I tend to enjoy using my concordance to find out how often words and terms are used in the various biblical texts. So, when Dr. Lester suggested we do a study on the term "son of man" I thought, "Sure. That could be fun." I got my CEB Concise Concordance and looked up "son of man." The CEB translation doesn't translate ben-adam as "son of man." This translating team chose to use "human one" instead of "son of man." They give an explanation as to why that is here.
You can find this term in several places. Here is what my concordance told me about its use in the Old Testament of the CEB Bible.
Ezekiel uses the term 93 times.
Daniel uses it once.
Micah uses it once.
The verse in Daniel it points to is 8:17, "Gabriel approached me, and I was terrified when he came. I fell with my face to the ground. Gabriel said to me, 'Know this, human one: the vision is for the end time.'"
In context, this chapter falls in the apocalyptic half of the book of Daniel, chapters 7-12. "An apocalypse is a revelation of future events initiated by God and delivered through a mediator (typically an angel) to a holy person" (Bandstra).
The 8th chapter recounts a vision that the character Daniel has about a he-goat and a ram. The angel Gabriel appears to Daniel to explain the vision. Gabriel calls Daniel the human one and explains to Daniel that the he-goat is the kingdom of Greece. The he-goat has several kings, and the first is the most powerful. This will be the end times, "the time of doom".
In this instance, the term "son of man" is not what I expected. This term has deep theological implications in response to the "New Adam" understanding of Jesus. Here in Daniel, it just seems like a casual name the angel Gabriel calls Daniel.
In Micah it is used in 6:8, "He has told you, human one, what is good and what the Lord requires from you: to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God."
In Ezekiel is it used so many times as a title of the prophet who is being spoken to.
My results are inconclusive. I am not sure what the implications are of this term in the context of Hebrew literature. I grew up hearing this term used as a title for Jesus, and I don't want to carry that lens into these texts.
I was interested in your reference to the use of "son of man" in MIcah, as we are looking at the Latter Prophets this week. Even though Micah was not our focus this week, the verse Micah 6:8 that you quote is a good summary of the messages of Isaiah, Hosea and Amos too. I liked this statement from the New Interpreter's Commentary. "Micah is in good company with other prophets when he clearly states that God is more interested in the way people live their everyday lives than in their religious practices. Amos even says that God "hates" such superficial efforts of piety if they are not accompanied by lives dedicated to justice and righteousness (Amos 5:2-24). I guess that is what the "son of man" or "mortal" is to be doing.
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