The Other Son of Man: Ezekiel/Jesus

by Andrew Blackwood

Even a cursory reading of the New Testament will show that Jesus clearly preferred “son of man” as his self-designation. This term often means nothing more than “human.” And while Jesus may have been emphasizing the human nature of His character with this name, that almost certainly wasn’t His only motivation in using it.

We look to Daniel’s prophecy (7:13) most commonly to see where Jesus was drawing this name from; however, this designation has a different source as well. The term appears eighty-seven times in Ezekiel. And while Jesus was sometimes drawing from the imagery in Daniel 7 in His use of the term, it would be shortsighted to ignore the book of the Old Testament where this otherwise uncommon term appears with such great frequency. Certainly, Jesus was drawing from something in Ezekiel as well.

Blackwood says: “Jesus’ ‘Son of Man’ sayings usually point toward the transcendent person whom Daniel pictures, or toward the humble sort of person Ezekiel was…. One major book in the Bible is about a suffering servant, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, whom God called ‘Son of Man.’ He saw brilliant flashes of the divine glory, but he lived and worked amid rejection, crying into deaf ears, working with hands (spiritually) tied, sitting upon (spiritual) scorpions…. The Book of Ezekiel was a part of the Holy Scripture in Jesus’ time. The content was more familiar to His Jewish auditors than it is to the majority of Christians today. When Jesus called Himself ‘Son of Man,’ He could, by defining the term, point to the transcendent concept expressed in Daniel and other places. But it is far more likely that a Jew, hearing the term without explanation, would think first of another to whom God said, ‘Son of Man, stand upon your feet and I will speak with you.’ This fact alone is sufficient reason for seeking to understand the other Son of Man. Jesus looked to Ezekiel as the architect who rebuilt a nation in ruins, and the Carpenter, with Ezekiel’s guidance, set out to rebuild a shattered world” (21, 24, 25).

And with that, Blackwood begins a study of the major prophecies of Ezekiel. This book contains the text and subsequent 8-12 page chapters covering the following passages: 1:1-28; 1:28-3:3; 3:4-27; 6:1-10; 11:14-20; 13:2-23; 18:1-32; 28:2-19; 34:2-30; 37:1-10; 38:3-23; 47:1-12.

If you’re looking for a scholarly, verse by verse commentary on the book of Ezekiel, The Other Son of Man isn’t for you. But if you’re looking to understand a little more about Ezekiel than you did before, and if you’re looking to find practical, daily lessons in the text of this prophet’s often-bizarre writings, you’ll want to read The Other Son of Man. The bad news is that this book is out of print. The good news is that as I’m writing this, there are 59 copies available on abebooks.com, with the highest price $12 and most $6 or less (let’s ignore the $165 copy… it must be a collector’s item!). Better make that 58 copies: I just bought one so I can give my dad his copy back.

This brings me to the only downside of this book: my dad has been telling me to read it for a couple of years now and I’ve repeatedly put it off—now he can say “I told you so.”

The Editors do not advocate everything taught by the authors of the books we review. Like us, these authors are fallible humans and those who choose to read these books should measure them by the bible, the one true standard.