So, Philo and other Hellenized Jews understood many passages in the OT as identifying emanations (Son of God, Word, Wisdom, heavenly high Priest, Great Angel, Glory of God, Prescence of God, Spirit of God etc.) of the Most High, that in fact were the only direct connection with humans.
He/it/she bridged the transcendent/immanence (tangible/earthly) barrier. The Son of God, Word, Great Angel etc. was worshipped as God and, as an emanation of God, that was not understood as polytheism. Son of God was the same as saying Glory of God. It follows that prior to any creative acts, these emanations of God were not necessary. The expressions/beings Son of God, Logos and Wisdom are all specifically referred to in the OT, Philo and Gospel John as the first and only direct generation of God by God Most High.
It should be said that Philo and his school were not completely original in their understanding, they were perceptively observing the work of the Deuteronomists and Priestly editors in consciously providing a buffer between God and earthly matters. (e.g. injection of an angel with God's name or use of new terms Glory of God and Presence of God as representations of God) We even see this concept in Talmudic references to 'Metatron' the Great Angel who stood in for God. Philo simply took that precedent and described it through the lens of Neoplatonism, and in doing so expanded upon both sources. This Hellenization of Judaism was, a couple centuries later, disavowed in an effort to reinvent Judaism as distinct both from Hellenism and Christianity. However, in reality the belief, very popular during late 2nd Temple times, was that the Greek thinkers had in fact drawn many of their ideas, from the Torah and therefore simply represented 'Moses in attic Greek'.
The idea that the Logos/Sophia (and other variants as well) was the site of God's presence in the world-indeed of God's Word or Wisdom as a mediator figure-was a very widespread one in the thought-world of first century and even second-century Judaism.
Leslie W. Barnard, Justin Martyr: His Life and Thought.
As a natural consequence of messianism of the late 2nd temple period, in some circles the Logos was assigned a new role, heavenly Messiah. We see this in popular writings like 1 Enoch. 1 Enoch regarded as scripture by some NT writers wherein a supernatural being with a human or human appearing Son of Man.
For from the beginning the Son of Man (man) was hidden,
and the Most High preserved him in the Presence of His might,
and he revealed him to the chosen. . . .
And all the kings and the mighty and the exalted and those who rule the land will fall on their faces in his presence; and they will worship and set their hope on the Son of Man,
and they will supplicate and petition for mercy from him.
This mirrors the Son of Man section of Daniel in thought and wording. While the "son of Man has been debated to be variously an alternative name/form of Yahweh, Michael and by later Christians as Jesus, in fact they are all right. The figure is fated to save the Jews as the Most High's agent. While identification with Yahweh might surprise, recall that it was Yahweh's appearance as a man that started all this.
As was discussed here in other threads the Son of Man's description as 'rider on the clouds' suggests a Yahweh/Baal connection but yet Michael is later in the section identified as the savior of the Jews. This might represent a later hand attempting to clarify, as Michael the Great Prince (who is like God) was also another of the names of the Great Angel/second power. Christian writers had Jesus self-identify as that Son of Man figure and Son of God, which is why the audience accused him of blaspheme. He was identifying as an emanation of God i.e. God.
Another theological element of the times was the Adam Elyon, heavenly Man concept. Philo speaks of this as well. It all revolves around the two creation stories in Genesis but in the end, there is a 'heavenly man' and the earthly. Various Christain sects link the concepts, the Logos, Son of Man and the Heavenly Adam.
At a point now lost to us (mid 1rst century BCE-mid 1rst century CE) this Logos, Son of God personified emanation became the focus of a new Jewish sect. That group itself soon splintered into sects, in some cases over the matter of the Jewish Law. For instance, the Elcesaites retained a fully Jewish perspective of the Law, denied Paul, but were anchored in Christian mystic concepts that later Church fathers deemed heretical. that The Ascension of Isaiah (minus some later interpolations) appears to represent an early (preGospel) form of worship that embraced the concept of the second power. The writer clearly says Adam, Abel and all the righteous worshipped the Angel of the Most High also called the Glory of God. The distinct aspect is the description of this figure descending though the levels of heaven in disguise as a man of flesh and eventually being killed by demonic enemies by being hung on a tree.
