Daniel 7:13 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

I saw in the night visions— This has always been, and can only be, understood of the Messiah. Hence the expression, Son of man, was a known phrase for the Messiah among the Jews, as appears from several of their own writers. ענני Anani, the word here used, and which signifies clouds, was also a known name for the Messiah; so that he who assumed the one, was supposed to affect the character of the other. This will appear evidently from what passed at the trial of our blessed Saviour. The high-priest adjuring him to declare whether he was the Son of God, Jesus answered him, in the words of our prophet, Hereafter shall ye see the SON OF MAN sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Every one took this for a declaration that he was the Messiah. The high-priest rent his clothes, as if he had spoken blasphemy, and the people reproached him for it. Art thou then the Christ?—Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who struck thee? Christ only said, that he was Daniel's Son of man, the Anani; that is to say, He who cometh in the clouds: the rest was their own inference, for which they could have no other foundation, than that Daniel was known to prophesy of the Messiah in this passage. Clouds are a known symbol of heaven, and of divine power and majesty; and the ascribing of this symbol to one like the Son of man, according to Saadiah Gaon, an eminent Jewish writer, "is a declaration of the supreme magnificence and authority which God shall give to that Son of Man, the Messiah." It seems, indeed, farther to imply, that this Son of man was then in heaven, when Daniel prophesied, and in high dignity before this new commission was given him. See Bishop Newton, p. 492 and Bishop Chandler's Defence, p. 107.