Friday, August 11, 2006

Two Thrones

“While I was watching, thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.”
--Daniel 7:9a
Thrones? Why more than one?
“And with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man was approaching. He went up to the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him. To him was given ruling authority, honor, and sovereignty. All peoples, nations, and language groups were serving him. His authority is eternal and will not pass away. His kingdom will not be destroyed.”
--Daniel 7:13b-14
Because the Son of Man will sit on the other! Two thrones: one for the Ancient of Days and one for the Son of Man.

Of course, we know that Yeshua considered himself to be Daniel's reigning Son of Man:
“Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
--Matthew 28:18
Without a doubt, Second Temple Judaism generally read Daniel's Son of Man passage as referring to the collective body of Israel, not as a single individual and certainly not as some type of heavenly figure. But this doesn't mean it could not be ascribed to the eschatological messiah, as both Yeshua (of himself) and Akiba (of Bar Kosiba) claimed.
“Now, that is satisfactory for all [the other verses], but how explain Till thrones were placed? — One [throne] was for Himself and one for David. Even as it has been taught: One was for Himself and one for David: this is R. Akiba's view.”
--Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 38b

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