Daniel 7:13
Hebrew Bible
9 “While I was watching, thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His attire was white like snow; the hair of his head was like lamb’s wool. His throne was ablaze with fire, and its wheels were all aflame. 10 A river of fire was streaming forth and proceeding from his presence. Many thousands were ministering to him; many tens of thousands stood ready to serve him. The court convened, and the books were opened. 11 “Then I kept on watching because of the arrogant words of the horn that was speaking. I was watching until the beast was killed and its body destroyed and thrown into the flaming fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their ruling authority had already been removed, though they were permitted to go on living for a time and a season. 13 “I was watching in the night visions, 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. 14 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.
Date: 2nd Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
1 Thessalonians 4:17
New Testament
13 Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. 15 For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Date: 41-51 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Notes and References
"... Exodus 24:18 has Moses having a theophany within a cloud and Psalm 2 presents God as begetting and installing the chosen king despite the king’s humanity. However, one should note that an encounter with God in a cloud on a mountain is quite different than flying on a cloud in the air. Goldingay himself also notes the weakness of this argument when he points out that only god(s) come(s) “in / on” the clouds in the biblical canon. (This happens with human beings in Josephus, Antiquities 4.4.48; Acts 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:17) ... The parallels between this character and Baal from Ugarit are particularly apparent with the connection to clouds. Baal is known as “the rider on the clouds” (e.g., CTU 1.2 IV 8, 29; 1.3 II 40; 1.3 III 38; 1.3 IV 4, 6; 1.4 III 11, 18; 1.4 V 60; 1.5 II 7), which is one way to understand the phrase in Daniel 7. This parallel would seem to indicate that the figure in Daniel should be interpreted as divine; however, this is not necessarily the case. The phenomenon of de-divinizing Canaanite deities or foreign gods is common, and to parallel Baal, the main threat to Yahweh in the Hebrew Bible, with a human would be a strong statement regarding the ultimate position of the rider on the clouds. Yet, this is most likely not the best way to understand the statement here. Since the ancient mythology is an important component of disguising the dating and message of the apocalyptic book, the symbols are meant to parallel the intended understanding rather than critique it ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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