down to him (Joseph). Joseph interpreted the butler’s, the baker’s and Pharaoh’s dreams. A man interprets his companion’s dream in the camp of Gideon about the barley loaf that tumbled into the camp of Midian. Daniel was the interpreter of dreams and visions to some kings of Babylon (e.g. the vision of King Belshazzar that saw part of a hand that wrote him a message on the wall of his palace).
The prophecies of Ezekiel, Daniel and the Book of Revelation written by John are expressed in symbolic language. Why is God speaking in parables? Why is He veiling His messages to some and reveal it to others? And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given (Matthew 13: 10-11).
Interpretation of dreams and visions
In 1988 while my wife was pregnant with our son, Oleg, my mother-in-law had a dream about her, pushing a red pram with a child in it. She interpreted the dream and indicated that she will have a daughter. She believes that the color blue represents a son and the color red represents a girl. This is a traditional believe in Ukraine. My wife believed her dream and interpretation. Just thereafter my wife had a direct dream (no interpretation required) that she will have a son that will be born with black hair. Although our son is blond today he was born with black hair just as she had seen him in her dream. God gave her this dream in response to a dream that was incorrectly interpreted. Sometimes God imparts revelation through dreams that require no interpretation.
Nevertheless, most dreams and visions are veiled in symbolism and