The Son of Man

The title “Son of Man” denoted Jesus as a part of God, while the title “Son of God” indicated his status as King Messiah. … “Son of God” referred to the king of Israel, the earthly king of David’s seat, while “Son of Man” referred to a heavenly figure and not a human being at all.

The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ, by Daniel Boyarin

What Boyarin offers is the opposite of how one might understand these two phrases. We consider “Son of God” to be consistent with the idea of the Trinity: Jesus Christ is the Father’s Son. Yet, Jesus most often refers to Himself as the Son of Man. The apostle Paul refers to Him as “Lord.” Son of God is not as often used anywhere in the New Testament when referring to Jesus Christ.

The Messiah in the Hebrew Bible always refers to an actual ruling historical king. Several kings were anointed, depicted for the first time by Samuel with Saul:

Then Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on his head, kissed him, and said, “Has not Yahweh anointed you a ruler over His inheritance? (1 Samuel 10:1, Legacy Standard Bible – I will likely use this version while working through this book as it uses “Yahweh” where appropriate in place of LORD)

The anointed king is the anointed of YHVH, or the “Mashiach” (Messiah, Christ) of YHVH. In addition to Saul, there was David, Solomon, Jehu, Joash, and Jehoahaz. Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible does this usage imply anything but the extraordinarily close relationship between the King of Israel and the God of Israel.

Psalms 2: 2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord mocks them. 5 Then He speaks to them in His anger and terrifies them in His fury, saying, 6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King, Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” 7 “I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.

The “anointed,” reigning, living king of Israel is called God’s Son. The Son has been begotten, or enthroned. Early on in the Hebrew Bible, the “Son of God” was used to refer to the Davidic king, without any hints of incarnation of the deity in the king.

The king is indeed very intimate with God and a highly sacralized person – but not God.

After return from exile, the people would pray for a return of another earthly and actual king, for a restoration of the House of David, as it was before. In these prayers, the seeds were planted of the notion of a promised Redeemer, to be sent at the end of days. This notion would come to fruition at the time of the Second Temple:

Mark 1: 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The Son of God is the human Messiah, the old title of the king of the House of David. Yet, in Mark chapter two, it is recorded that Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man – which Boyarin offers refers to the divine nature of Christ. How is this possible, for supposedly monotheistic Jews?

For this, Boyarin refers to the Book of Daniel, describing it as one of the earliest apocalypses ever written (he dates it to around 161 B.C.). In chapter seven, Daniel begins to describe his vision:

Daniel 7: 9 “I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His clothing was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with fire, its wheels were a burning fire.”

There is more than one throne. The Ancient of Days is seated on one throne; later in the dream the Son of Man is introduced:

Daniel 7: 13 “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and came near before Him. 14 And to Him was given dominion, Glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not be taken away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.”

The vision is interpreted. After an explanation of all of the beasts and all of the kings, a new king will come:

Daniel 7: 27 Then the reign, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’

This “Highest One” is the Son of Man from verse 13, for whom a throne was set next to the Ancient of Days. This kingdom is something much different than the Davidic kingdom, the kingdom of the Son of God. It is an everlasting kingdom, over all dominions and not only Israel.

Boyarin takes away from this vision the following characteristics regarding this figure who would later be named the Messiah, or Christ: He is divine; He is in human form; He is portrayed as younger than the ancient of Days; He will be enthroned on high; He is given power and dominion over all the earth.

All of these characteristics fit what is described of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. These ideas were further developed in Jewish traditions between the time of the writing of Daniel and the life of Christ and the Gospels that told the story of that life.

At a certain point these traditions became merged in Jewish minds with the expectation of a return of a Davidic king, and the idea of a divine-human Messiah was born.

This figure was then named “Son of Man,” as is seen early in Mark’s Gospel, alluding to the figure in Daniel’s vision.

In other words, a simile, a God who looks like a human being (literally Son of Man) has become a name for that God, who is now call “Son of Man,” a reference to his human-appearing divinity.

It is a clear reference to the quotation in Daniel, the Son of man for whom a throne was set up with the Ancient of Days. And when Jesus appeared, a man who fit the characteristics of the Son of Man in Daniel, many Jews believed this is precisely who (and what) they were expecting: a God-man.

Conclusion

Many Jews, not all. And even for those who were expecting something like this, there are variations: Was He a Redeemer who was exalted to the state of Divinity? Or was a Divinity who came down to earth to take on human form? Here we see questions that were also to be dealt with in the first centuries within the Christian Church.

But either way, there is a double godhead and a human-divine combination.