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  • From: tmcos AT canada.com
  • To: corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: son of man
  • Date: 12 Jun 2002 14:53:03 -0700


Hyam,

I have been interested in your dialogue on this subject. I was just
wondering, is there anything at all in rabbinic writings, or in pre-Christian
Jewish literature that speaks or intimates a divine Messiah analogous to the
Messianic idea in Christianity,ie. a pre-existent divine figure whom
Christians viewed as the Son of God who became incarnate in Jesus of
Nazareth? Best,

Tony Costa

On Wed, 12 June 2002, "Hyam Maccoby" wrote:

>
> 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
>
>
>
>
> ---
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  • Re: son of man, Hyam Maccoby, 06/12/2002
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • Re: son of man, tmcos, 06/12/2002
    • Re: son of man, Hyam Maccoby, 06/13/2002

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