8:17 son of man. See note 7:13. The “strong man of God” is speaking to this distinguished “mortal.”

the time of the end. See also v. 19 (“the appointed time of the end”). This expression is not necessarily eschatological (referring to the end of history). It occurs in 11:27, 35 in contexts that are clearly not eschatological. Here it may refer to the end of the persecutions of Antiochus IV.