Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§16.3 How Did Jesus See His Own Role?
b. An Apocalyptic Root
One of the very few instances of the Aramaic singular bar ' e nas (without the final
-a which is equivalent to the definite article) prior to the time of Jesus is Dan.
7.13. It is part of one (or two) of Daniel's great visions (7.9-14):
9 As I watched, thrones were set in place, and one that was Ancient of Days
took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like
pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and its wheels were burning fire. 10 A
stream of fire issued and came forth from before him; a thousand thousand
served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court
sat in judgment, and the books were opened. . . . l 3 As I watched in the night
visions, behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 To him
was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations and
languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which
shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
The second (part of the) vision seems to be a continuation of an adapted creation
myth. In the original myth the beasts of sea, air, and land are created, and then
man (human being) as the climax of creation (Gen. 1.20-27); man's supremacy is
indicated by his being given dominion over the beasts (1.28), and the power to
name them (2.19-20). In Daniel 7 the sequence is the same: four beast-like creatures
appear from the sea (7.2-8), and finally a man-like figure appears (7.13); 96
dominion is taken from them and given to him (7.12, 14). In the interpretation of
the vision(s) the beasts are identified as four kings or kingdoms, and the manlike
figure is identified with 'the saints of the Most High' (7.17-18, 23-27). The implication
is clear: that as 'man' = the human being was climax to creation and
given dominion over the rest of creation, so Israel was the climax of God's universal
purpose and would be given dominion over all other nations. 97
1977) 11-22; also '"The Son of Man": Some of the Facts', NTS 41 (1995) 277-79 ('the [wellknown,
Danielic] Son of Man'). Cf. Lindars, Jesus Son of Man 24-27.
96. The preposition k- ('like') is used for various elements of the visions to denote not the
reality (the beasts are all bizarre), but something like the reality of a lion, human stance, a leopard,
human eyes, a man (Hampel, Menschensohn 29). T B. Slater, 'One like a Son of Man in First-
Century CE Judaism', NTS 41 (1995) 183-98, mistakes the function of the k-: it does not denote
'another type of being'; it simply indicates the unclarity/ambiguity of what is seen in the vision.
97. This aspect of the passage is strangely neglected by discussions of the religiohistorical
background of the Daniel 7 imagery, though it does not preempt these discussions,
otherwise well reviewed by J. J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993)
280-94; but cf. A. Lacocque, 'Allusions to Creation in Daniel 7', in J. J. Collins and P. W. Flint,
eds., The Book of Daniel: Composition and Reception (2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 1.114-31.
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