. . .
2. Dreams and visions.
A second preliminary consideration is that Lehi’s claim, “Behold, I have
dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision” (v. 2; also v. 36),
reflects an overlap in terminology that is also apparent in the Bible, wherein
the terms dream and vision sometimes occur in parallel (see
Isaiah 29:7: “as a dream of a night vision;” see also Job 4:13; Daniel 7:1–2).
“Dream and vision are essentially related,” and “the two phenomena are
difficult to disentangle;” it is thus
evident that “the ancients equated dreams with visions.” In
Israel and the greater ancient Near East, dreams and visions were considered
similar, legitimate forms of visual revelation that the recipient experienced
internally. Ancient people were less interested in whether the recipient was
asleep or awake and more concerned about the reality of what was seen or heard.
Thus, functionally, the only real difference between revelatory dreams and
visions was that sleeping dreamers were less aware of their external
surroundings (contrast the awake Nephi and his vision in 1 Nephi 11:1). This
view of dreams and visions as related phenomena on a spectrum of revelatory
modes helps explain why Lehi’s wife, Sariah, when concerned that her sons might
not return from a mission motivated by an inspired dream (1 Nephi 3:2),
exasperatedly, and probably derisively, complained that Lehi was “a visionary
man,” a title he positively affirmed (1 Nephi 5:1–4; see also 2:11).
3. Cognate
objects. Lehi’s expression “I have dreamed a dream” (1 Nephi 3:2; 8:2)
may sound awkward in English, but it is an example of the use of a cognate
accusative or cognate object that occurs in Hebrew and some other Semitic
languages. In this construction, the verb and the object are derived from the
same lexical root.
Other examples of this feature in scripture include Genesis 37:5 (“Joseph
dreamed a dream”), 1 Samuel 1:11 (“And [Hannah] vowed a vow”), 1 Nephi 14:7 (“I
will work a great and a marvelous work”), and 2 Nephi 5:15 (“I did teach my
people to build buildings”). The fact that occurs in the Bible in connection
with dream reports provides an interesting link to the report of Lehi’s dream. (Dana M. Pike, “Lehi
Dreamed a Dream: The Report of Lehi’s Dream in Its Biblical Context,” in The
Things Which My Father Saw: Approaches to Lehi’s Dream and Nephi’s Vision,
ed. Daniel L. Belnap, Gaye Strathearn, and Stanley A. Johnson [Provo, Utah: Religious
Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011],
)
