the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Sleep
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or The English word ‘sleep,’ derived from O.E. slCEpan, denotes that normal periodic condition of the organism in which the inactivity of certain nerve centres is accompanied by unconsciousness, more or less complete. In the OT the two most common words are the noun שֵׁנָה, ‘sleep,’ and the verbs, יָשֵׁן, ‘to rest in sleep,’ and שָׁכַב, ‘to lie down to rest,’ the latter being the most frequent to describe the condition of those who were laid to rest with their fathers, and who thus sleep in death. In the NT the noun ὕπνος means sleep proper, whilst the verbs καθεύδειν, ‘to lie down to rest,’ and κοιμᾶσθαι, ‘to fall asleep,’ are in most common use. Both these words refer to ordinary sleep, and in a symbolic manner they are employed with reference to death. Christ uses the former in describing the condition of Jairus’ daughter (Matthew 9:24, Mark 5:39, Luke 8:52), and the latter in respect of Lazarus (John 11:11). In both these cases natural death is spoken of by Christ as ‘sleep,’ on the ground doubtless that through the exercise of His miraculous power, this ‘sleep’ would be followed by an awakening in the present world. As in the OT, sleep is used in the Apostolic Church as a euphemistic term for death. Stephen is said to have fallen asleep when he died as the effects of stoning (Acts 7:60). According to St. Paul, true believers live and die unto the Lord, under the symbolism of waking and sleeping respectively (1 Thessalonians 5:10); hence the beautiful phrases occur, ‘fallen asleep in Christ’ (1 Corinthians 15:18) and ‘those who sleep (or are fallen asleep) in Jesus’ (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Sleep is also used as a symbol of spiritual torpor and death, especially in several of our Lord’s parables; hence the duty of watchfulness (Matthew 25:1-13, etc.). St. Paul is emphatic in warning men against that suspension of spiritual activity which is implied in sleep, inasmuch as Christians are the children of the day (1 Thessalonians 5:6-7) and not of the night, and he calls upon them to awake out of sleep (Romans 13:11, Ephesians 5:14).
Sleep has always been a profound mystery, and it is still the crux in physiology and psychology. The avenues of sense are closed and the mind is detached from the outside world. There is something awe-inspiring in the motionless face of the sleeper, temporarily deprived of sight and movement, the torpor of muscle and nerve and the unresponsiveness of the whole organism presenting a striking contrast to the same personality when completely awake. All the activities are lowered, the pulse falls about one-fifth, the circulation is slower, the process of nutrition is retarded and the excitation of the nerves diminished. Whilst the central activity is lowered, it is a moot point whether there is a greater or a less quantity of blood in the brain during sleep, and there is also some doubt with regard to the state of the blood itself. It is believed that the ‘tensional forces’ have a chance of recuperating themselves during the muscular inactivity induced by sleep and by the diminished production of heat. Whilst the nerves are in a less excitable condition during sleep, the organic processes, which are still continued in a less active degree, make themselves felt in dreams. The mental activity, liberated from the effort of attention to outward objects, may co-operate with the organic sensations to work up the materials of dream-fancies.
F. W. H. Myers, in harmony with his own theories, treats sleep as a positive and definite phase of personality co-ordinate with the waking phase. He contends that in special cases the power over the muscles is much greater than during the waking consciousness. The mind is set free from the activity of the organism to pursue its own quest, and it is refreshed and enriched thereby for the tasks of ordinary waking life. Like genius, it draws upon unknown and spiritual sources, and is exempt from the limitations of connexion with nerves and brain. It is not surprising, therefore, that sleep should appear to the onlooker as ‘Death’s twin-brother’ and that the old Hebrews should have committed their dead to the tomb with the reflexion that they had fallen asleep and were laid to rest with their fathers. And all through the ages death has been spoken of as a sleep, but with far more appropriateness under Christian influence, as with the Christian’s hope there will be a glorious awaking to life at its fullest and best. Since we discriminate amongst our experiences, as to whether we are dreaming or fully awake, by the higher degree of vividness and of the sense of activity as well as by the deeper conviction of reality in the latter states, so may we be led to expect that when we see things as they are, sub specie aeternitatis, our experience will be analogous at least to awaking out of sleep, and our earthly life found to be the stuff of which dreams are made. See article Dream.
J. G. James.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Sleep'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/s/sleep.html. 1906-1918.
