Morning Light: Genesis 5 – Walk like Enoch Walked, Get what Enoch Got!

 
Today: Genesis 5 Walk like Enoch Walked, Get what Enoch Got! In Gen. 5, we find the earliest genealogy of man extended from Adam to Noah. In the midst of this roll call, we see reference to Enoch, an unusual man with an enigmatic end. Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him. By this, we understand that Enoch reached forward by faith and received something of the resurrection not available even in our own time.
[Gen 5:1-32 KJV] 1 This [is] the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. 3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat [a son] in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: 4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: 5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. 6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos: 7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: 8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died. 9 And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: 10 And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: 11 And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died. 12 And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel: 13 And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: 14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died. 15 And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: 16 And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: 17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died. 18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: 19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. 21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he [was] not; for God took him. 25 And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: 26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: 27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. 28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This [same] shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed. 30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: 31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. 32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Enoch’s name means “Dedicated, trained, and initiated.” It comes from a root word “palate” a part of the human mouth and therefore has connection with speech. Genesis gives no record of Enoch saying anything worth recording for history, but we do find something of Enoch’s testimony in the book of Jude:
[Jde 1:14-15 KJV] 14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard [speeches] which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Jude is obviously quoting another reference, but it isn’t found in the Bible. We recognize then that Jude is quoting then from an extra-biblical text. There are Christians who make a big deal of this, insisting that the book of Enoch should be included in the canon. The fact of the matter is there are several books of Enoch, so which one do they suggest we should revere as scripture? That question is usually met with a blank stare resulting from a lack of due diligence on the part of those who want to be seen as scholars without doing the work of scholarship. The passage that Jude quotes from is called 1 Enoch and in some cases, “The Book of the Watchers.” The fact that Jude does quote this source does not make the entirety of the book or other books by that name canonical.
The Writings of Enoch:
The three most prominent books attributed to Enoch are:
1st Book of Enoch, or simply the Book of Enoch, is an apocryphal book in the Ethiopic Bible that dated to the third century before Jesus.
2nd Book of Enoch, is an apocryphal book in the Old Slavonic Bible dated to the second century after Jesus.
3rd Book of Enoch, is a Rabbinic text dated to the fifth century after Christ.
These books recount how Enoch is taken up to heaven and is supposedly appointed guardian of all the celestial treasures, chief of the archangels, and the immediate attendant on God’s throne. He is (allegedly) subsequently taught all secrets and mysteries and, with all the angels at his back, fulfills of his own accord whatever comes out of the mouth of God, executing His decrees.
Much esoteric literature like the 3rd Book of Enoch identifies Enoch as a Metatron, a head angel who communicates God’s word. In consequence, Enoch was seen, by this literature, and the Rabbinic kabbala of Jewish mysticism, as having been the one which communicated God’s revelation to Moses, and in particular, the dictator of the Book of Jubilees (another extra-Biblical book). There is however no proof of this other than a few general references in the Holy Scriptures. We may consider them a curiosity and a stimulating intellectual inquiry but nothing more.
When you examine the genealogy of Gen. 5, you will find that Enoch is the seventh from Adam. Much is made of this as well by gullible people who speak of those who might be a “son of a seventh son” possessing certain powers of magic and the occult. Again this is nothing more than folklore and religious irrationality. Enoch descended from Seth, the third son of Adam being born in the seventh generation from the first couple. Cain’s seventh generation was never produced as his sixth generation died in the flood. We do see in these number references that God is saying something about his purposes connected to the number seven, which was first given importance when it was set apart in creation as a day of rest. Interestingly enough we are now in the seventh 1000 year period from Adam.
What is the nature of Enoch’s catching up in Gen. 5? When the scriptures were translated by the third-century translators (who produced the Greek Septuagint) they rendered the phrase “God took him” with a conveyed meaning that God may have simply moved from one place to another but didn’t necessarily take him to heaven. Other translators writing in the same period, state that “Enoch pleased God and was translated into heaven that he might preach repentance to the nations.” Enoch’s testimony is important to us as an example to aspire to because of its mention in Hebrews 11, also known as the roll call of the faithful.
[Heb 11:5 KJV] 5 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.
From this reference in Hebrews, we know that Enoch did not experience the mortal death ascribed to Adam’s other descendants and also we have no reason not to believe that he is still alive to this very day. Many conclude that Enoch is one of the two witnesses in Revelation who will be killed in the city of Jerusalem, but there is absolutely no documentation of this in scripture – it is merely the rationale surmising of certain scholars and not to be held as fact.
The timing of Enoch’s translation is also very telling. Enoch was translated approximately 30 years after the Death of Adam. Adam was the first recorded natural death. This suggests that part of the motivation for Enoch being translated (at least on Enoch’s part) is that he saw the death of the patriarch Adam and decided it wasn’t for him. What about you and I? Why did God include this mysterious description of Enoch’s end? Why does the book of Hebrews say Enoch “by faith” was translated? Remember that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God so “someone” must have suggested the idea of translation to Enoch whereupon he believed what was proposed to him and subsequently experienced the same.
What Enoch experienced as a singular person the New Testament declares that one day we will experience corporately as the body of Christ.
[1Th 4:15-18 KJV] 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Paul mentions this as well in 1 Cor. 15:
[1Co 15:51-55 KJV] 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory?
These references in conjunction with Enoch’s testimony suggests to us that it is not necessary to go by way of the grave – and that the possibility exists that we might live on and go alive to glory – not on the basis of some random act of God but as a matter of hearing the message preached (Heb. 11:5), believing what is said and experiencing the same. Jesus made an unambiguous reference to this in the gospel of John:
[Jhn 11:26 KJV] 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
This is very controversial because we have no record of anyone other than Enoch experiencing this – but it is the undeniable truth of God’s word, given to us as an article of faith that we might hear, believe and one day receive. What about you? I’ll take mine now!