Alice C. Linsley
A reader recently made this comment:
What are your thoughts about Enoch's "removal". I've been perusing your site and I don't see it as having been covered before - not to say it hasn't (I just don't find it if it has).
Gen. 5:24 "and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."
I realize you deal with data, facts and research, extrapolating from there, but this would certainly seem to be an intriguing passage, yes?
The common interpretation is that Enoch was translated into heaven/paradise like Elijah. Certainly, in the genealogical listings of early Genesis, Enoch's life stands out.
Sure, they're pointing out his strong faith and relationship with God, but his "death" or "end of life" is put differently than the other ancestors. Is this because his faith and walk with God was that set apart, or do you accept the interpretation that he was indeed "translated" in some fashion and this was the early author's way of trying to grasp/understand it and relate it for posterity?
Thanks.
I appreciate this question and the reader's understanding of my interest in facts. This is a topic I have avoided because it necessarily involves speculation. That is not to say that I haven't given this some thought. I have considered three possible explanations.
1. Enoch was a deified ruler whose death was never recorded. I don't see much biblical support for this view. The days of Enoch are said to be 365 years (Gen. 5:23). Whether he died or was translated to heaven, the time of his leaving was noted.
2. Enoch was a sent-away son and his death was never reported to his people back home. Most of the heroes of the Old Testament were sent-away sons: Cain, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and David are examples. These biblical figures point to Jesus, God's sent-away Son, who came to conquer and establish and eternal kingdom.
3. Enoch was a hermit ruler who lived in the wilderness and disappeared. His ermitic life began after his son Methuselah was born. Having secured an heir to his throne, Enoch withdrew to the wilderness. This is suggested by Gen. 5:22: "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methusaleh."
Probably Enoch was "raptured" as was Elijah. This is said to happen to some hysechasts. It is called "stepping into the Light" and is something akin to the transfiguration of Jesus, or the glorified Jesus in the individual becoming all in all. This speaks of transcending this world.
I am not attached to one of these possible explanations. However, I believe that Enoch's righteousness and his disappearance should be taken literally.
The phrase "walked with God" is reminiscent of Genesis 3:8 where we are told that God walked in the garden to commune with the Man and the Woman. To walk with God suggests the simpliest life, where the main thing - perfect communion with God - is kept the main thing.
St. Ephrem the Syrian expressed how Christ makes transcendence possible in a Hymn on the Nativity (VIII.4). He wrote:
Blessed be the Merciful One
who saw the sword beside Paradise,
barring the way to the Tree of Life;
He came and took to Himself a body
which was wounded so that,
by the opening of His side,
He might open up the way to Paradise.
At the end of his Ladder of Divine Ascent, St. John Climacus speaks of this as "ascending to Jerusalem, the vision of the perfect peace of souls" and encourages the monks to fix "your eye upon Heaven, you have set your foot upon its base and run, and gone up, and been exalted, and mounted the cherubim of the virtues; you have taken wing and ascended in jubilation, vanquishing the enemy. You have gone before us on the road and led the way, or rather, even now you lead us, and go on before us all, ascending with a light step to the very pinnacle of the holy Ladder, uniting yourself to love; and love is God, to Whom be glory unto the ages. Amen."
Related reading: Is Enoch a Royal Title?
A reader recently made this comment:
What are your thoughts about Enoch's "removal". I've been perusing your site and I don't see it as having been covered before - not to say it hasn't (I just don't find it if it has).
Gen. 5:24 "and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."
I realize you deal with data, facts and research, extrapolating from there, but this would certainly seem to be an intriguing passage, yes?
The common interpretation is that Enoch was translated into heaven/paradise like Elijah. Certainly, in the genealogical listings of early Genesis, Enoch's life stands out.
Sure, they're pointing out his strong faith and relationship with God, but his "death" or "end of life" is put differently than the other ancestors. Is this because his faith and walk with God was that set apart, or do you accept the interpretation that he was indeed "translated" in some fashion and this was the early author's way of trying to grasp/understand it and relate it for posterity?
Thanks.
I appreciate this question and the reader's understanding of my interest in facts. This is a topic I have avoided because it necessarily involves speculation. That is not to say that I haven't given this some thought. I have considered three possible explanations.
1. Enoch was a deified ruler whose death was never recorded. I don't see much biblical support for this view. The days of Enoch are said to be 365 years (Gen. 5:23). Whether he died or was translated to heaven, the time of his leaving was noted.
2. Enoch was a sent-away son and his death was never reported to his people back home. Most of the heroes of the Old Testament were sent-away sons: Cain, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and David are examples. These biblical figures point to Jesus, God's sent-away Son, who came to conquer and establish and eternal kingdom.
3. Enoch was a hermit ruler who lived in the wilderness and disappeared. His ermitic life began after his son Methuselah was born. Having secured an heir to his throne, Enoch withdrew to the wilderness. This is suggested by Gen. 5:22: "And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methusaleh."
Probably Enoch was "raptured" as was Elijah. This is said to happen to some hysechasts. It is called "stepping into the Light" and is something akin to the transfiguration of Jesus, or the glorified Jesus in the individual becoming all in all. This speaks of transcending this world.
I am not attached to one of these possible explanations. However, I believe that Enoch's righteousness and his disappearance should be taken literally.
The phrase "walked with God" is reminiscent of Genesis 3:8 where we are told that God walked in the garden to commune with the Man and the Woman. To walk with God suggests the simpliest life, where the main thing - perfect communion with God - is kept the main thing.
St. Ephrem the Syrian expressed how Christ makes transcendence possible in a Hymn on the Nativity (VIII.4). He wrote:
Blessed be the Merciful One
who saw the sword beside Paradise,
barring the way to the Tree of Life;
He came and took to Himself a body
which was wounded so that,
by the opening of His side,
He might open up the way to Paradise.
At the end of his Ladder of Divine Ascent, St. John Climacus speaks of this as "ascending to Jerusalem, the vision of the perfect peace of souls" and encourages the monks to fix "your eye upon Heaven, you have set your foot upon its base and run, and gone up, and been exalted, and mounted the cherubim of the virtues; you have taken wing and ascended in jubilation, vanquishing the enemy. You have gone before us on the road and led the way, or rather, even now you lead us, and go on before us all, ascending with a light step to the very pinnacle of the holy Ladder, uniting yourself to love; and love is God, to Whom be glory unto the ages. Amen."
Related reading: Is Enoch a Royal Title?
