ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Analysing Interpretation in the Camp of the Midianites Season 3 Episode 1 -
n Judges 7 we read of Gideon overhearing two men amongst the host of Midian discussing a dream: “And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host. And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for Yahweh hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian” (vv. 13-15). There were two main components to what Gideon heard. First, there was the man recounting his dream, “the telling of the dream”. Secondly, there was that spoken by the second man, “the interpretation thereof”. A marginal rendering for this latter phrase is ‘the breaking thereof’. In this article we will consider the basis and implications for this alternative translation. In so doing we will gain insight into how we should do Bible study. First we need to consider the relationship between dreams and interpretation.
