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Genesis 5 – Enoch
Most men within history are famous for what they did. The annals of time record their accomplishments, heroics, inventions, or possibly their words. Seldom is someone remembered for what they did not do, and yet that is exactly why we remember Enoch.
What didn’t Enoch do? He did not die.
The age of Enoch is 365 years. For those of you into math, 365 is “a schematic number (unrelated to the days of the year in a lunar calendar): 102 + 112 + 12″ (The Torah, A Modern Commentary, p.52.). If the genealogy in Genesis 5 does not skip generations, and there is no indication that it does, then Enoch went to heaven just 57 years after Adam died. That means their lives overlapped. That means he went to heaven before Seth, Adam’s son, died. I find such revelations intriguing and surprising.
Why did Enoch not die? Apparently because “walked with God” (6.9). This phrase should “walk” us back to the Garden, where God walked with His human creation. After the success of Satan, and the failure of Adam and Eve, the sinners hid in the garden. And God walked in the Garden (Genesis 3:8) in which they hid. Ironically they hid among the trees in the garden after disobeying God about eating from one of the trees in the garden. I am sure they hid among the acceptable trees. Seeing this phrase concerning Enoch should also remind us that God did not give up on the human race. God can always find at least one who wants to walk with Him.
For Enoch, the reward for walking with God was an escape from the destruction of temptation – death. The same death that Adam and Eve endured, Enoch escaped. The same death that Cain inflicted upon Abel, Enoch did not suffer. According to the genealogical account, Enoch was blessed with this escape – and so was Noah, at least temporarily. Noah escaped from the death of the flood, but would die after the earth is cleansed. Noah lives while the earth dies, and dies after the earth is reborn. Noah and Enoch are the only two individuals who are said to “walk with God,” although Abraham is said to have walked before God (17.1; 24.40). Twice within four verses inspiration says, “Enoch walked with God.”
Enoch “was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24). Some consider this a different type of death, but a death nonetheless. I believe, and with justification, that Enoch never died. He simply experienced what we will one day if Jesus returns while we are still living. We will be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
What is death? A separation of the soul and body. Did Enoch need to die to go to heaven? No. Did he take his earthly body to heaven? No. He prefigured Christ’s resurrected body ascending into heaven and our own bodies if we are alive when He comes. For Enoch, for Jesus after His resurrection, for us and any who are alive when Jesus returns, there is no death of the body; there is no separation of the soul from the carnal flesh. There is a change into the immortal (1 Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 4). There is a triumph over destruction.
Death is a consequence of sin. Enoch did not suffer one of the consequences of sin. There is a word for that. Do you know what that word is? Grace!
Hebrews 11:5-6 NASB By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Enoch was a prophet. Enoch is the oldest recorded prophet. Did you know that? While Able is called a prophet, we actually have a record of Enoch’s prophecy. Are you curious? Does anyone remember where Enoch’s prophecy is found?
Jude 14-15 – It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Enoch prophesies against those who stood face to face with Satan and decided to mirror evil instead of good, to image the Devil instead of God. Enoch lived what he preached. We remember Enoch, not so much for his prophecies, and not even because of the life he lived. We remember Enoch because of what he did not do – die.
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