Source Text: Daniel 7:13-14
Target Text(s):
Source: Beale & Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Baker, 2007); Beale, The Book of Revelation (NIGTC) on the throne-chariot tradition
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Anchor Text: Dan 7:13-14 — The Son of Man Receiving Dominion
Significance: Ezekiel's inaugural vision sees, above the throne-chariot, "a figure like that of a man" (כְּמַרְאֵה אָדָם, kemar'eh adam) wrapped in fire and surrounding brilliance — "the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD." Daniel 7 inherits this throne-room tradition: thrones are set, the Ancient of Days takes His seat with a throne "flaming with fire" and "wheels all ablaze" (Dan 7:9, drawing Ezekiel's galgal wheels), and into that fiery court comes "One like the Son of Man." Both visions hold together a divine throne-theophany and a human-form figure of glory; both belong to the exilic prophetic substrate of throne-chariot imagery. The connection is a longitudinal allusion: Daniel develops the human-likeness-enthroned-in-glory motif Ezekiel pioneered, advancing it from a vision of God's glory to the formal grant of universal and everlasting dominion to a representative human figure. This trajectory issues in Revelation 1:13-16, where John fuses Ezekiel's and Daniel's figures into the glorified Christ. The telos is the human-faced glory of God made visible and approachable in the Son of Man — the One whose throne is fire yet who is "like a son of man," so that to see Him is to see the glory of the LORD now near in a form we may behold and adore.