The title Jesus refers to himself most by in the gospels is the rather bizarre ‘Son of Man’. This epithet derives from the book of Daniel. In the book Daniel has visions of future empires that will rise and fall. Finally a figure called the ‘Son of Man’ will arrive and he and Yahweh will gain dominion over the earth. This prediction of the Son of Man was central to the gospels, whose writers wanted to equate that figure with Jesus. The Book of Daniel was also the main template that the New Testament Book of Revelation was based on.
Jews and Christians wrongly believed that the book of Daniel had been written during the Babylonian exile and that its ‘prophecies’ were real and true. The reality is that these ‘prophecies’ had been written after the events they claimed to foretell. The Book of Daniel was written during the reign of the Maccabees in Jerusalem, a party of fanatical Jews who hated all things pagan and Greek. The original image of the Son of Man referred to them, not a future Jesus. The important passage of Daniel reads,
‘I looked in my night visions, and I saw one like the son of man coming with the clouds of heaven.. He went up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. To him was given ruling authority, honour, and sovereignty. All peoples, nations, and language groups are to serve him. His authority is eternal and will never pass away. His kingdom will never be destroyed.’ (Daniel 7.13-14)
This passage is directly copied in the gospels. In Mark, Jesus tells the Jewish high priest at his trial, ‘“I am [the Messiah],” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of the sky”’ (Mark 14.62). Again in Mark, Jesus tells his disciples about the coming end of the world, ‘Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory’ (Mark 13.26).
The Book of Daniel is full of Jewish propaganda, portraying both the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and the Persian king Darius as proclaiming the glory of Yahweh. It also contains a ‘prediction’ about the Messiah (anointed of Yahweh) being put to death that probably influenced the gospel writers after the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 CE.
‘At the end of the sixty-two weeks [434 years], the Messiah will be cut off and left with nothing. The people of a prince yet to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it will be a deluge, and desolations have been decreed until the war ends. He will confirm a covenant with many for one week [7 years]. In the middle of the week [7 years] he will put an end to sacrifice and grain offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation.’ (Daniel 9.26-7)
This ‘prophecy’ was actually written about the Seleucid king Antiochus IV, who sacked Jerusalem in the second century BCE. The Messiah / Anointed One originally referred to the Jewish priest Onias III, who opposed the Hellenisation of Judea and was murdered. It was reinterpreted by the gospel authors into a ‘prophecy’ about Jesus, and the sacking of the temple by the Romans.
The letters of Paul predate the gospels and the sacking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. They never once refer to Jesus as the Son of Man. It appears that the Roman-Jewish war and its aftermath may have added this extra mythical dimension to the figure of Jesus.
Daniel 9.27 and 12.11 both mention the end of sacrifice and an abomination being set up in the temple by Antiochus IV, ‘From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days’ (Daniel 12.11). The author of Mark referenced this passage from Daniel, clearly relating it to his time. In it, Jesus says, ‘When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains’ (Mark 13.14).
The abomination in the temple that Mark is referring to is probably the Roman standards of Titus and the sacrifice to the Roman gods that he ordered after taking Jerusalem. He followed this up by again quoting Daniel, ‘Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory’ (Mark 13.26).
The Son of Man had become a figure in Jewish mythology prior to its attachment to Jesus. It’s also mentioned in the Jewish text 1 Enoch as a figure that stands beside Yahweh on his throne,
‘There I saw the Ancient of Days, whose head was white like wool, and with him was another whose face had the appearance of a man. His face was full of graciousness, like one of the angels. Then I asked one of the angels who accompanied me, and showed me all of the secrets, concerning the Son of Man, who he was, whence he had come, and why he accompanied the Ancient of Days. He answered and said to me, “This is the Son of Man who possesses righteousness, and with whom righteousness dwells. And he will reveal all the treasures of that which is hidden, for the Lord of Spirits has chosen him…This Son of Man, whom you behold, shall raise up kings and the mighty from their dwelling places, and the powerful from their thrones. He shall loosen the bridles of the powerful, and break the teeth of sinners into pieces. He shall hurl kings from their thrones and their dominions, because they will not exalt and praise him, nor humble themselves before him, by whom their kingdoms were granted to them.’ (1 Enoch 46.1-4)
The Son of Man seems to have been a figure strongly linked to apocalyptic Jewish texts and visions. He may ultimately derive from the book of Ezekiel, where the prophet is described as the ‘Son of Man’ 94 times, often by Yahweh himself.
The Bible and Mythology 