Abstract
While it might be true that there is no shortage of books analysing the meaning and use of ‘Son of Man’ terminology in Jewish and Early Christian literature, Bauckham’s new study aims at a level of comprehensiveness that few others have sought to provide. The present volume is the first of a projected two-volume treatment. This first volume focuses upon the use of Son of Man in Jewish literature. The second volume will assess that term in the Gospels and in relation to Jesus (p. ix). The first volume is divided into two major parts. The first treats the use of Son of Man in the Parables of Enoch (pp. 5–131), while the second turns attention to the ‘Interpretation of Daniel 7 is Second Temple-Period Judaism’ (pp. 135–375).
The purpose of this first volume is to provide scholars with a richer and broader understanding of the context in which the term Son of Man emerged in Second Temple Judaism. In the first part of this volume Bauckham initially provides an overview of the Parables of Enoch. One of his key observations is that the Parables have a new focus on eschatological prophecy, which thus ‘enables the author of the Parables to introduce a major new element into the eschatological expectation: ‘the introduction of a Messianic Figure (variously called “that Son of Man,” “the Chosen One,” and “the Anointed One”) as God’s agent in executing the final judgment’ (p. 16).
In the following section, Bauckham provides a close examination of the terms ‘son of man’ and ‘throne of glory’ in the Parables. His chief contention is that these are not titles or technical terms. Such an apprehension arises in English because of what he views as being an overly literal translation. Instead he argues that ‘[i]f they are translated idiomatically and correctly as “that man” and “glorious throne,” these misperceptions lose much of their power’ (p. 50).
The next section (1.3) explores features of the messianic figure in the narrative sequence of the Parables, which it is argued can be divided by Enoch’s arrival in various parts of the cosmos. Following on from this, Bauckham discusses the identity of the Son of Man in the Parables (section 1.4). Bauckham notes that some scholars have considered the concluding section to the Parables (1 Enoch 71) to be a later addition. In this section, Enoch is told that he himself is the son of man whom he has seen in his visions (1 Enoch 71.14). While Bauckham hints at his opinion that 1 Enoch 71 is original, he argues that the identity of Enoch as the son of man is suggested at various points in the Parables meaning that the concluding identification in 1 Enoch 71.14 is coherent with the overall perspective of the work. However, according to Bauckham there is a cyclical interpretative process required of readers. ‘At the end of Enoch’s story readers are taken back to the beginning of the story of the Messianic Figure as he had seen it in the vision. They can now read it again with the knowledge that that figure is Enoch himself, after his ascension to heaven’ (p. 106). Having surveyed the relevant evidence in the Parables, Bauckham concludes that the term ‘son of man’ is not titular, but simply a commonplace way or referring to a human being. Moreover, he rejects the idea of a pre-existing concept of son of man on which 1 Enoch is dependent. Bauckham does see overlap between the messianic figures in the Parables and 4 Ezra 11–13, but views these similarities as ‘variations on a common theme, but there is no justification for calling this a “son of man concept”’ (p. 110). He states that there is nothing divine about the messianic figure in the Parables, and that in the Parables there is a distinction between obeisance before a superior figure and the cultic worship which is directed towards God.
The second and larger portion of the volume focuses on the early Jewish interpretations of Daniel 7, with a focus on Dan 7.13–14. First, Bauckham considers the two Greek versions of Daniel noting that the Theodotianic version aimed at formal equivalence in translation whereas the Old Greek exemplifies a dynamic equivalence (p. 165). One key theological difference that Bauckham observes is that ‘[u]nlike Th-Daniel and Parables of Enoch, the OG translator was evidently not concerned to distinguish terminologically between the cultic worship of God and the political obeisance that is due not only to God but also to his eschatological deputy’ (p. 166). Having surveyed the Greek texts of Dan 7.13–14, Bauckham turns attention to 4Q246 (4QAramaic Apocalypse), which he describes as the oldest interpretation of Daniel 7 (pp. 173–200). Since the text is fragmentary many question must be left unanswered. However, the key finding for Bauckham is that ‘[t]his undoubtedly pre-Christian text identifies the humanlike figure of Daniel 7:13–14 with the Davidic Messiah’ (p. 192).
Next Bauckham turns to a consideration of the Sibylline Oracles book 5. While he notes less scriptural allusion present in comparison with the Parables of Enoch, he finds an important similarity: ‘[f]or both writers “the one like a son of man” is a human being who had previously lived on earth and had been exalted to heaven. He is not a being of heavenly origin, a god or an angel, though he is a very remarkable, even unique, man. In one case this man is Enoch, in the other Joshua’ (p. 218). The next piece of textual evidence is the description in 4 Ezra. Here Bauckham sees that ‘the profile of the Messiah emerges gradually’ (p. 253). However, the figure described in Dan 7.13 is still viewed as a human and a descendent of David. This originally earthly figure was exalted to heaven without dying and has a future eschatological role. The next sections continue with consideration of relevant Rabbinic traditions (pp. 260–266), and the discussion of the plausible context for the Parables of Enoch. Bauckham observes the parallel between 1 Enoch 56:5–8 and Revelation 16:12–16 along with various shared traditions in 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, and the Biblical Antiquities of Pseudo-Philo as suggesting that the Parables of Enoch should be dated to the same milieu at the end of the first century
The strength of this volume is the detailed examination of individual texts relevant to the discussion of the terminology ‘son of man,’ coupled with the careful comparative work that analyzes significant points of similarity and difference. In this regard, Bauckham assists those who consult his volume to be better readers of primary texts. At the beginning of the volume (pp. 1–3) he notes others who have set out the history of interpretation of the term ‘son of man’ or explored the various issues or proposals. Perhaps setting out a little more of this context might have been helpful for readers who have not previously fully immersed themselves in these debates. The brilliance of this treatment could perhaps be better mediated to readers if a slightly fuller explanation had been provided of the issues and problems that it is seeking to resolve. While some of those issues can be inferred from the positions that Bauckham puts forward, it is more obvious for those who already have an awareness of the scholarly debates. Notwithstanding this, this first volume presents the relevant Jewish evidence from the Second Temple period in a way that is balanced, learned, and highly usable. For that, all readers stand in the author’s debt.