The Son of Man

Part of the fun of learning a foreign language is discovering how cultural and social values are often embedded in the language itself. Here’s one example that I was recently reminded of while watching an episode of the Israeli version of “The X Factor” on YouTube.

To ask someone his or her age in Hebrew, you’d use two separate phrases depending on the person’s gender. To a male, the question is phrased “Behn KAH-mah ah-TAH?” (?אתא כמה בן), which is often abbreviated to “Behn KAH-mah?”. This question literally means, “How many (years) have you been a son?” When asking a female, the phrasing is “Baht KAH-mah aht?”(?את כמה בת), or “Baht KAH-mah?” for short, with the translation being “How many (years) have you been a daughter?” Responses take the form of “I (have been) a son/daughter _____________ (years).”

We see this same figure of speech in Biblical Hebrew throughout the Old Testament. Genesis 7:6 demonstrates one example.

.הָאָרֶץ עַל מַיִם ,הָיָה וְהַמַּבּוּל ;שָׁנָה מֵאוֹת שֵׁשׁ בֶּן ,וְנֹחַ

“And Noah was six hundred years old (literally, “had been a son six hundred years”) when the flood of waters was upon the earth.”

Historically, the father-son relationship has been so uniquely distinguished in Semitic cultures that men and boys were either designated by (1) their male parentage in the form of ben-, meaning “son of -”, (examples include the names Ben-Hadad, Ben-Abinadab, Simon Bar-Jona, and Bar-Jesus, with bar- being the Aramaic equivalent to the Hebrew ben-) or (2) their city or region of origin (Jesus of Nazareth and Joseph of Arimathæa, for example). The underlying idea was that who and where you came from in large part defined you.

In addition to the “son of -” grammatical structure being used in Hebrew and other Semitic languages to create the equivalent of modern-day surnames, it’s also the basis of several terms for “(mortal) man” or “mankind”. Two principal expressions for these words are the Hebrew אָדָם בֶּן ben-adam, which has the varied literal meanings “son of Adam”, “son of man”, and “son of the earth”, and the Aramaic אֶנוֹשׁ בָּר bar 'ěnoš (bahr eh-NOSH), or “son of man”. For example, we find the first term, ben-adam, used in Isaiah 51:12.

“I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man (אָדָם בֶּן) which shall be made as grass.”

In modern-day revelation the Lord continued using this term for human beings.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings." (Doctrine and Covenants 124:49)

It’s noteworthy that the Savior used the self-identifier “The Son of man” more than any other title when talking about Himself during His earthly ministry. The four New Testament Gospel writers recorded at least forty instances of the Savior calling Himself by this name. Christ continued this practice in revelations given during the early days of the Restoration, using the slightly-modified title “The Son of Man” (with Man being capitalized) as a self-identifier in six places in the Doctrine and Covenants. In D&C 49:5-6 the Father refers to Christ by this same title. The other instances of “The Son of Man” appearing in this book of scripture involve Joseph Smith referencing the Savior by this name. In Old Testament writings the prophets also used this phrase to reference the Messiah as demonstrated by Daniel 7:13-14.

“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

Going back to New Testament passages where the Savior used “The Son of man” to refer to Himself, I’ve thought a lot about why He chose to use this self-identifier more often than any other. Here’s my opinion on the topic, for what it’s worth. In the generic sense, bar enosh and ben-adam both signify “mortal human being”. But these phrases were also used to reference the promised Messiah as “The Son of man”, as illustrated in the passage I cited above from the Book of Daniel. So when Christ used this title in the grammatical 3^rd person to reference Himself, He was clearly indicating His identity as the Son of God to those of His listeners who had spiritual “ears to hear” (Matthew 11:15). The following two New Testament passages show examples of the ben-adam (Son of man) = Son of God message:

“But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then he saith he to the sick of the palsy) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.” (Matthew 9:6, emphasis added)

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15, emphasis added)

“The Son of Man” with a capital “M” may have additional significance as it relates to a verse from

the Pearl of Great Price (Moses 7:35):

“Behold, I am God; Man of Holiness is my name; Man of Counsel is my name; and Endless and Eternal is my name, also.”

Not only was Christ the “Son of man(kind)” through Mary, who made available the mortal nature necessary to bring about His physical death, but He was also the “Son of Man (of Holiness)”, or of the Father. It was this Divine parentage that provided Him the power to take up His life again in mankind’s behalf. So when Jesus called Himself by the title “the Son of Man”, it may have served to underline His dual parentage of “man” and “Man”, with a strong emphasis on the latter. Descending below all things was the prerequisite to ascending above all things (Doctrine and Covenants 88:6).

As The Son of Man, He became one of us so that we could become one with Him.