What was the Dream of Pilate's Wife?

[Michie]

“Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, ‘Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much over him today in a dream.’” (Matthew 27:19)

There are many stories of the Lord speaking through dreams in the Bible, however, there is only one in which the recipient is a woman. Recorded only in the Gospel of St. Matthew is the story of Pontius Pilate’s wife, who had a dream concerning Jesus, leading her to demand that her husband “have nothing to do with that righteous man” (Mt 27:19).

The Gospel is silent, however, on the content of the dream, Matthew records only that Pilate’s wife suffered greatly because of it.

What did Pilate’s wife, whom tradition has named Claudia Procula, see in her dream that would lead her to confront her husband, intervening and attempting to stop the condemnation of Jesus?

Continued below.
What was the Dream of Pilate's Wife?

 

[Lazarus Short]

Pilate gets a lot of condemnation, but as I read the Gospels, I note that he tried every political trick he knew to get Jesus the Christ "off the hook." It was his Jewish opponents who insisted He be crucified, and Pilate rolled over when they threatened to air his dirty laundry to Caesar...

I'm sure many will lift eyebrows at my interpretation.

 

[Chesster]

From Life of Jesus Christ by Anne Catherine Emmerich:

She conversed long with Pilate and conjured him by all that was sacred to him not to injure Jesus, the Prophet, the Holy of Holies, and then she related some things from the dreams, or visions, which she had had of Jesus the night before.

I remember that she saw the Annunciation to Mary, the Birth of Christ, the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Kings, the Prophecies of Simeon and Anna, the Flight into Egypt, the Massacre of the Holy Innocents, the Temptation in the Desert, and other scenes from the holy life of Jesus. She saw Him always environed with light, while the malice and wickedness of His enemies appeared under the most terrible pictures. She saw the sanctity and anguish of His Mother and His own infinite sufferings under symbols of unchanging love and patience. She endured unspeakable anguish and sadness, for these visions, besides being something very unusual for her, were irresistibly impressive and convincing. Some of them, as for instance, the Massacre of the Innocents and Simeon's Prophecy in the Temple, she beheld as taking place even in the neighborhood of her own house.

 

[Norbert L]

What did Pilate’s wife, whom tradition has named Claudia Procula, see in her dream that would lead her to confront her husband, intervening and attempting to stop the condemnation of Jesus?

What were the daily concerns of executing justice by powerful people thousands of years ago?

Given the story of Necubnezzar's dream and what we know of his aspirational outlook for his position of power. "king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” Daniel 4:30 The consequences he had to suffer afterward we're there to prove that even he had to bow the knee to judgment from Daniel's God.

I think it's reasonable to assume that they we're concerned about the ramifications that would happen to them from the gods as pagans understood them in ancient times. Put yourself in their position, you don't want to upset Zeus do you?

Whatever imagery appeared to her would at least be seen as something that threatened their status in Roman politics. Pilate in washing his hands would show that he was on Zeus' side and therefore not make a similar mistake that would cause the gods to take action against them.

However that does little in establishing what his wife actually saw in the dream, but it does have a reasonable degree of a rational explanation to the motivation for Pilate's actions.

It could be helpful what extra biblical sources report about what pagans saw in their dreams two thousand years ago. Nowadays it seems possible that even Sponge Bob can be included in a nightmare.

 

[Bobber]

I've always found this interesting. God didn't provide us much detail except mentioning about it but very, very interesting.

Matt. 27:19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.”

What was this dream? And why was it given? Obviously it scared Pilate as in him maybe saying, "On no! What have I got myself into here!" He tried to push every button and pull every lever to not have Christ crucified but he was between a rock and a hard place. I don't think the Roman occupation was quite like people think. Sure they could call legions down but probably as a usual thing there was probably a mere figure head force maintaining the oversight. I'm guessing Pilate actually feared for his life not to do what they Jews wanted. Yes the legions from Rome could march back into Israel and lower the boom but it certainly wouldn't have helped him personally if he and he men were overthrown and killed by an insurrection of the Jews.

So again what was the dream and why was it given? If we were to say God was trying to stop Jesus from going to the cross....no that couldn't be true. Jesus came to die for mankind. Is it possible God wanted the whole event to stay in the memory of Pilot and his wife so as later to lead them to salvation? When others associates of his from Rome would bring up the mention of Christians in the future he wouldn't have had the same way of thinking about it as sceptics in Rome. HE WAS THERE! He knew something beyond the natural, supernatural was going on with this man Jesus.

I find interesting too that when he had the inscription, King of the Jews put on the cross and the religious leaders said change it to He said he was the King of the Jews he refused. If Jesus was who he told him he was he didn't want to fool around with crossing God. The man was scared.

 

[Bobber]

Pilate gets a lot of condemnation, but as I read the Gospels, I note that he tried every political trick he knew to get Jesus the Christ "off the hook." It was his Jewish opponents who insisted He be crucified, and Pilate rolled over when they threatened to air his dirty laundry to Caesar...

I'm sure many will lift eyebrows at my interpretation.

Actually I think that's what most people really think. I do and always have.

 

[BrAndreyu]

Pilate gets a lot of condemnation, but as I read the Gospels, I note that he tried every political trick he knew to get Jesus the Christ "off the hook." It was his Jewish opponents who insisted He be crucified, and Pilate rolled over when they threatened to air his dirty laundry to Caesar...

I'm sure many will lift eyebrows at my interpretation.

I don't, and the common trope is that pointing out that it was the Jews (mainly the pharisees) who wanted Christ killed leads to "anti-semitism" but I have a different idea about that, namely that the crucifixion of Christ was the greatest thing that ever happened in history, because if it hadn't happened, we'd all be headed on a one-way trip to hell.

In the past, Christians have tried to argue that the crucifixion was a bad thing and I reject this idea. I think it was awesome that God became a human and chose to let his creation kill him so that he could justify us all in his sight afterwards and I'm very thankful that he chose to do this. I don't feel badly about it at all, I think it's a fundamentally great thing and it showed just how awesome Jesus was because about two days later, he came roaring back to life and rolled away that stone from the tomb and showed that he had defeated death for our sake.

Thanks Jesus! You da man!