Daniel 7 is Aramaic, not Hebrew. Chronologically chapter 7 happened before chapter 6. It took place when בֵּלְשַׁאצַּר / Belshazzar was king, Daniel had a dream. He woke up and wrote down the main points, so he wouldn’t forget anything and the rest of the chapter is Daniel's recollection of his dream. In his dream Daniel saw four winds come from Heaven and churn the sea. Then four huge beasts, each different, rose up out of the water.
While Daniel was examining the horns, a new one sprouted, while three of the old ones fell out. There were eyes like a human’s on this horn and a mouth speaking arrogantly. Note that it says like a son of man aka like a human. It does not say "a human." The Aramaic says כְּבַר אֱנָשׁ k'var enash, "[something] like a son of man (human)." Son of man would be בַר אֱנָשׁ . bar enash (בַר / bar in Aramaic means son of)-- but there is another letter there -- the letter כְּ / kaf. In Aramaic (and remember, this passage is in Aramaic, not Hebrew) the use of a כְּ / kaf as a prefix to a word means "like." Like a human. Not a human. This is a dream -- the one like a human, just like the beasts, represent something other than what they appear to be. The beasts represent empires -- and so does the one who appears to be human. . . It is an empire, a people, a nation -- the Jewish people. Rashi opines that כְּבַר אֱנָשׁ k'var enash, "[something] like a human being" is the messiah+. Link. Remember that this was a dream, and dreams use imagery to tell our minds something. Daniel himself did not understand the dream, (verse 15) and an angel interpreted it for him (verse 16). The vision, Daniel’s frustration and the interpretation all occurred within the dream. "I saw in the visions of the night, and behold with the clouds of the heaven, one like a man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was brought before Him." Daniel 7:13. Remember this is a DREAM. Daniel is having a vision of the future in the form of a dream -- so none of it is literal. The important thing in the dream is its message. . . One like a man, or like a human being, did not ascend to heaven (as the list maker presents as a prophecy Jesus fulfilled). No, the one who is like a human came from the sky -- from the heavens IN THE DREAM. The list maker claims the person ascended to heaven. This is not what Daniel 7:13 says. The passage tells us that the one like a human, in the dream, came עִם־עֲנָנֵ֣י / with the clouds of the heaven. This means the human came from the clouds, not up to them. . . opposite of the claim. Having described the vision of the four beasts and the one like a man Daniel then describes a heavenly tribunal, a court of justice, for those those beasts. Three beasts are sentenced to lose of power and the last beast is to be put to death. Daniel himself did not understand the dream and he asked an angel (from the dream) to explain the meaning to him. The angel told him that the four beasts are four empires that will rule the world until, eventually, the Jewish people will be at the center of the world in the messianic era -- which will be one of eternal peace and knowledge of G-d. Daniel says: "And the high holy supreme ones and they will receive the kingdom, and they will inherit the kingdom forever and to all eternity."" Daniel 7:18. The the holy supreme ones is plural -- it does not and cannot refer to one person (such as Jesus). The Aramaic phrase in Daniel 7:18 is קַדִּישֵׁי עֶלְיוֹנִין (qadiSHEI elyoNIN), which should be translated as "the holy supreme ones." This expression appears three more times in Daniel 7:22, 25 and 27. Who, in the T'nach (bible) is identified as a holy people? The Jews. The angel who explains the meaning of the vision to Daniel reiterates that the one who is like a man who inherits the eternal kingdom is the Jewish people (not one person). The angel says: "Until the Ancient of Days (G-d) came and gave revenge to the high holy supreme ones (again -- PLURAL, not one person) , and the time arrived that the holy ones inherited the kingdom." Daniel 7:22. The angel is telling Daniel that the Jews will live under four kingdoms who rule over them -- but eventually the Jews will inherit the kingdom. This has still not yet come to pass, and did not happen in the lifetime of Jesus, who was born and died under Roman rule. If you are still not convinced (with the plural "people" not one person) in the previous verses read verse 27.. "And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under all the heavens will be given to the holy supreme nation; its kingdom is a perpetual kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey [it]."" Sh'mot / Exodus 19:6: "You (the Jewish people) will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to Me.' These are the words that you must relate to the Israelites.'" The Jewish people. Daniel's vision was of the various empires who will rule from the time of Babylon until the messianic age (a time which has not yet occurred. We recently discussed Daniel 2 in 301. Daniel 2:34-35...Stone cut without hands...Acts 4:10-12 . In Daniel 2 he interpreted a dream of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, which had a similar theme of the empires who would have power over the Jewish people (as did Babylon) -- and who would displace Babylon -- eventually culminating in the messianic empire of the Jewish people. This is a vision of the same thing. The empires who would rule over the Jews were Babylon, Greece, Rome (Christianity = Rome). Ibn Ezra was of the view that the third kingdom was a combination of Greece and Rome, while the fourth kingdom referred to the Muslims and the Turks. In any case this vision was about empires -- not about Jesus and was in no way a prophecy about him and does not speak of a man going to heaven (ascending). Acts 1 is about Jesus ascending to heaven -- but Daniel 7 does not predict this -- it actually says the opposite. Daniel 7 is about one who is like a man who descends from heaven (or the clouds). Missionaries will claim that the one "like a son of man" in this passage is Jesus, but Daniel does not speak of a son of man (a human being) -- it speaks of one LIKE a son of man. The missionary assumes this is Jesus -- and the passage simply does not support this assumption. Jesus never ruled a kingdom, and the Jewish people are still primarily in exile, so the eternal kingdom of the G-d's people (the holy ones or holy one's people) is not yet here.
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