Now the scriptural counterpart that always comes to explain the dream imagery grows clearer. For in the dreams:
- There is a fall.
- There is an altered reality that some recognize and some don't, and so God steps in to "shake what can be shaken" in order to make more apparent that which is of Him and can not be shaken.
- There is a focus on the head and the hands.
...these made my heart beat faster when I re-read the story about how the ark of the covenant was taken away from the Hebrews when they began to exercise their faith in too pagan a fashion. God allowed them to be drawn into a testing battl wherein they uncovered their paganized trust, for they brought the ark into battle like a talisman instead of housing their trust in the less concrete but more solid proof that was their relationship with God. Is this a story to be retold? (And if so, what are we treating like a good-luck charm, the thing that we heedlessly treat as being more sure for us than our relationship with God is?)
The story as it was:
1 Samuel - Chapter 5
1Sa 5:1
¶
And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.
1Sa 5:2
When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
1Sa 5:3
And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon [was] fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
1Sa 5:4
And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon [was] fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [were] cut off upon the threshold; only [the stump of] Dagon was left to him.
1Sa 5:5
Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
1Sa 5:6
¶
But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, [even] Ashdod and the coasts thereof.
1Sa 5:7
And when the men of Ashdod saw that [it was] so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.
About this figure, Dagon. In Hebrew the name means "great fish." He was a sea idol, usually represented as having the head and hands of a man, while the rest of the body resembled a fish. The allegory of Christ being often represented by a fish, and this idol having the appearance of a fish, but being "breakable" in those places where he is nonetheless pagan strikes me. Also, that these "non-fish" parts are what I saw broken in my dream.
I found in an on-line commentary the words of Chuck Smith, in a sermon he made near Easter-time. This is about idolatry:
"David the psalmist speaks of, again, the folly of idols. He said, "The work of the heathen is vain for they take a stick out of the forest, and they carve it and they make an image like unto themselves." He said, "But though they put eyes on the little god, the eyes can't see. Though they put ears on the little god, they can't hear. Though they put feet on it, they can't walk. Though they put the mouth, it can't speak."
Then he makes a very interesting observation, and he said, "They that have made them have become like unto the gods that they have made." You see, the first observation is that men have to have a god, and many men make their own gods. But when a man makes a god, he makes his god like himself. The anthropomorphic concepts. Because I have eyes, I put eyes on my little god. Because I have ears, I carve ears on the little god. Because I have a nose, I carve a little nose. Because I have feet, I carve the feet. Because I don't have any hair, I leave him bald. But though I may take great care in carving out the eyes on my little god, those eyes never do see anything. Though I carve a mouth on my little god, the mouth can't speak. Though I may carve feet on it, it can't walk. It's a dumb little idol.
But tragically, a man becomes like his god. If your god is a dumb stupid little idol, you are becoming like your god. Insensate, where soon you no longer hear the voice of God; you no longer see the glory of God; you no longer feel the presence of God. You've become like your gods, insensate to God. A man becomes like his god. That can be a glorious blessing, or a glorious, I mean a horrible curse. It all depends on who your god is. A man becomes like his god. "And we with open face beholding the glory of the Lord are changed from glory to glory, even into the same image by the power of His Spirit within us" (II Corinthians 3:18). Hey, I'm becoming like my God. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It doesn't yet appear what we're gonna be, but we know when He appears we're going to be like Him, for we will see Him as He is" (I John 3:2)." "
May those of us who are receiving Your divine radio-signals remain shielded by the assurances of that verse from I John and from II Corinthians.
As for me, this is my plea to You as a gap-filler in the throes of study over what You reveal as I travel along the way that is Your Son:
Psa 86:7
In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.
Psa 86:8
Among the gods [there is] none like unto thee, O Lord; neither [are there any works] like unto thy works.
Psa 86:9
All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.
Psa 86:10
For thou [art] great, and doest wondrous things: thou [art] God alone.
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