Divine Revelation through Dreams

God revealed to the ever hesitant Gideon that he would indeed defeat the Midianite forces, but God revealed this through a dream (Judges 7:10-15). Block (NAC, vol. 6, Judges/Ruth) suggests that because Gideon was so steeped in paganism and so reluctant to believe God, that Yahweh had to win Gideon's confidence through the pagan form of revelation: dreams.

His argument is that dreams, to the Hebrews, were inferior forms of revelation. He cites Num. 12:6, Deut. 13:2, 4, 6; Jer. 23:27-28, 32; Zech. 10:2 (p. 279 n606) as evidence, along with many pagans who received dreams, such as Abimelech (Gen. 20:3, 6), Laban (Gen. 31:24), Pharaoh, his baker, and his butler (Gen. 40-41), and Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:13-3). I would add Pilate's wife to the list, as well (Matt. 27:19).

However, I'm not convinced that dreams were always (or even often) inferior forms of revelation. Here is my thinking:

1. Num. 12:6 cites "visions" and "dreams" as the method that God will use to speak through his prophet. Further, Joel 2 (and Acts 2) contains the well-known prophecy, "your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams" (2:17). It seems that this prophecy of the beginning of the church is generally positive.

2. God used dreams to reveal his will to Jews or Christians. God granted Solomon his famous wish in a dream (1 Kings 3:5). Joseph, Mary's husband, received three dreams (Matt. 1:20; 2:12-13, 19). Peter had the "vision" of sheet full of unclean animals (Acts 10). Paul had the dream of the Macedonian man (Acts 16).

3. Divining dreams did not seem to be "the bomb dot com" in the Ancient Near East (ANE). Oppenheim (Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization, p.206-224) lists that casting lots, observing the pattern of oil poured into water (lecanomancy), and the observation of smoke from incense (libanomancy) were three of the big players in the ANE (at least in Mesopotamia), while astrology was top dog. Interpreting dreams was somewhat common, but it did not have the cultic status of astrology, extispicy (examining animal guts), or looking at oil or smoke.

I won't disagree that Gideon was certainly doubtful and that God was "scraping the bottom of the barrel" to get Gideon to trust him (God did greater miracles prior to this in Judges 6). I'm just not sure that "dreams" were always the inferior form of revelation in the eyes of Hebrews.