In the Old Testament, ‘son of man’ means (1) man in general, (2) the prophet, (3) the eschatological Israel. (1) appears, for example in Ps. viii. 5, is referred to in Heb. ii. 6 and is still present in the background of I Cor. xv. 27 and Eph. i. 2. (2) reflects the usage of Ezechiel. One should never forget that the term occurs here about eighty-seven times: the prophet is addressed as the son of man, filled with God's Spirit (ii. i ff.; iii. 24 f.; xi. 4 f.), watchman of Israel (iii. I7 xxxiii. 7), sent to a rebellious nation (ii. 3). The word of God is his food (ii. 8), but he lives among those who have eyes to see and yet do not see, ears to hear and yet do not hear (xii. 2), who talk about him and run after him, and yet do not do what he says (xxxiii. 30–2), because they think that God's judgement is still far off (xii. 27), so that his message remains riddles and parables for them (xvii. 2, cf. xxi. ). He must not only announce disaster (vi. i ff. etc.), but pronounce God's judgement over Israel (xx. xxii. xxiii. 36), even to kill them (xi. 4, 13; xxi. 19 ff.).