When approaching the New Testament for the first time, an interested reader might think about the necessity of having multiple accounts of Jesus’ life. They might ask themselves why one unified narrative is insufficient. What does each Gospel add to the overarching narrative of Jesus’ life? In the context of this specific blog, I am going to discuss one of the unique narrative choices that Matthew incorporates into his Gospel to enhance both the Jewishness of the Gospel and the depiction of Jesus’ identity as the Messiah. One prominent way the depiction of Jesus’ identity is shown in Matthew’s Gospel is through his incorporation of dreams and the clear connection to the Old Testament. Revelation through dreams is a common form of divine communication in the Old Testament; however, it is not common in the New Testament. Compared to all of the other New Testament writers, Matthew specifically deals with revelation through dreams. In this blog, I will explore the significance of the divine knowledge revealed through dreams in the Gospel of Matthew. While there are six total references to dreams throughout the Gospel, the focus of this discussion will circulate around the dreams in the infancy narrative, especially those directed to Joseph, the husband of Mary. More specifically, I will explore how the Jewish traditions of dreams affect the way Matthew approaches the framework of his Gospel.
The Gospel of Matthew as a whole is considered to be the most Jewish of the Gospels based on scholarly studies. At the beginning of his Gospel, Matthew uniquely depicts Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, the son of David, and the son of Abraham, directly linking Matthew’s narrative to the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy. Scholars have also found these dreams to be deeply rooted in Jewish tradition and connected to Old Testament prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah. The Jewishness of the Gospel parallels with the overarching theme, promise and fulfillment.
I will discuss how the dreams in Matthew’s birth narrative are essential to the theme of promise and fulfillment based on scholarly reports. These dreams, deeply influenced by Jewish tradition, are crucial in introducing the theme of promise and fulfillment. Additionally, the strong influence that Jewish scripture has on these dreams connects with Matthew’s emphasis on Jesus as the Messiah and the fulfillment of prophecies. While there are five total dreams in the infancy narrative, I will specifically focus on the four dreams that Joseph receives. By peeling the layers back on these four dreams, we will see how Joseph’s obedience to the dreams fulfilled Old Testament prophecies, highlighting the Jewish mosaic of the Gospel.
First, I need to make the distinction between the way in which the modern and ancient world views dreams. I want to explain this difference because in order to have a complete grasp of why Matthew incorporated revelation through dreams, it is vital to think about his audience. In today’s world, we only think about dreams in the context of one’s subconscious; however, the ancient notion is that dreams “were objective means through which the spirit world could communicate to human beings”(Viljoen). People in the Greco-Roman world believed that dreams conveyed divine messages. When I speak about the concept of dreams throughout this blog, I am aware of how they would have been interpreted in the ancient world since that would have been how Matthew’s audience would have interpreted them.
One central question that may come to mind when investigating the dreams in Matthew is: Why does the Gospel of Matthew include dreams in the birth narrative when the other Gospels do not? Scholars have answered this question by looking at the themes of the Gospel of Matthew and how the dreams parallel the overarching message. Each page of the Gospel circulates around its central theme of promise and fulfillment. The Gospel of Matthew is the most Jewish of all the Gospels, depicting Jesus’ identity right from the beginning as the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. By identifying Jesus as the son of Abraham, Matthew is directly linking Jesus to the father of the people of Israel. Additionally, by saying Jesus is the son of David, Matthew is connecting Jesus’ genealogy to the royal line of King David, proving that Jesus was royalty. Matthew’s early description of where Jesus came from directly links Matthew’s narrative to the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy. Throughout the rest of the Gospel, Matthew incorporates fulfillment formulas, further demonstrating the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy. Based on Scholarly review, it is clear that the Gospel of Matthew is linked to Jewish tradition; however, how would the dreams he uniquely incorporates into his infancy narrative add to the Jewish mosaic of Matthew’s narrative?
To discover the true messages that lay beyond the dreams, scholars have questioned the sources and historicity of the dreams in The Gospel of Matthew. Based on scholarly reports, the dreams in the infancy narrative in the Gospel of Matthew demonstrate their origin as “midrashic variations on themes in the Hebrew bible”(Gnuse 104). Now, after reading that, you may ask what midrash is. In simple terms, midrash refers to ancient commentary regarding Hebrew Scriptures. With that in mind, scholars are saying that the dreams in Matthew’s Gospel come from reinterpretations of the themes, in this case, dreams, that are found within the Hebrew Bible. This alone provides evidence that the dreams in the infancy narrative are related to Jewish scripture, therefore adding a Jewish layer to Matthew’s Gospel. This ultimately aided Matthew’s depiction of Jesus as the Messiah. However, in order to provide a more solid understanding of where these dreams originate from, I am going to discuss two of the most comprehensive studies of the form and origin of Matthew’s dreams.
Robert Gnuse, a distinguished professor of the humanities, through form-critical comparison, found that the dreams in Matthew’s Gospel are influenced by the dream narratives in the Elohist source in Genesis, the first book in the Hebrew bible. Gnause states that the dream references in Matthew’s infancy narrative have apparent structural similarities. This indicates that “Matthew has modeled his dreams on the dreams found in Genesis, particularly the dreams in the Elohist tradition”(Dodson 7). The structural connection that Gnuse finds between the dreams in Matthew’s infancy narrative and the dreams in Genesis is a testament to why referencing dreams will connect Matthew’s Gospel to Jewish scripture. However, Frances Flannery, a professor of Religion at James Madison University, criticizes Gnuse for “rejecting influence from Jewish dream material contemporary with Matthew ”(Dodson 7). In essence, Flannery claims that, yes, the Gospel of Matthew is a clear example of Jewish scripture; however, to assert “that the ‘form’ of Matthew’s dreams are ‘uniquely Jewish’ simply ignores dream reports in other Greco-Roman literature”(Dodson 8). In simple terms, Flannery says that dreams in Matthew represent a standard literary convention that would have made sense to an audience in the light of other Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian Texts.
The reason why I wanted to incorporate both of these scholar’s arguments is because we need to look at different approaches to the understanding of where these dreams came from. When we do this, we can see where each scholar overlaps. In this case, while Flannery disagrees with the fact that Gnuse views the structure of the dreams as uniquely Jewish, she herself also believes that the dreams are, in part, influenced by Jewish text. By examining the varied perspectives of the two educated academics regarding the structural origins of the dreams in Matthew, we gain a more accurate understanding of how these dreams draw influence from Jewish scripture. Knowing that Jewish scripture has influenced the dreams, in and of itself, proves that the dreams in Matthew’s infancy narrative add to the Jewishness of the Gospel; however, how do these dreams parallel with the central theme of the Gospel: promise and fulfillment?
To answer this question, I am going to narrow my focus even more to the four dream revelations that Joseph receives. Scholarly reports show how Joseph is a crucial figure in the connection between the dreams in Matthew and the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy. This study takes us deeper into the relationship between the dreams in Matthew and God’s promise to the people of Israel. In the Old Testament, divine communication through dreams is a common theme. As I have said before, Matthew uniquely incorporates dreams as a means of divine communication to connect his Gospel with Jewish tradition. Four of the dreams in Matthew’s infancy narrative are to Joseph and regard, respectfully, “1) taking Mary as wife and naming the child ‘Jesus;’ 2) fleeing to Egypt to rescue the child and his mother; 3) returning from Egypt to Israel with the child and his mother; 4) withdrawing to Galilee and establishing residence in Nazareth”(Oblates of St.Joseph). By obeying these divine revelations, Joseph, the man of dreams, is in sync with the cited fulfillment of prophecies.
But how does Joseph fulfill prophecy just by corresponding to the divine revelations? Suppose we dissect each divine dream that Joseph receives. In that case, it becomes clear that everything that happened was a fulfillment of scripture, ultimately proving that Matthew incorporated these dreams into his narrative to enhance the connection of his Gospel to Jewish scripture.
The first revelation that comes to Joseph through a dream happens right when he is about to quietly dismiss Mary: “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”(Matt 1:20-21). When comparing this text to Old Testament scripture, Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14: “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son”(Ehrman). This direct reference to the prophecies in Isiah, one of the major prophetic writings of the Old Testament, proves that what the prophet said is being fulfilled by the virginity of Jesus’ mother. Furthermore, this dream announces Jesus as the promised messiah right from the beginning of the Gospel.
Another compelling revelation through dreams, a second glimpse into the correlation between Matthew’s Gospel and the fulfillment of prophecy, comes to Joseph by an angel of the Lord: “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”(Matt 2:8). Again, the action of obedience to the dream by Joseph, fulfills what the prophet said: “Out of Egypt I called my son”(Matt 2:15). Here Matthew directly quotes Hosea 11:1, another book from the Old Testament.
The last two dreams that Joseph receives go hand in hand in fulfilling Old Testament scripture. Firstly, Joseph is told that he may come back to Israel; however, after being warned in a second dream that Herod’s son Archelaus was ruling over Judea, Joseph took the child and mother to Galilee. There, a town called Nazareth became their home “so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean”’(Matt 2:23). Once again, Matthew makes it crystal clear how Joseph’s actions fulfill prophecy.
By looking at the individual dreams Joseph receives, it is clear that Joseph’s actions in response to the revelation through dreams are fulfillments of the Old Testament scripture. Because Matthew makes a point to provide exactly what prophecies are being fulfilled by literally quoting scripture from the Old Testament, it’s obvious that the dreams in the infancy narrative in Matthew play a large role in setting up the theme of the Gospel: promise and fulfillment. Matthew has shown that Joseph is a key character in Jesus’ infancy narrative. He is communicated through dreams by an angel of the Lord, in the same way that God communicates to his prophets in the Old Testament.
As we have explored through scholarly reports, the dreams in the Gospel of Matthew act as a narrative tool that Matthew uses in order to highlight his Gospel’s overarching theme of promise and fulfillment. Drawing inspiration from the Hebrew Bible right at the beginning of the Gospel, Matthew alludes to his overall portrayal of Jesus as the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. By delving into the dreams specifically to Joseph, we are able to visually see how his cooperation with the divine revelation, communicated through dreams, fulfills prophecies, creating a strong link between the Gospel of Matthew and important scripture from the Hebrew Bible.