Trance
Greek ekstasis (Num 24:4; Num 24:16). Balsam "fell" (into a trance is not in the Hebrew) overpowered by the divine inspiration, as Saul (1Sa 19:24) "lay down naked (stripped of his outer royal robes) all that day and all that night." God's word in Balaam's and Saul's dusts acted on an alien will and therefore overpowered the bodily energies by which that will ordinarily worked. Luke, the physician and therefore one likely to understand the phenomena, alone used the term.
Act 10:10, Peter in trance received the vision abolishing distinctions of clean and unclean, preparing him for the mission to the Gentile Cornelius (Act 22:17-21). Paul in trance received his commission, "depart far hence unto the Gentiles." In the Old Testament Abram's "deep sleep and horror of great darkness" (Gen 15:12) are similar. Also Ezekiel's sitting astonished seven days (Eze 3:15), then the hand of Jehovah coming upon him (Eze 3:22).
As in many miracles, there is a natural form of trance analogous to the supernatural, namely, in ecstatic epilepsy the patient is lost to outward impressions and wrapped in a world of imagination; Frank, who studied catalepsy especially, stated he never knew the case of a Jew so affected. Mesmerism also throws nervously susceptible persons into such states. Concentration of mind, vision, and hearing on one object produces it. Intense feeling and long continued thought tend the same way.
Muslim's visions and journey through the heavens were perhaps of this kind; so devotees' "ecstasies of adoration." In the Bible trance God marks its supernatural character by its divinely ordered consequences. Peter's trance could not be accidental and imaginary, for while meditating on it he hears the Spirit's voice, "behold three men seek thee, arise therefore, get thee down, go with them doubting nothing, for I have sent them."
His finding exactly three men, and at that very time, waiting for him below to go to Cornelius who had also beheld a distinct vision, could only be by divine interposition. The English "trance" comes through French from the Latin transitus, at first "passing away from life," then the dream vision state, in which the soul is temporarily transported out of the body and abstracted from present things into the unseen world.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Trance
Trance trans (ekstasis): The condition expressed by this word is a mental state in which the person affected is partially or wholly unconscious of objective sensations, but intensely alive to subjective impressions which, however they may be originated, are felt as if they were revelations from without. They may take the form of visual or auditory sensations or else of impressions of taste, smell, heat or cold, and sometimes these conditions precede epileptic seizures constituting what is named the aura epileptica. The word occurs 5 times in the King James Version, twice in the story of Balaam (Nu 24:4,16), twice in the history of Peter (Ac 10:10; 11:5), and once in that of Paul (Ac 22:17). In the Balaam story the word is of the nature of a gloss rather than a translation, as the Hebrew naphal means simply "to fall down" and is translated accordingly in the Revised Version (British and American). Here Septuagint has en hupno, "in sleep" (see SLEEP, DEEP). In Peter's vision on the housetop at Joppa he saw the sail (othone) descending from heaven, and heard a voice. Paul's trance was a…
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible on Trance
While in class. Greek iKaraaii has the meaning of frenzj', in Bib. Greek it is not found in this strong sense, but means either distraction of mind due to fear or astonish- ment (Ps 16" LXX, Ac 3'"), or religious rapture (Ac 10'" 11°). In the strict sense, religious ecstasy denotes a state in which the mind is so dominate was upon me ' is rather a religious exaltation of spirit, in which the free activity of the mind is not suppressed but heightened. Such a state lies behind vision as its psychological condition. See V'isioM. The prophets never appeal to the abnormal character of their experience as authenticating their message. In the Apostolic Church we find a revival of ecstasy in the stricter sense, as an accompaniment of the fresh and often violent religious awakening (1 Co \i-"-, Ac 2'^). It found expression in rapt utter- ances. While yielding a certain recognition to this gift of tongues St. Paul indicates that it was apt to breed confusion (1 Co 14^-^), and he places it under strict rule. He himself had also the gift of tongues, but he does not set great store I'y it (1 Co W…
Smith's Bible Dictionary on Trance
(1) In the only passage— (Numbers 24:4,16)—in which this word occurs in the English of the Old Testament italics show no corresponding word in Hebrew. In the New Testament we meet with the word three times— (Acts 10:10; 11:6; 22:17) The ekstasis (i.e. trance) is the state in which a man has passed out of the usual order of his life, beyond the usual limits of consciousness and volition, being rapt in causes of this state are to be traced commonly to strong religious impressions. Whatever explanation may be given of it, it is true of many, if not of most, of those who have left the stamp of their own character on the religious history of mankind, that they have been liable to pass at times into this abnormal state. The union of intense feeling, strong volition, long-continued thought (the conditions of all wide and lasting influence, aided in many cases by the withdrawal from the lower life of the support which is needed to maintain a healthy equilibrium, appears to have been more than the “earthen vessel” will bear. The words which speak of “an ecstasy of adoration” are often literal…
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia