THE PARADIGM OF ENOCH

Enoch was the Great-Grandfather of Noah. Enoch begat Methuselah, the oldest man recorded in the geneologies of the bible. Methuselah begat Lamech the father of Noah.

What is interesting is what happened to Enoch.

We find the 365 Earthly years of Enoch's existence recorded for us in Genesis 5:18-24. In verse 18 he is born, in verse 21 he becomes the father of Methuselah, in verse 22 he has a bunch more kids. It is in verse 23 where Enochs years are summarized as 365 years then in verse 24 we have the statement that; "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." How mysterious, how cryptic. What does it mean?

We also have the prophesy of Enoch quoted in the short book of Jude.

In verse 14 & 15 of Jude we have the following...

"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 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."

I believe that this passage in Jude is an allusion to Deuteronomy 33:2 but that is a different subject.

The only other reference to the man 'Enoch' is found in Hebrews chapter 11, the chapter of the faith of the believers down through the ages.

Anytime we have elaboration in the New Testament scripture of obscure Old Testament events or characters, we should pay close attention.

In Hebrews 11:5 we have another brief statement about the man Enoch;

"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.

Here we find out about his character, he was a "God Pleaser". He was a man of "Faith". And we find out some more info about what happened to him. He was "translated". The reason for his translation was so that "He should not see death;".

I am not sure about you, but this does not really satisfy this mystery for me. What do these things mean? Most of my Christian life I have heard preachers and other Christians declare that this means that Enoch never died.

Is that true?

Did enoch escape death by this transaltion? This is what I used to beleive. But as I read my bible, I continue in the passage of Hebrews 11 and the passage goes on to tell of the faith of Noah (v 7), the Faith of Abraham (v 8-10), the Faith of Sarah (v 11). Then in verse 13 it summarizes the faith of all these in chapter 11 up to that point.

"THESE ALL DIED in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the Earth."

Notice that the scripture declares...(it does not hint, or allude to, or intimate, it DECLARES)..."THESE ALL DIED...". Now the language of Enochs demise, disappearance, departure seems to be cryptic and open for interpretation. Should we not allow the clear declaration of "THESE ALL DIED..." be the difinitive settling text as to the end of Enoch. I believe the bible teaches that Enoch died as all men die. This is a new paradigm for the way I used to look at this character.

Not sure if any of you are ready for this kind of re-thinking, but please let me know where I have made a mistake in the interpretation of this passage. If Enoch did not die, point me to the clear text that says he did not die.

I welcome your comments and explanations.

For many folks, a conclusion is simply
the place where they got tired of thinking.