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The Passing of Enoch "Enoch…was not, for God took him." Gen.5:24. A singular Old Testament character is the antediluvian patriarch Enoch—seventh from Adam in natural descent and of whom it was said "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." (Gen.5:24 RSV.) To that strange expression the writer to the Hebrews adds his comment "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." (Heb.11:5.) This unusual ending to the brief record of a saintly man's life has given rise to endless conjecture and speculation; so much so that the question "What really did happen to Enoch?" is by no means an uncommon one. The usual conclusion favoured by nineteenth century commentators was that Enoch was taken to heaven without dying—a kind of instantaneous passage from the scenes of earth to the presence of God. This has remained a satisfactory answer for many, but the fact that other words of Scripture are contradicted by this conclusion is sufficient justification for an endeavour to attain a deeper and more accurate understanding of these two cryptic texts. In such an enquiry any suggestion which may be of assistance, no matter from what source it comes, will be of value as an aid to thought. Beside the two texts quoted above, Enoch is mentioned in only one other place in the Scriptures. Jude (verse 14) quotes him as predicting the coming of the Lord with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment. This reference contributes nothing to our knowledge of the life of the prophet and does not materially assist our enquiry. It does however stamp Enoch as one of the prophets who spoke of the coming of the Day of the Lord and assures us that, like Abraham in later years, he "rejoiced to see my (Christ's) day:...and was glad." (John 8:56.) The first point of enquiry is as to the precise meaning of the words in Genesis 5:24. Does the phrase—"Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" really mean that he was taken to heaven without dying as is so often supposed, or does it bear another meaning? "What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?" asks the Psalmist (Psa.89:48). "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;" are the words of Paul (1 Cor.15:50) and again "the King of kings, and Lord of lords...dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see." (1 Tim.6:15‑16); whilst our Lord Himself declares "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man." (John 3:13.) Such Scriptures as these should be sufficient to confirm that no man, not even Enoch, can hope to have escaped the hand of Death, even had not the writer to the Hebrews stated so definitely, after including Enoch in his portrait gallery of heroes, that "These all died in faith." (Heb.11:13.) It should be an accepted conclusion therefore that Enoch, when his allotted span was expired, did pass into death and "slept with his fathers." The use of that latter expression serves as a clue to this strange word in Gen.5:24. Although we must believe that Enoch did eventually sleep with his fathers, there is no record to that effect in Genesis. This is the more strange when it is noticed that in every other case the formula is consistently the same "Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son...and called his name Seth: and the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: and all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died." (Gen.5:3‑5.) The same expressions are used for each one of the patriarchs up to Methuselah, except Enoch. Why the exception? Is it not a reasonable conclusion that the time and circumstances of Enoch's death were not known to the men of his day, and therefore the record could not be completed? There is another fact that helps to confirm this thought. The ages of the antediluvian patriarchs ranged between 895 and 969 years; but Enoch again is an exception. The record states that he lived 365 years and God took him. Can it be possible that the ancient historian intended his readers to understand that Enoch lived 365 years among men, becoming famed for his piety, and at that age disappeared unaccountably and was never heard of again? Can it be that God in his inscrutable wisdom took Enoch away from the habitations of men perchance to carry out some work for Him during the remainder of His earthly life, living perhaps as long as his fellow patriarchs and, like Moses, at length ending his life in a solitary place known only to his God? Let the Scriptures and such other records as are available be examined in this light and a reasonable understanding of the story comes into view. "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." The Hebrew here has the significance of "walking to and fro" as a man does with his bosom companion. Thus is depicted the fact that Enoch was a man living in close and habitual communion with God in a day when quite certainly the wickedness of man was increasing on the earth and "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Gen.6:5.) Heb.11:5 confirms this view by saying "before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." Picture then this venerable man surrounded in all probability, by a godly family—for one of his great grandsons was Noah, a man who was "seen righteous" before God (Gen.7:1)—attaining what would be considered "middle age" of nearly four hundred years. One day Enoch was not to be found; he "was not" for he had been "translated." What had happened? "God took him" says Genesis. The word is "laqach" meaning "to be taken away" or "removed" as in Amos 7:15 "The LORD took me as I followed the flock," and Josh.24:3 "I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood" (river). A more definite word is used by the writer to the Hebrews when he declared that Enoch was "translated." The two occurrences of this word in this verse are from the Greek metathesis and metatithemi, meaning to take up an object and put it down somewhere else. These words appear frequently in the New Testament and a clear idea of their usage is gained by noting the following occurrences: Heb.12:27 "signifieth the removing of those things that
are shaken." It is not necessary to insist that the expression "was not" must imply death, or the death condition. It need only indicate that the one referred to is not present or not to be found. A striking example of the usage of this expression occurs in the Babylonian story of the Flood. (It is probable that Genesis 5 was originally written in the same style of writing and perhaps not very much earlier than the Flood story which has survived in its purest form in Genesis and in a much more distorted form in the Babylonian account). Telling of the time when he sent forth the birds from the Ark, Uta‑Napishtim (the Babylonian Noah) says "To and fro went the dove, and returned, for a resting place was not...to and fro went the swallow. She too returned, for a resting place was not." In this light the expression need only mean that Enoch was not to be found, and this is exactly what Heb.11:5 declares. It seems then that both the inspired writers intended their readers to understand that Enoch was taken away from amongst men and found himself, in the providence of God, in some other part of the earth. From that day onward, Enoch was never seen or heard of again, and the ancient chronicler who first compiled the history which now appears in Genesis 5—probably in the days immediately after the Flood—was unable to say any more about this venerable character beyond the well‑known fact that in the three hundred and sixty‑fifth year of his life he "was not—for God took him." Where He had taken him was not known, and for that reason the length of his earthly life and the time of his death could not be recorded. Now it is a remarkable fact that the traditions of the Israelites shed a distinct light on the fact of, and reason for, this mysterious disappearance. The apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus declares (44:16) that "Enoch pleased the Lord, and was translated, being an example of repentance to all generations." This can only be taken as a reflection of Jewish understanding of the Genesis account, but one is impelled to ask in what way Enoch could be an "example" to "all generations." Perhaps the answer is to be found in the Hebrews verse, where it is said that in faith was Enoch translated, having already pleased God (Heb.11:5.) Now in that chapter Enoch's faith is placed on the same level as that of Abraham, Moses and others, who at the call of God left their home, kindred and country and went out to a place which God would show them, not knowing whither (they) went. (Heb.11:8). Perhaps Enoch also went out to a solitary place, away from men, in close communion with God, to do a work for God just as did Abraham and Moses in later days, and maybe that was the secret of his translation. Many have wondered from what source Jude took his famous quotation when he said (Jude 14) "Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints..." and so on; for the quotation is not to be found in the Old Testament. It was more than a hundred years ago that a complete copy of the "Book of Enoch," in which this passage occurs, was made available in the English language, and although none would now claim that this book was written by Enoch, competent authorities declare that not only Jude but our Lord Himself were quite familiar with it. It is to this book that we are indebted for sufficient light on Judaistic tradition to confirm the suggestion advanced above as to the nature of Enoch's disappearance. Although the Book of Enoch was put together in its present state no earlier than one or two centuries before Christ, its nature suggests that certain portions are taken from written records which are considerably older. Apart from a great deal of pseudo‑astronomical lore with which we have no immediate concern, the book purports to tell of the conditions prevailing immediately before the Flood—an amplification of the story told briefly in chapter 6 of Genesis. It is evident that various "fragments" of older records, some considerably distorted by their passage through the generations, by copying and re‑copying, translation and retranslation, have been put together in a very clumsy and disjointed fashion with much material of later composition, but a careful study of these "fragments" does reveal one very interesting fact. That fact is that the prevailing theme of the book was the taking of Enoch away from the world of men and his establishment in some part of the world where he could not be approached except by one or two favoured ones who were aware of the secret. The story tells of both Noah and Methuselah visiting Enoch thus, and of the family of Methuselah coming to him to hear his words. Perhaps the most eloquent passage in this connection is 1 Enoch 12:1‑2, which says "before these things Enoch was hidden, and no one of the children of men knew where he was hidden, and where he abode, and what had become of him. And his activities had to do with the Watchers, and his days were with the holy ones." Again chap.70, verse 1 declares "It came to pass after this that his name during his lifetime was raised aloft to the Son of Man and to the Lord of Spirits from amongst those who dwell on the earth. And he was raised aloft on the chariots of the spirit and his name vanished (from) among them." The similarity of this to the story of Elijah is very striking, and this likeness is heightened by words which are accredited to Enoch himself (1 Enoch 39:3) "And in those days a whirlwind carried me off from the earth, and set me down at the end of the heavens." Elijah too was separated from Elisha by a chariot of fire and carried up by a whirlwind into the heavens (2 Kings 2:11) and the translation of Enoch is depicted here as having occurred in very similar fashion. The sons of the prophets besought Elisha that they might go and search the mountains, believing that the "wind of the Lord" (Heb. ruach, translated "wind" or "spirit" as required by the context, and incorrectly rendered "spirit" in this instance in the A.V.) might have dropped Elijah somewhere within reach (2 Kings 2:16). They searched, and found him not. So with Enoch; it seems the Israelites believed that he had been removed to some inaccessible part of the earth and throughout the Book of Enoch he is described as continuing in a closer and more direct communion with God and the spiritual powers of heaven than man had enjoyed since the Fall in Eden. They believed that he bore God's messages to the "fallen angels" of whom both Jude and Peter speak in the New Testament (Jude 6.2 Peter 2:4), warned Methuselah and Noah of the coming flood and declared that the judgment of God would come upon the ungodly; but as far as mankind generally were concerned, they knew not where he was and they never saw him again. Incidentally the Book of Enoch depicts the events of Genesis 6:1 as first taking place in the time of Jared, the father of Enoch. There is a hint in Heb.11:5 that some search for Enoch was made after his translation, for the verse declares that he was "translated that he should not see death, and was not found," as though men searched for him and their efforts were fruitless. The most difficult part of this verse is the expression "that he should not see death." Once only is the same expression used elsewhere in the Scriptures, and that is in the well known saying of our Lord "if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death" (John 8:51). It should not be thought that this promise implied the escape of the physical human frame from the inevitable end which comes to all men when life's allotted span is past. Our Lord referred to a far deeper truth, and a far more enduring life than that which men today are pleased to call "life." Those who are the faithful of Christ, who have been "born again", and have a life within them which is from above and not of this "corruptible seed" (1 Pet.1:23) shall truly "never see death" even although their "earthly house of this tabernacle" (2. Cor.5:1) be dissolved. In like manner the ancient worthies of old who are said in Heb.11:39 to have obtained a good report through their faith have not failed of their reward and it can truly be said of them that having manifested their loyalty and allegiance to God by their faith there is a city which God hath prepared for them. (Heb.11:16). They too, shall not "see death." Enoch was one of these; and his faith, exercised as was that of Abraham, Moses and Daniel, is an assurance that he inherits the promise which God has prepared for him and so does not "see death;" but just as surely as Abraham and Moses and Christian believers throughout the centuries, finishing their course with joy, have gone down into the grave, so, in some lonely place far from his fellow‑men. Enoch yielded up his breath to the One Who gave it. If it be assumed that Enoch lived to the average age of his fellow patriarchs, he could have been alive within half a century of the Flood. In this event he might well have been used of God to communicate those messages to Methuselah and to Noah, which the Book of Enoch declares he did in fact communicate. In such case one can well visualise this saintly old man in his quiet retreat spending his time in meditation on the things of God, perhaps seeing in ever clearer vision the trend of events in the world of sin and death, and—who knows—being the one who first discerned that impending fate which hovered over the antediluvian world. It may well have been that he perceived the natural signs of the impending catastrophe many years before it happened—perhaps with knowledge born of long observation of the heavens, undisturbed by other distraction, realising something of the mighty changes which were at work in the earth and which at length culminated in the breaking of the great waters of the abyss and the opening of the floodgates of heaven (Gen.7:11 margin). Some dim memory of this may be the reason why those long passages about the stars, winds and forces of Nature in the Book of Enoch are accredited to this mystic personage. It seems then that he lived as a righteous man in a world fast giving itself over to every form of evil, that he prophesied to it concerning coming retribution, and that in the heyday of life he was removed from his place among men and until the day of his death lived in his peaceful retreat serving and living in "quiet fellowship with God." AOH |
