Kings of many nations liked to give themselves the title of “son of god.” Caesar often stamped this claim on his coins. You could, in fact, read God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:14 as saying that a human king would come who had such a close relationship with God that he would call him “father.” Because this status was so widely claimed, the title “son of god” may not have sounded like automatic proof of divine identity.7 Two other Messianic titles would have actually hinted at a superhuman identity in a much more distinctively Jewish way. One of them, believe it or not, was “Son of Man.”
