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  • From: Steve Black <sdblack AT telus.net>
  • To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] RE: son of man
  • Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 19:40:29 -0800


On Sunday, December 14, 2003, at 07:15 PM, tmcos AT canada.com wrote:

Dave Hindley wrote:
I don't know if s.o.m. *has* to be a divine figure,
just one who is presented before the Ancient of Days,
who gives him an everlasting kingdom that encompasses
the entire world. This "son of man" could be a human
being. It is the *kingdom* he is given that is
everlasting, but not necessarily is *he* everlasting,
unless some property of this new kingdom changes the
normal cycle of birth and death.<<

The idea of the son of man as a divine figure is
conveyed by the idea that he is described as coming
"with the clouds of heaven" in Dan.7:13. The idea of
coming with the clouds of heaven or riding the clouds
of heaven was a Near Eastern idiom for divinity. Baal
for example is descibed in Canaanite hymns as riding
with the clouds of heaven.

Hmm - I think it is likely that the writer of Daniel might have borrowed the symbolism while imparting a new meaning into it - a common enough thing to do for the Hebrew writers.

The idea of the son of man as a divine figure I think
is also reinforced by the fact that he is said to be
the object of service or worship.

"He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all
peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped
him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will
not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never
be destroyed." Daniel 7:13 (NIV)

Here is an example of where the translators of the NIV show their theological stripes. Compare with the NRSV which uses the word "serve" rather than worship. All the versions I checked other than the NIV translate the word "serve". Of course one can serve a being without that being having divine status in an ancient world view. The word in question is pel-akh' which lexically (according to BDB) could mean either pay homage or serve, and Holiday simply lists it as "to serve" without listing "paying homage" as an option. Of course one could easily serve (or pay homage for that matter) a king without confessing or conferring divine status. However, if by "divine" you mean from the heavenly realm - like lets say an angel, well I would not have huge problems with that - but I get nervous is some sort of trinitarian divine son is being ushered in through the back door...

Steve Black
Vancouver School of Theology
Vancouver, BC
Canada



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