In further support of the contention
that the expression “that son of man” in the Parables means simply “that man,”
we may compare the way that reference is made to the figure in Daniel 7:13 in
other literature of the period, excluding the contentious territory of the
Gospels:
·
In Revelation 1:3
and 14:14 there is a literal Greek rendering of the Aramaic phrase used in
Daniel 7:13: “one like a son of man” (ομοιον
υιον ανθρωπου). (In my
view, the author of Revelation does not normally depend on the Old
Greek/Septuagint but translates directly from the Hebrew Bible. Note that in
14:14 this figure is seated on a cloud)
·
Another literal
echo of the phrase in Daniel 7:13, this time following the Septuagint, is in
words Justin attributes to his Jewish interlocutor Trypho: “a glorious and
great one, like a son of man [ως
υιον ανθρωπου], who
receives from the Ancient of Days the eternal kingdom” (Dial. 32.1, my
translation)
·
Sibylline Oracles
5:414-16: “For a blessed man [ανηρ
μακαριτης] came from the expanses of heaven / with a
scepter in his hands which God gave him, / and he gained sway over all things
well.” This and the following texts reflect the interpretation of Daniel 7:13
according to which the humanlike figure comes from heaven to earth.
·
In 1 Corinthians
15:47-49 Paul probably refers to the figure in Daniel 7:13. Contrasted with the
first man, Adam, who was from the dust, “the second man [is] form heaven” (ο δευτερος
ανθρωπος εξ
ουρανου). (Cf. 1 Thess 1:10; Phil 3.20) He goes on to
call him “the heavenly one” (α επουρανιος).
·
2 Baruch
39:7-40:3 is probably dependent on Daniel 7, but its messianic figure is called
“my Anointed One” (cf. Ps 2:2).
·
Of greatest
interest for comparison with the Parables is the vision of a man from the sea
in 4 Ezra 13, since it is an extended vision of a messianic figure who acts as
the eschatological judge. It is clearly modeled on Daniel 7. Ezra sees
“something like the figure of a man” coming out of the seat. (The sea derives
from Dan 7:3. The author has supposed that, like the four beasts, the humanlike
figure of Dan 7:13 came up from the sea) As he looks, “that man [ipse homo]
flew with the clouds of heaven” (13:3). Then he is called “the man who came up
out of the sea” (13:5). Later he is identified against as “that man (ipsum
hominem) (13:12). When the angel interprets Ezra’s vision for him, he
explains the man thus: “This is he whom the Most High has been keeping for many
ages, through whom he will deliver his creation” (13:26) (Cf. 13:32, which
makes clear that 4 Ezra thought of a descendant o David who has been reserved
by God for the end time) Subsequently the figure is called “my son” (or “my
servant”) (13:32, 37). The references back to the figure in the vision as “that
man” (13:3, 12) are strikingly like “that son of man” in the Parables. Perhaps
the putative Semitic original of 4 Ezra also used the Semitic idiom “son of
man,” but in that case the versions correctly translated it as “man.”
In none of these texts do we find the
expression “the Son of Man.” None of the ways in which Daniel’s phrase “one
like a son of man” is echoed in these texts could be used outside these textual
contexts and still be understood as a reference to the figure. (Paul’s phrase ο επουρανιος [1 Cor 15:48-49] has perhaps the potential to be a
title, but he does not actually use it outside these verses, where it is
contrasted with ο χοικος) . . . that it [the phrase ‘Son of Man’]
existed as a title outside the Gospels cannot be supported from the Parables of
Enoch or from any other early allusions to the figure of Daniel 7:13. (Richard
Bauckham, Son of Man [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2023], 1:37-38)
