Particularly intriguing for an interest in the
Danielic son of man is, of course, the combined influence of Dan 7:9 and 13 in
Rev 1:13-14 - that is, the use of elements of Daniel's description of the Ancient
of Days ("his head and his hair were ... as white wool, '"like a
flame of fire") in Revelation's description of the "one like a son of
man." This suggestion that the figures of the Ancient of pays and the "one
like a son of man" were in some way merged in John's vision has stimulated
considerable discussion in NT scholarship. It has also posed various issues:
whether it strengthens the case that the reading of Dan 7: 13 LXX was current
("as the Ancient of Days," rather than "to the Ancient of
Days"); how it correlates with the issue of angel christology that is also
addressed in Revelation; and whether, as with the talk of "the lamb in
the midst of the throne" (Rev 7: 17; cf. 22: 1,3), it amounts simply to a
merging of symbolical descriptions, or was intended to provide something more
in the nature of an ontological statement about the relationship between Christ
and God. (James D.G. Dunn, "The Danielic Son of Man in the New
Testament," in John J. Collins and Peter W. Flint, eds., The Book of
Daniel: Composition and Reception, 2 vols. [Supplements to Vetus
Testamentum LXXXIII,II; Formation and Interpretation of Old Testament
Literature II, 2; Leiden: Brill, 2001], 2:537)