Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

corpus-paul - Re: son of man

corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Corpus-Paul

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Hyam Maccoby" <h.z.maccoby AT leeds.ac.uk>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: son of man
  • Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 22:42:30 +0100


Dear David,

You wrote:

> What about 1 Enoch Chapter 48? This seems to equate "that
> son of man" (who you have called an angel) with "(God's)
> Anointed" (which I would take to be a messianic reference).

Yes, this chapter does refer to the Messiah. But please note that the deeds
ascribed to him are all earthly deeds and are not concerned with spiritual
salvation. It is foretold here that the Messiah will defeat all 'the kings
of the earth and the mighty landowners'. It is true that it is said that
God created the Messiah before the creation of the sun and moon, and this
can be paralleled in rabbinic writings. But this does not make him a
supernatural being, i.e. he is a created being just like Adam. You point
out that he is called here 'son of man', which might make him seem angelic
like the 'son of man' in Daniel. But note what is said is 'THAT son of
man', which is simply equivalent to 'that man', since 'son of man' was
frequently used simply to mean 'man'. In Daniel, the angel called 'son of
man' is being differentiated from other angels who are in the shape of
animals; that is simply the designation of his shape, i.e. the shape of a
man. This does mean that later the phrase ' son of man' sometimes came to
mean angel, but this is by no means invariably the case (see Vermes, who
points out the 'son of man' can sometimes even be equivalent to 'I'). In
the present context, I do not see that the Messiah is being described as an
angel.

Best wishes,

Hyam

____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________


Dr.Hyam Maccoby
Research Professor
Centre for Jewish Studies
University of Leeds
Leeds.LS2
Direct lines: tel. +44 (0)113 268 1972
fax +44 (0)113 268 0041
e-mail: h.z.maccoby AT leeds.ac.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: "David C. Hindley" <dhindley AT compuserve.com>
To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 7:11 PM
Subject: [corpus-paul] Re: 4Q521






  • Re: son of man, Hyam Maccoby, 06/12/2002

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page