Doubting Dreams

Denique in puero adhuc refulsit divina gratia. Siquidem somniavit quod cum alligasset, ut sibi videbatur per visum, manipulos cum fratribus suis, surrexerit manipulus ejus, et steterit erectus: conversi autem fratrum manipuli, adoraverint manipulum summ. In quo utique futura resurrectio Domini Jesu revelata est, quem et Hierosolymis cum vidissent, undecim adoravere discipuli, et omnes sancti cum resurrexerint, adorabunt, fructus bonorum operum praeferentes, sicut scriptum est: Venientes autem venient cum exsultatione, tollentes manipulos suos. Unde fratres, licet somnii fidem per invidiam derogarent, interpretationem tamen ejus propriis sermonibus exprimentes, responderunt ei: Numquid regnando regnaturus es nobis, aut dominando dominaturus es nobis? Regem enim venturum visio illa significabat, quem omnis caro generis humani inflexo adoraret genu.Vidit autem aliud somnium, et narravit illud patri suo et fratribus suis, eo quod sol et luna et undecim stellae adorarent eum. Unde objurgavit illum pater ejus dicens: Quid ergo erit hoc visum quod somniasti? Numquid venientes ego et mater tua et fratres tui adorabimus te super terram? Quis est ille quem parentes et fratres adoraverunt super terram, nisi Christus Jesus, quando eum Joseph et mater cum discipulis adorabant, Deum verum in illo corpore confitentes, de quo solo dictum est: Laudate eum, sol et luna; laudate eum, omnes stellae et lumen? Objurgatio autem partris quid significat, nisi duritiam populi Israel, ex quibus Christus secundum carnem, quem hodieque Deum esse non credunt, nec volunt aodrare quasi Dominum, quia ex se natum cognoscunt? Audiunt itaque responsa ejus, sed non intelligunt: legunt ipsi quod eum sol et luna laudant, et nolunt credere de Christo Jesu dictum esse. Itaque Jacob typo fallitur alieno: sed suo amore non fallitur. Pietas in eo paterna non errat: sed erraturae plebis affectus exprimitur. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Jospeph Partiarcha, Caput II Source: Migne PL 14.643c-644b

Then in boyhood he shone with Divine grace. He had a dream that he was bound, so that it seemed to him in his vision that he was a sheaf with his brothers, and his sheaf rose up, and it stood erect, and the sheaves of his brothers turned to his and they adored his sheaf. 1 In which is the future resurrection of the Lord Jesus revealed, which seeing in Jerusalem the eleven disciples adored, and all the saints shall adore when they have risen, bringing before them the fruit of good works, as it is written, 'Coming in exultation, bearing their sheaves ' 2 Whence the brothers, on account of envy refusing to have faith in the dream, giving their own interpretation of the matter, responded to him, 'Shall you rule over us, and shall you have dominion over us?' 3 For the vision of the coming king signified Him whom all flesh on bended knee shall adore. And he saw another dream, and he told it to his father and his brothers, in which the sun and the moon and the eleven stars adored him. Whence his father rebuked him, saying, 'What, then, is the dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers come and adore you upon the earth? 4Who is this whom parents and brothers shall adore on the earth, unless Jesus Christ, when Joseph and his Mother adored Him along with the disciples, confessing the true God in the flesh, concerning which, to mention one thing alone, it is said, ' Praise him, sun and moon, praise him all you stars and light'? 5 And what does the rebuke of the father signify unless the hardness of the people of Israel, from whom Christ was according to the flesh, and whom even today do not believe Him to be God, nor are willing to adore him as Lord, whom they know as born from them? So they hear his reply, but they do not understand. They read that the sun and the moon praise him and they cannot credit it is spoken about Jesus Christ. Thus Jacob is a deceived by an incorrect type, but his love is not deceived. His paternal piety does not err, but the erring thought of a people is here expressed. Saint Ambrose, On The Patriarch Joseph, Chap 2 1 Gen 37.7 2 Ps 125.6 3 Gen 37.8 4 Gen 37.10 5 Ps 148.3