Son of Man
- ANCIENT SOURCES: see Son of Man (sources)
- SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see Category:Son of Man (subject)
Son of Man is a Semitic idiom denoting "humanity" or "self." In some Second Temple Jewish (and Christian) circles it came to be used in a messianic context to denote a heavenly Messiah.
Overview
In the book of Daniel, at the end of time power and authority are not given to the Son of David, but to a heavenly, angel-like being coming from Heaven and appearing like a Son of Man. He is the heavenly representative of the “people of the Most High” (=angel Micheal?). He appears in the context of the Last Judgment, even though nothing is said about his role in the judgment.
In book of the Parables of Enoch (at the turn of the Common Era) the Son of Man is a term denoting the heavenly Messiah.
- The name of the Son of Man is known since the beginning of the world
- He is the eschatological Judge; he will perform God’s judgment
- He is not as much the redeemer of Israel as the redeemer of the poor and oppressed from the tyranny of the powerful
- He will be worshiped
- He is the light of the gentiles, as well as of Israel
- He is full of wisdom and the revealer of wisdom
- Finally, the Son of Man is identified with Enoch.
In the Synoptics, the heaveny Messiah, Son of Man, is repeatedly identified with Jesus of Nazareth. Before his manifestation as the Eschatological Judge, "the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins."
In the Gospel of John (where 13 logia are preserved), the Son of Man becomes a title denoting the function of Judge of the divine Messiah.
The Book of Revelation reinterprets the Son of Man in Daniel 7 as the divine Messiah.
The Son of Man in ancient sources
The Son of Man in Scholarship
The Son of Man in Fiction
Related categories
References
Son of Man / George W.E. Nickelsburg / In: The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow), edited volume, 1249-1251