The Messiah Confrontation by Israel Knohl

Author:Israel Knohl [Knohl, Israel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL040030 RELIGION / Judaism / History, REL006000 RELIGION / Biblical Studies / General, REL006080 RELIGION / Biblical Criticism & Interpretation / General
Publisher: The Jewish Publication Society

To understand the significance of bar enash, we have to look closely at the angel’s interpretation. Since the four beasts were four kingdoms, and the last one Greece, which persecuted the people of Israel, it follows that bar enash, to whom “was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him . . . an everlasting dominion,” was the people of Israel. That is to say, bar enash appears not to be a particular man, but a collective representative of the people of Israel.

Not all scholars accept this interpretation. Some scholars think that bar enash should be identified with the archangel Michael, whom the book of Daniel depicts as the heavenly representative of the people of Israel (see Dan. 10:11). I do not think that this interpretation is in agreement with these verses, but, whatever the case, according to many scholars, bar enash refers to a collective representative of the people of Israel. Just as each of the beasts represented a nation, so the “son of man” represented an entire people, Israel.

This understanding also figures into the beginning of the heavenly vision in which Daniel saw thrones, in the plural (“thrones were placed”), with God sitting on one of them. If there were two thrones, who was the other throne meant for? Who sat on it? From the context, many scholars and commentators have thought that bar enash sat on the other throne. That is to say, the representative of the collective people of Israel sat next to God in heaven.

In the last chapter, we saw that in the Psalms, the king, a messianic figure, was invited to sit next to God in heaven:

Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool. (Ps. 110:1)

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