Phillip B. Munoa III wrote a book, Four Powers in Heaven: The Interpretation of Daniel 7 in the Testament of Abraham (Journal for the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series, 28) that forwarded the thesis that the Testament of Abraham associates the Ancient of Days from Daniel 7 with Adam and the one like the Son of Man as Seth. For some time, I believed that Munoa was the only scholar who forwarded this claim, but I recently encountered another scholar who agrees with Munoa that the Testament of Abraham identifies Daniel's "Ancient of Days" with Adam.
Andrew Chester in his book, Messiah and Exaltation, wrote the following:
Andrew Chester in his book, Messiah and Exaltation, wrote the following:
Testament of Abraham
The whole of chapters 11-13 of the Testament of Abraham constitute an important text for the present discussion. The following passages are especially notable:
11.8-9: Then Abraham asked the Prince, 'My Lord Prince, who is the most wondrous man, who is adorned with such great glory . . .?' The incorporeal one said, 'This is the first-formed Adam, who is in such great glory . . . '.
12.4-5, 11: Between the two gates there stood an awesome throne, flashing like fire. And on it sat a wondrous man, bright as the sun, like a son of God . . . And the wondrous man who sat on the throne was the one who was giving judgment and sentencing the souls . . .
13.1-3: And Abraham said, 'My Lord Prince, who is this all-wondrous judge, and who are these recording angels? And who is the angel like the sun, who holds the scales, and who is the fiery angel who holds the fire' And the Prince said, 'All-pious Abraham, do you see the terrifying man who is seated on the throne? This is the son of the first-formed Adam, who is called Abel, and he was killed by the wicked Cain. He sits here to judge every creature . . . '.
This quite extraordinary succession of texts does not describe a process of transformation, such as we have seen thus far, but it does clearly portray both Adam and Abel as having transformed appearance. Thus Abel is surrounded by the most exalted angels, who appear in altogether brilliant mode, yet his own appearance clearly exceeds theirs in its awesome and majestic nature; the same is clearly implied for Adam as well.
It may indeed be possible to find still further significance in Testament of Abraham 11-13. This is according to the view that the Testament of Abraham in these chapters has used Dan. 7.9-27 at its primary point of reference, and interprets the four designations or 'figures' there is a radically distinctive way as four separate and independent beings. So the Ancient of Days is interpreted as Adam, the One like a Son of Man as Abel (the 'wondrous man'), the Holy Ones as the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and the Most High as the Master God. The way that Abel appears to be identified as the angelic Son of Man (a designation itself easily obtained for him as 'Son of Adam'!) is quite remarkable, as is the way that he is set specifically on a throne, as judge of all humankind (and all this has clear similarities with the way that the Son of Man is identified in 1 Enoch 69, 71, and with Jesus in the New Testament).
The most extraordinary aspect of the interpretation here is the Testament of Abraham, however, is the identification of the Ancient of Days with Adam; but in fact Dan. 7.21-22 and 7.25 allow this figure to be distinguished from the Most High, and there are indeed other traditions (Rev. 1.13-14 and Apocalypse of Abraham 10.4) where it is used of a figure other than God. In any case, Adam is given an extraordinary high status here: he is specifically enthroned in the presence of the angels, described as a 'terrifying being' who looks like the 'Master' (clearly referring to God), and adorned in glory. Thus his appearance is like God's, he is enthroned, implicitly has all-encompassing knowledge, and takes part in the process of judgment. (Andrew Chester, Messiah and Exaltation: Jewish Messianic and Visionary Traditions and New Testament Christology [Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007], 71-72)
