were more widely distributed to persons such as the Philistine king Abimelech; Jacob’s uncle, Laban; the jailed Egyptian butler and baker; Pharaoh; and the young, inexperienced Joseph. In all such instances, the emphasis was on the dream as dream; its interpretation or revelation was not always an integral part of this form of God’s address to men and nations. What a premium this era placed on the innovative and beneficial character of that word! Indeed, from the very outset of Genesis