Continuing with further discussion on Daniel 7 from Chapter X (part 4).
“ONE LIKE THE SON OF MAN CAME WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN”
(Daniel 7:13-14 +)
Isaiah introduced the Messiah as a Branch. This old-time prophet brought out the Messiah’s human heritage: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:” (11:1). Then Isaiah emphasized the divine nature of the Branch by focusing on righteousness, the Old Testament concept of Christ: “But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:…And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins” (11:4, 5).
Earlier Isaiah described the Messiah as born of a virgin but also as one carrying the name or title of Immanuel (7:14), meaning with us is God. This verse in 7:14 is quoted in Matthew 1:23, the only difference being the spelling Emmanuel and its stated meaning “God with us.”
The word for God in both cases above is El, a part of the Elohim tradition, which during and following the Exile, of which Daniel was a part, had combined with Jehovah to shine as one concept of God—a masculine-feminine, non-anthropomorphic, divine Deity (Dermott Ch IV). This masculine-feminine nature of God may be reflected in Jeremiah’s two advents of the Branch, each having a human messenger crowned with a divine title similar to “God with us.”