What Does Daniel 7:13 Mean?
I saw in night visions, and look, one like a son of man came with the clouds of the heavens. He reached the Ancient of Days, and they drew him near before him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
A humanlike figure comes with heaven’s clouds, but the hinge of the scene is that he is brought near to the Ancient of Days.
THE MEANING
You see a figure who is like a human being, arriving with heaven’s clouds and being brought near to the Ancient of Days. The image holds human likeness and heavenly presence together; the figure’s movement culminates in nearness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Heavenly authority cannot appear in human form. The vision holds both together in one figure.
THE ROOT
כְּבַר אֱנָשׁ
kəbar ʾĕnāš
GROWS FROM
אנשׁ
ʾ-n-š
Human being, mortal; the human sphere.
“one like a son of man” in this verse is kəbar ʾĕnāš. The Aramaic phrase pictures one like a son of humanity: enash means a human being, a mortal. Against the beast images earlier in the chapter, that human likeness marks a striking contrast in the vision.
ALSO GROWS
ʾĕnāš: A human being, a mortal.
אֱנָשׁ
This is the word at the heart of the phrase, making the figure’s likeness specifically human.
bənê ʾĕnāšā: Children of humanity; human beings, as in Daniel 2:38.
בְּנֵי אֱנָשָׁא
The same Aramaic word describes humanity alongside the beasts of the field, sharpening the human-and-beast contrast in Daniel’s visions.
הַקְרְבוּהִי
haqrevûhî
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
To approach or draw near; in a causative form, to bring near.
“drew him near” in this verse is haqrevûhî. The Aramaic verb comes from the Semitic root q-r-b, the movement of drawing near. Hebrew qorban comes from the same root: an offering is something brought near, so the scene’s action is a presentation into presence.
ALSO GROWS
qārav: To approach, draw near.
קָרַב
The same root names the movement of coming close that places the figure before the Ancient of Days.
qorbān: An offering; something brought near.
קָרְבָּן
This branch shows how the root can name what is presented near, illuminating the figure’s arrival before the Ancient of Days.
THE PATTERN
Drawing near is the movement by which a person or offering enters divine presence.
And Abraham drew near and said, Will you also sweep away the aligned with the wicked?Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, If anyone of you brings near a drawing near to the LORD, you shall bring near your drawing near from the cattle, from the herd and from the flock.Let us draw near with a true heart in the fullness of trust, our hearts sprinkled from a burdened shared sight, and our bodies bathed in clean waters.THE THREAD
Flourishing is the man you choose and bring near, to lodge in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your set-apart temple.Psalm 65:4 uses the same q-r-b root in “causest to approach”: nearness is something God brings about, and it leads to dwelling in God’s courts. Daniel’s figure is likewise brought near before the Ancient of Days, making approach the central movement of the vision.
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