Traditions: Jewish apocalyptic; Christian Gospel Motif: One like a human being with clouds and authority Connection verdict: Strong textual allusion, interpreted differently across traditions Article status: Expanded Date: 2026-10-25
Summary
Daniel 7:13–14 sees one like a human being arriving with the clouds and receiving dominion. In Mark 14:61–62, Jesus’ response before the high priest uses Son of Man and cloud imagery. The allusion is strong; what Daniel’s figure originally represents, and how Mark applies the vision, demand separate attention.
The vision in Daniel
In Daniel 7:13–14, a humanlike figure comes with the clouds of heaven and receives dominion, glory, and a kingdom. The surrounding chapter portrays beastlike kingdoms and the vindication of the holy ones. Those surrounding images are not optional scenery. They shape debates about whether the figure represents an individual, the people of the holy ones, or a heavenly representative. Daniel does not name Jesus, and its vision can be read within its Jewish apocalyptic setting without invoking the later Gospel.
The saying in Mark
In Mark 14:61–62, the high priest questions Jesus about his identity. Jesus speaks of the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with heaven’s clouds. Mark combines imagery associated with Daniel 7 and Psalm 110. Inside the trial narrative, the claim is consequential; the high priest regards the answer as blasphemous. Mark is not reproducing Daniel’s entire beast vision but applying selected language to Jesus at a moment of accusation.
Allusion versus identity claim
The distinctive cloud-and-authority language makes textual contact more likely than independent convergence. Yet there is an interpretive step from Daniel’s vision to Mark’s claim about Jesus. Treating that step as invisible can make a Jewish reader feel that Daniel’s own context has been confiscated. Denying that Mark deliberately invokes Daniel would also underread the Gospel. Honest comparison holds both claims together: a later text reuses an earlier vision, and their referents remain interpreted differently across communities.
A conversation worth having
Both passages imagine that brutal power is not the last word. That hope can be discussed across traditions while acknowledging that they identify the figure and fulfillment differently.
Sources and reading notes
- Daniel 7:13–14, Sefaria — humanlike figure, clouds, and dominion; read the surrounding chapter.
- Mark 14:61–62, BibleGateway — Jesus’ trial saying.
Research limit
The allusion is strong, but the precise interpretation of Daniel’s figure and the full scope of Mark’s composite imagery remain debated.