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From: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

Daniel’s Vision (Continuation)

[9] As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was ancient of days took his
seat; his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his
throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire. [10] A stream of fire issued
and came forth from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thou-
sand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment,and the
books were opened.

[13] I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came
one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented
before him. [14] And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all
peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlas-
ting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not
be destroyed.

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Commentary:

7:9-14. Divine judgment is passed on the kingdoms in this scene. God is depic-
ted as being seated on a throne in heaven, his glory flashing out and angels all
around. Judgment is about to take place, and it will be followed by execution of
the sentence. The books (v. 10) contain all the actions of men (cf. Jer 17:1; Mal
3:16; Ps 56:8; Rev 20:12). The seer is shown history past (not laid out according
to chronology: all the empires are included in one glance), and he notes that a
more severe sentence is passed on the blasphemous horn than on the other
beasts. They had their lives extended (v. 12), that is, their deprivation of power
did not spell the end; but the little horn is destroyed forthwith. “Following in the
steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgment of
the Last Day in his preaching (cf. Dan 7:10; Joel 3-4; Mal 3:19; Mt 3:7-42)”
(”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 678).

The one “like a son of man” who comes with the clouds of heaven and who, after
the judgment, is given everlasting dominion over all the earth, is the very antithe-
sis of the beasts. He has not risen from a turbulent sea like them; there is no-
thing ferocious about him. Rather, he has been raised up by God (he comes with
the clouds of heaven) and he shares the human condition. The dignity of all man-
kind is restored through this son of man’s triumph over the beasts. This figure, as
we will discover later, stands for ‘the people of the saints of the Most High’ (7:27),
that is, faithful Israel. However, he is also an individual (just as the winged lion
was an individual, and the little horn), and insofar as he is given a kingdom, he is
a king. What we have here is an individual who represents the people. In Jewish
circles around the time of Christ, this “son of man” was interpreted as being the
Messiah, a real person (cf. “Book of the Parables of Enoch”); but it was a title
that became linked to the sufferings of the Messiah and to his resurrection from
the dead only when Jesus Christ applied it to himself in the Gospel. “Jesus ac-
cepted Peter’s profession of faith, which acknowledged him to be the Messiah,
by announcing the imminent Passion of the Son of Man (cf. Mt 16:23). He un-
veiled the authentic content of his messianic kingship both in the transcendent
identity of the Son of Man ‘who came down from heaven’ (Jn 3:13; cf. Jn 6:62;
Dan 7:13), and in his redemptive mission as the suffering Servant: ‘The Son of
Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for
many’ (Mt 20:28; cf. Is 53:10-12)” (”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 440).

When the Church proclaims in the Creed that Christ is seated at the right hand
of the Father, she is saying that it was to Christ that dominion was given; “Being
seated at the Father’s right hand signifies the inauguration of the Messiah’s king-
dom, the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel’s vision concerning the Son of man; ‘To
him was given domination and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and
languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall
not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed’ (Dan 7:14). Af-
ter this event the apostles became witnesses of the ‘kingdom [that] will have no
end’ (Nicene Creed)” (”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 664).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.