, while the older would serve the younger. Here again the younger will rule, but the form of communication is a dream, rather than direct communication from the deity. The divine purpose in the Joseph story is only revealed after the plot unfolds, a plot that is founded upon intertwined emotional ties: the purpose is to save the family during the famine, stated specifically in Gen. 45.7–8 and 50.20, a famine brought by a drought that does not occur until years after the events in Genesis 37. The overall story line reveals the writer's opinion of ‘the nature of divine activity through the illusive communication of dreams: as dreams are hidden, so is God's purpose’. ⁹ The dreams function as oracles, but in a hidden way.

This hidden way is twofold. Besides the divine purpose not being revealed until near the end of the story, the dreams also function ironically as a catalyst for action in the overall plot. Just as the toledoth lines reveal intertwining, the divine purpose is intertwined with the functions of the dreams. It is stated by one commentator that ‘the view of God is so high’ in the Joseph narrative that ‘human action is declared irrelevant’. ¹⁰ On the contrary, when Joseph relates his dreams to his brothers, this then rouses their jealousy, as stated by the writer three times (vv. 5, 8, 11), and they then take action based on this jealousy. The brothers dispose of Joseph into a pit, which leads to his eventual capture by Midianites/Ishmaelites, who then sell him into slavery in Egypt (37.24–36). Chrysostom states regarding the brothers:

See the extraordinary degree of their blindness: they themselves interpreted the dream. In fact, it is not possible to claim that it was in ignorance of the future that they bore him ill will; rather, it was learning the future from the dreams that added to their hatred. O excess of stupidity! ¹¹

The plot turns on the brothers' actions. They have believed, at least to some extent, in the truth of the dreams as oracle and seek to overturn it. The dreams function to ignite a human response, which when told to others causes change, ironically contributing to the dream becoming reality and the divine purpose increasingly being realized.

In Egypt, Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams of an impending drought lands him the job of Pharaoh's administrator of agriculture. While Joseph states that the future was revealed to Pharaoh by God in the dreams, human action again is intertwined with dreams of the future. Joseph had been brought to the Pharaoh only after his social interactions with Pharaoh's attendants' in prison, who themselves had come to him with troubling dreams. It was the very human emotion-charged actions of Potiphar's wife which caused his imprisonment in the first place. These events form a parallel and complement to the brothers' actions, but in this case the dreams get Joseph out of a pit. The dreams function throughout to drive the plot forward in terms of human action and this function is intertwined with the divine purpose, which at this point includes not only the survival of the family, but also the survival of Egypt.

The plot moves forward. The family migrates to Egypt due to the drought and survives the famine, because of the dreams, but also because of the internal conflicts of the characters, their integrity or lack thereof, and their emotional responses. Besides the dreams and emotional entanglement moving the plot forward, the writer sets up a dichotomy of opposites in terms of the character of the participants to move action forward. Regarding the character of Joseph, some commentators describe his telling of his dreams as arrogantly or insensitively boasting. ¹² However, in ancient commentaries, Chrysostom and Ambrose highlight Joseph's ‘virtue’. Ambrose states, ‘to be sure, Jacob loved the more that son in whom he foresaw the greater marks of virtue’. ¹³ For Ambrose, the tunic ‘of many colors’ given to Joseph by Jacob indicates Jacob's sense of Joseph's ‘manifold virtues’. ¹⁴ For Chrysostom, it is precisely because of Joseph's virtues that the father gives him the special tunic, and because of this virtue and not just the tunic that the brothers were envious. ¹⁵ I am in agreement with Speiser here that Joseph simply ‘does not realize how invidious his words might seem’. ¹⁶ He must speak what is inside him. As von Rad notes, ‘a vision was for the ancients so important and obligatory that a demand to keep it tactfully to oneself would not have occurred to them’. ¹⁷

Form-critically, throughout the Joseph novella the writer portrays the character of Joseph as good and wise precisely in contrast to the characterization of the brothers' lack of virtue as a structural literary device, a dialectic of thesis–antithesis, propelling the plot forward into a synthesis. To pick apart Joseph's character as some commentators do misses the literary function of the characterization of opposites. First, the writer portrays Joseph responsibly informing his father of the brothers' behavior. At the same time, this is contrasted with the brothers' irresponsible behavior (v. 2). In vv. 3–4 the father's favorable opinion of Joseph is contrasted with the brothers' unfavorable feelings and actions towards Joseph (‘they could not speak to him with kindness’). In v. 5, Joseph is portrayed as keeping the relationship open as he shares the contents of his dream, which is then contrasted with the brothers' negative attitude (‘they hated him more’), displaying a lack of openness. After the dreams are revealed and the brothers' rhetorical question reported, the writer makes the statement again of the brothers' negative emotions (jealousy). After the father's rhetorical question, the writer paints another contrast, this time between the attitudes of the brothers and Jacob, showing Jacob to be more open to Joseph's dream report, and foreshadowing the possibility of the dream becoming a reality (v. 11).

As the novella progresses, the brothers act on their emotions, abandoning Joseph into a pit and being deceptive to their father about his whereabouts. After Joseph is picked up by slave traders and taken to Egypt, in Potiphar's house the character of Joseph is contrasted with that of Potiphar's wife, propelling the action forward as Joseph is imprisoned. Throughout, Joseph's goodness, honesty, and integrity are contrasted with others' deception and lack of character. The writer has Pharaoh say that Joseph is discerning and wise, and has the Spirit of God (41.38–39). The writer then flips the structural pattern towards the end of the novella, portraying Joseph deceptively hiding his divination cup in Benjamin's bag, but this time, it is only as a humorous game and causes no real harm. Form-critically, the synthesis of the pattern of opposites based on character is reached in the denouement when Joseph is portrayed as forgiving his brothers and communicating the wisdom of divine purpose: ‘You intended to do harm, but God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people’ (Gen. 50.20). Not only is human action extremely relevant for moving the story forward, form-critically, the sharp dichotomy of characterization of opposites also drives the plot forward, culminating in a synthesis of divine communication emanating from within Joseph.

Turning to the form of the symbolism in the dreams of Gen. 37.5–11, they each share a similar circular configuration: Joseph is in the center, first with sheaves around, then with celestial bodies. The response to the telling of these dreams is in the form of rhetorical questions filled with emotion. In the brothers' rhetorical question in the first dream report they ask if Joseph is to rule over them. The word ‘rule’, ‭ךלמ‬, is used in relation to the patriarchs as political power (17.6; 37.8, 11). ¹⁸ In the second dream report his father asks rhetorically if they are to bow down in front of him. The brothers' question, with its use of ‘reign’, is in terms of overturning status of power, the younger over the older; the father's question, with its use of the word to bow, is in terms of overturning honor, child over parent. ¹⁹ While the family's response to Joseph's dreams is defiance against Joseph being ‘above’ them, Joseph's position in the dreams is also in the ‘center’ (of the sheaves and logically in the dream of the stars). Joseph is symbolically portrayed as a ‘centering agent’ in the dreams. For the ancients, in their pre-solar-centered paradigm, the earth was in the center holding together the circling system of celestial bodies. Joseph will indeed be above his family members in status in Egypt, but looking closer at the form of the symbols in the dream and the theological statements of 45.7–8 and 50.20, Joseph's placement in Egypt functions by holding together the family as a centering agent.

Since Joseph is to be such an essential person for the sustainability of the family, why does the divine choose such an illusive mode of communication? A comparison of divine dream communication throughout the Bible is revealing. Individuals who receive divine communication through dreams include: Abraham, Abimelech, Jacob, Pharaoh, and Mary's fiancé Joseph in the Gospel of Matthew. For Abraham, he is trying to stay true to the divine promise of having a child (Gen. 15). Abimelech discovers in a dream that Sarah is a married woman (Gen. 20.3). Jacob has cheated his brother Esau and must leave his home (Gen. 28.12; 31). Pharaoh through his later actions shows concern to provide for his people (Gen. 41.7). Joseph in the Gospel of Matthew struggles with his engagement to Mary (Mt. 1.18–21). In a comparison of reasons for these five individuals to receive divine communication through dreams, what arises as the most basic common denominator is a struggle with conscience.

In Genesis 37, Joseph has just given a bad report to his father about his brothers, a decision of conscience. Conscience is defined as

a knowledge or feeling of right and wrong; the faculty, power, or principle of a person which decides on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of his or her actions, with a compulsion to do right; moral judgment that prohibits or opposes the violation of a previously recognized ethical principle. ²⁰

It then appears that, at least for the examples above, a precipitating factor for the mode of divine communication through dreams is that the individual is experiencing a struggle with conscience. In the case of Joseph, he has given a bad report concerning his brothers, and at the most basic human level, this would provoke a struggle with conscience. Perhaps also, this would indicate the reason for the differing modes of divine communication for the two oracles of Genesis 25 and 37, Joseph's through a dream, and Rebekah's through direct communication. It is also Joseph's character, his sense of right and wrong, in opposition to the brothers' lack of character and lack of conscience, as graphically displayed by their action of abandoning their brother, which contributes to this mode of divine communication.

Taking the novella as a whole, it is stated that the doubling of the dream means that what is presented is set by God (Gen. 41.32). With this statement, the writer implies perhaps that a single dream in contrast to a double dream is not necessarily communication by God. Other ancient views express a similar sentiment. In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope relates that there are two types of dreams: ones through the ivory gates are not to be trusted, while ones through the polished horn gates are truth. ²¹ In Plato's Phaedo, Socrates experienced a dream foretelling the future the night before his death. The Church Fathers placed great merit in dreams and regarded them as communication from the divine realm. In De Anima, Tertullian wrote that we can derive ‘knowledge of God from dreams’. ²² Augustine took down careful notes of many of his dreams recorded in Confessions, De Trinitate 2.18, 4.1, and his letters 9, 159, and 227. For Origen, dreams of future events were part of divine perception and an indication of divine providence. ²³ That dreams could be important and that some indeed foretold the future was a belief expressed by the ancients.

There is, however, an ancient debate as to the origin of dreams of a future reality. Philo acknowledged two species of dreams, one sent by God and the other through the senses and thoughts. ²⁴ Athanasius' view was that in dreams the soul transcends the faculties of the body to hold divine communion with the angels. ²⁵ For the sixth-century BCE Greek philosopher Heraclitus, there was not a dichotomy between the divine and the world; he said that in dreams we take in the divine Logos, the divine rational principle in nature. Above, it was related how dreams of the future and dreams of divine communication conveyed throughout the Bible stem from some internal conflict with conscience. This would imply that concerning pre-cognitive dreams there is not a sharp dividing line between what derives from human mental/emotional processes and dreams from the divine. While for the writer of the Joseph novella the distinction between the average dream and dreams of the future from God is a distinction between the single and the double dream, the intertwined nature of the toledoth lines, and this representation just preceding the dream report, suggests that for the writer of Genesis 37, communication from God via dreams arises through the constituents in nature in general, and the social environment in particular. While not stating it explicitly, the Joseph novella presents a similar view to that of Heraclitus, that dreams of the future arise from a combined process of natural and divine influences.

The thematic content of the dreams themselves also suggests that divine communication through dreams also arises through the constituents of nature. While Joseph's first dream reflects agricultural symbolism, his second dream is of the stars, sun, and moon. Joseph's leadership role occurs because he has interpreted Pharaoh's dreams of agricultural content. The dreams indicate that there will be an impending drought. Joseph's dreams of the future predicted his own rise in status, as it turns out, due to the drought. The Joseph novella attests to Joseph as a diviner in Egypt who is able to predict a future weather pattern based on interpreting Pharaoh's dream (44.5). The content of these dreams of the future concern the natural environment—celestial bodies, agriculture and weather patterns.

Predictions based on correlations between the patterned movements of celestial bodies, weather events, and their combined affect on agriculture was a topic of investigation for the ancient Mesopotamians, Aristotle, and later Hermetic philosophers.

The Mesopotamians excelled at divination, writing extensive encyclopedias stemming back to the third millennium which included extispicy, dream interpretation, and the patterns of the movement of the planets, sun, and moon. ²⁶ For the early Sumerians, the universe was explained in terms of (1) divine powers, (2) a cosmic ‘writing’ and designs in space and time, and (3) the production of signs for the benefit of humankind. ²⁷ ‘Celestial divination was a decoding of the sky written by the gods.’ ²⁸ Classifying the stars into constellations, the zodiac was created in order to chart more accurately the movement of the planets through the sky. ²⁹ ‘Predictions’ were often made in the form of a protasis and an apodosis: ‘if x, then y’. The relationship of x to y was not necessarily thought to be causal, but was a sign: when x appeared then it would be likely that y would occur. These predictions included the relationship of the movement of celestial bodies and correlating weather patterns. The Babylonians produced the first almanacs, predicting the time for sunrise, sunsets, eclipses, solstices, equinoxes, high tides, rising river levels, frost, plentiful harvest, and drought. Babylonian record-keeping covered centuries of observation through stable priesthoods and guilds of father to son, with kings employing the scribal ‘scholars’ to assist in decisions on matters of state. ³⁰ David Brown regards the spread of Babylonian astronomy–astrology to neighboring cultures between 750 BCE and 612 BCE as a ‘paradigm shift’ for a new ‘science’. ³¹

In the Bible, in Gen. 1.14 the Priestly writer, whose traditional date is the sixth century BCE, states that the lights in the sky were for signs. While many hands may have contributed to the Joseph story as a whole, the final product dates to the time of the Priestly writer. ³² The tradition carries forward into the New Testament. In the Gospel of Matthew, Persian astronomer-astrologers are said to have come to Judea to visit the future king based on a sign in the sky (Mt. 2.1–2), while the Gospel of Luke has Jesus saying that signs in the heavens will signal the coming of the Son of Man (Mt. 21.25). In Judea, it was reported by Josephus that the zodiac was inlaid on the floor of the Jewish temple. The Babylonian astronomical ‘science’ of the day certainly had made its way into Jewish culture by the time of this writing of Genesis, and was still present centuries later.

The idea of ‘correspondence’—that what occurs in the macrostructure affects the microstructure—originated with the Babylonians and was made popular by Poseidonios. ³³ Aristotle provided a model to explain this phenomenon. In Aristotle's model of the universe, he placed the earth at the center with concentric spheres rotating around with the planets and stars attached. The Prime Mover, equated with the sphere of the fixed stars in On the Heavens, and beyond the fixed stars in The Metaphysics, starts the motion by its evident beauty, which causes movement in the outermost sphere. This motion then causes the next sphere's movement, and so on downward through the spheres until there is movement on earth. This mechanical model of interlocking levels provided an early answer to how the movement in the heavens could translate to changes on earth. There would be a ripple effect, such as one observes on water or through air, with movement being conveyed downward from the heavens.

Aristotle surmised that this interlocking universe is what is behind dream prophecy. The quiet and stillness of the night allows for sensations and emanations from matter to be felt more keenly. ³⁴ Aristotle is borrowing here from Heraclitus and Democritus. For Heraclitus, the divine reason may be encountered in dreams, as the dreamer is surrounded by the divine Logos/Reason of the environment. ³⁵ Democritus' concept of sense perception was that all matter, as such, emanates information which is received through the senses, and the mind receives a copy of the image. ³⁶ Aristotle adds to these concepts the idea that it is the stillness of the night which allows for the emanations to be received more easily. For these Greek philosophers, the interconnected environment from the heavens to the earth provides the content for prophetic dreams.

From antiquity, Hermeticism carried forward this tradition of interlocking levels of reality and the idea of correspondence. Correspondence and the Hermetic slogan—what happens above, happens below—grew in popularity during the Renaissance. ³⁷ Farmers' almanacs, stemming from Babylonian astronomical record-keeping and Hermetic philosophy, predicted upcoming weather patterns based on the movement of the planets and stars, as well as many other predictions that one would not expect to find in almanacs. ³⁸ They were popular throughout Europe, and from England found their way to colonial America, being as common in households as the Bible. ³⁹ The almanacs were printed and taught at Harvard University in its early years, until it was seen to be in conflict with the science of the day, Newtonian science, because the precise measure of exertion and influence of the heavenly bodies on the earthly environment could not be calculated. ⁴⁰

Today, in the contemporary sciences of astronomy and meteorology predictions of probable future natural events are based on centuries of observed data and mathematical models. These sciences describe the relational nature of the movement of the planets, moon and solar activity and their effects on the earth's environment. While the orbit around the sun and tilt of the earth produce the periodic changes of night and day and seasonal variations, the gravitational force of celestial bodies and solar flare-ups cause further cyclical and predictable variations. The sun's effect varies due to its movement through the galaxy, the earth's elliptical orbit, and solar flare-ups which tend to follow an eleven-year cycle. While the exact cause of drought is still not known, contemporary research indicates that lack of magnetic sun-spot activity within the eleven-year cycle indicates a correlate drought on earth. ⁴¹ It is the periodic nature of the movement of the moon, planets, and solar storm activity and their recorded correlate activity on earth which speaks to the ancient and contemporary models of weather prediction being possible. While weather forecasting today is still very much a predictive science, it is based on sense data from the environment, record-keeping of past droughts, and mathematical models based on this information. For computer models as well as living organisms, present information is acquired, then the data is extrapolated and models formed to arrive at predicted future outcomes.

According to the science of Complexity Theory, ‘anticipation of the future, or prediction’ is a fundamental aspect of all beings and necessary for the survival of organisms. ⁴² Complexity Theory is the study of how order, structure, and pattern arise from extremely complicated, apparently chaotic systems; it is the theory that processes having a large number of seemingly apparent independent agents can spontaneously order themselves into a coherent system. The survival of all species in terms of adaptation requires anticipation of the future and this ability to predict or anticipate the future increases with evolutionary complexity. Through experience, organisms take in vast amounts of sensory data and filter out details to create internal models based on their encounters with external stimulus. ⁴³ The more patterns encountered in the external environment, the more complex models can become internalized. ⁴⁴

Anyone, and this would include the ‘wise, discerning, spirit filled’ Joseph, would be able to some degree to predict the future, particularly when survival of the family line is at stake. Pharaoh and Egypt's survival is at stake as well. Pharaoh's dreams of an impending drought and consequent famine are precisely tied in with Joseph's dreams of his rise in status. For both, it is the sleeping, dreaming, unconscious mind which arrives at symbolic visions of the future. The dreaming brain is extremely active, and if one is struggling with an issue of conscience, this increased energy would theoretically activate various regions of the brain and consciousness may emerge of a future event. ⁴⁵ Consciousness has been defined as information from different regions of the brain coming together to form a synthesis. ⁴⁶ The ‘seemingly apparent independent’ elements which ‘spontaneously order themselves’ into a coherent vision of the future with Joseph as a centering agent include: his brothers' attitudes and actions toward him, the natural environment of sun, moon, stars, and fields of produce, not to mention the robe of royalty which started all this off in the first place. His unconscious mind has brought together seemingly disparate elements to provide a projected future outcome of himself in a position of royalty in a time of drought.

The writer of the Joseph novella conveys that divine dream communication is not mere supernatural gift, but the result of a process, one in which the dreaming brain factors in information from the social and natural environment. While the intertwined nature of the toledoth account preceding the dream report implies the connection of the social environment to dreams of the future, and dreams of the fields and stars imply the connection to the natural environment, the historical-cultural milieu conveys a strong belief that the activity of celestial bodies provides correlate weather patterns on earth that can be observed, charted, and predicted. Since the Joseph novella is about survival and adaptation, according to the science of complex systems, it would be more unusual for the family not to produce a vision or model of the future. The writer conveys a holistic connection between the dreamer, the social and natural environment, with all its emotional storms and droughts, and the divine who is more clearly seen in retrospect when stepping back and taking a look at the big picture.