Interpretation and Source

The phrase “son of man” is found 93 times in Ezekiel and refers to the prophet’s humanity (e.g., Ezek 2:1; 3:1; 4:1; 5:1; 6:2; 7:2). Poetic parallelisms in the Old Testament also use “son of man” in this sense, always in the second half of the parallelism (Num 23:19; Job 16:21; 25:6; 35:8; Pss 8:4; 80:17; 146:3; Isa 51:12; 56:2; Jer 49:18, 33; 50:40; 51:43). A divine, apocalyptic figure known as “The Son of Man” appears in 1 Enoch and 4 Ezra. This figure seems to have influenced Jewish expectations of the Messiah before the time of Christ. Because of the uncertain dating of these Jewish texts, scholars have also drawn on linguistic research to help explain the origin and meaning of the phrase. This line of inquiry focuses on the translation of the original Aramaic phrase כִּבַר אֱנָשׁ (kivar enash, “one like a son of man”)—including the Greek equivalent found in the Gospels (ὁ ὑιὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ho huios tou anthrōpou)—and its meaning in the context of Dan 7:13–14.