Sons of Adam. The human inheritors. The name Yeshua chose for himself when others offered him ranks.
The full definition
Bnei Adam means sons of Adam: the human family, everyone descended from the dust-formed man. When HaShem addresses Ezekiel, He calls him ben adam nearly a hundred times, son of Adam, a standing reminder that the prophet seeing the visions is still a mortal standing in them. Psalm 8 asks why HaShem pays any mind to ben adam at all, and answers with crowning glory. Daniel 7:13 sees one like a bar enash, the Aramaic twin of the phrase, receiving an everlasting kingdom.
English Bibles render Yeshua's self-designation "Son of Man," capitalized into a title, and readers hear rank. The Hebrew ear hears the opposite. Bnei Adam is the least exclusive name a person can carry. Every human being qualifies. That is the point of him choosing it. Offered chairs, he reached for the one name that made him one of us rather than one over us, while letting Daniel's throne scene say quietly what the name would come to mean.
Key passages
- Ezekiel 2:1
- Psalm 8:5
- Daniel 7:13
- Psalm 115:16