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Find the answers to all those questions you were too embarrassed to ask in Sunday School. Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. Hosted by Luke Taylor.
Enoch Was and Then He Wasn’t
Genesis 5
Introduction
Genesis 5 is one of those chapters people tend to read through pretty quickly. It’s a genealogy chapter. It’s a list of names: so and so the son of so and so, so and so begat so and so.
Not only that, it’s a list of names of people from Adam to Noah. Why do we need a genealogy of people from Adam to Noah? The genealogy is gonna reset at Noah anyway. This seems extra.
And yet, if you stop and smell the roses, you’re going to read about one guy in Genesis 5 who stands out above the rest.
Genesis 5:21-24
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
Enoch walked with God, and he was not. Was not what? That’s a weird sentence. Enoch walked with God, and he was not…for God took him.
What’s going on in this verse? I find it to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.
Turn to Genesis 5, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
Who Was Enoch?
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about this Enoch feller who was and then was not.
Enoch is mentioned a small handful of times in the Bible; I think we’ll about all of them today. Enoch comes up in this genealogy of Genesis 5. There’s also a genealogy of the line of Cain in Genesis 4, and there’s an Enoch mentioned there, but it’s an entirely different Enoch.
The Enoch of Genesis 5 is in the line of Seth. This Enoch is also mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3, and he gets a shout-out in the book of Jude- which we’ll talk about in an episode soon- and then Hebrews, which I’ll cover later today.
So there’s very little information about Enoch. And as he shows up in this genealogy, he really breaks up the flow. Every person in the genealogy is given a birth, how old they were when their son was born, and then how much longer until they died. To give you an idea of the flow of this chapter, I’ll read about Enoch’s father to you.
Genesis 5:18-21
18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. 19 Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.
And that’s the pattern all throughout this chapter, except for this guy right in the midst of it: Enoch. Enoch is not given a date that he died. Instead, it says this:
21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
Not a whole lot of info about Enoch’s lifestyle. He had a kid at 65, named him Methuselah, lived another 300 years and had some more kids during that time. For those of us who are mathematically challenged, verse 23 tells us how old Enoch was when “it” happened.
23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.
Kind of an interesting number, as that’s also how many days there are in a year. Enoch is not given a death announcement. Instead it says:
24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
So Enoch was, and then he…wasn’t. OK, that was the English Standard Version. Maybe it was missing a word in there. Let’s see it in the King Jimmy Version:
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Well that doesn’t illuminate anything. Let’s try the New International Version. I don’t often like this one because sometimes the translators went too thought-for-thought and some thoughts got lost in translation. Some call it the Nearly Inspired Version. But let’s see if they were inspired to make a little more sense out of verse 24:
Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
Well, that makes a little more grammatical sense, but it still leaves some mystery. He was “no more.” It’s as if it’s saying he suddenly ceased to exist. So what happened to Enoch?
There are various scholarly terms we could use to describe what happened to Enoch in Genesis 5:24, but perhaps I’ll just let the Bible interpret the Bible by going back to the English Standard Version and seeing what
Hebrews 11:5 says
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
Well this cuts away any speculation. Enoch was taken to heaven without dying. One day when Enoch was 365, God just took him right on up into heaven.
Walking with God
Now, what was so special about Enoch that he got to go straight on up into heaven? Well, we are told a few details about Enoch. Let me list 5 or 6 reasons that Enoch was taken to heaven without experiencing death.
He had significant faith. Lots of people in the Bible had faith, but only a few made it into something called the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. It’s a chapter with a list of individuals who had great moments of faith. Now, sometimes it was for something they DID. Like, by faith Noah BUILT an ark. By faith Moses FORSOOK Egypt and CHOSE God. By faith Abraham OFFERED UP his son. Other times, their faith was shown in a more passive way. By faith Sarah RECEIVED Isaac. By faith Enoch WAS TAKEN. He allowed it to happen to him. It was something God did, but Enoch accepted it by faith. So sometimes faith is demonstrated by doing something, and sometimes faith is demonstrated by doing nothing and letting God fight the battle.
Enoch pleased God. Do we know much about Enoch’s life before the flood? Not really. He was known as someone who walked with God, and more on that in a moment. We’ll also see in the book of Jude that Enoch was a prophet, and in the weeks ahead we’ll study how Enoch wrote a book that is not included in your Bible, yet many Bible writers were familiar with and believed in. So whatever Enoch was doing, it was something that pleased God. Genesis tells us that he “walked with God.” Now, what does it mean to walk with God? I have a few ideas on that.
Enoch was near to God. If you walk with someone, you’re side-by-side. Wouldn’t it be great to get to heaven and have God say, “You were walking side-by-side with me”? When I get to heaven, I don’t want it to be a formal introduction with God as if we’ve never met. I want to embrace God when I meet Him like an old friend. I used to try to pray 30 minutes a day; it was always my goal, and I’d generally do it all in one spurt. But I found that when I made a certain number of minutes my goal, what I would generally do is just pray that 30 minutes and then not talk to God so much the rest of the day. And I felt like God was telling me that I wasn’t having a walk with Him; I was having a 100-yard-dash with Him. Basically, a quick little sprint with God and then I was done with Him for the day. And I came to realize that a walk with God is more like what Paul said about praying without ceasing. Just a frequent communication with God throughout your day. It’s not about hitting a certain number of minutes in one part of your day; it’s about checking in with God throughout your day.
Enoch was in agreement with God. How long would you walk with someone you disagreed with or couldn’t get along with? Not very long. And probably not for 300 years! Amos 3 says, “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” So the fact that Enoch and God walked together for so long meant that they were in agreement. Now, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this about God but He is often right. God usually wins the argument. If you and God are not in agreement on something, I don’t exactly have to flip a coin to know who’s right. So when Enoch and God had any kind of disagreement, this tells me that Enoch was willing to change and agree with God pretty quickly.
Enoch was going places with God. Why do I say that? Because the text didn’t say he was sitting with God. He wasn’t on the couch with God. His life had some kind of direction. We don’t know what it was, but it must have been busy. He was about his Father’s business until he finished his assignment on earth. So my advice to everyone listening is that if you feel a little distant from God today, take a walk. Take a walk and go talk to God for a little while. Don’t sit on your couch and talk to God. Walk with God. Just try it. We’re in springtime now. It’s nice weather outside. Take a walk with God each day and see what it does for your spiritual life. So there are 5 things we can observe with just a few verses on Enoch. Here’s a sixth- and this one is a bit of a teaser for next time:
Enoch was spared the coming judgment. That’s one reason that he was removed from the earth. By the time of the flood, the Nephilim had been filling the earth, it was so wicked that humanity was only interested in doing evil all the time. God was going to have to flood the entire planet just to wash away all the wickedness. And Enoch was spared from all that. Didn’t have to deal with it. He was taken out before God’s judgment fell. He was taken to heaven without dying. This is also known as a rapture in the Bible. Now, I know when I use that word, a bunch of peoples’ antennas go up. The red flags go up. And there will be pandemonium in the streets. But if you come back next time, I’ll make the case for you all that Enoch was the first rapture in the Bible. And he is far from the last.
Housekeeping/Mailbag
Next time on this podcast, we’ll talk about that. Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
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Closing Thoughts
As we close today, Enoch was and then he wasn’t. What does that mean? He was there, and suddenly, Enoch was not there anymore. So here are six reasons Enoch was taken to heaven without dying:
1- Enoch had significant faith. He shows up in the Hebrews 11 Hall of Faith.
2- Enoch pleased God. Something else we learn in Hebrews 11. And then in Genesis 5, we read that Enoch walked with God. What does this mean?
3- Enoch was near to God.
4- Enoch was in agreement with God.
5- Enoch was going places with God. And if we go on to Genesis 6, we realize a sixth reason Enoch was taken:
6- Enoch was spared the coming judgment.
So today we have covered what the Bible means when it says “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” We covered WHAT that means, and I also gave you six reasons WHY it happened. And I’ll give you a seventh one today.
7- Enoch was weird.
Now, why do I say Enoch was weird? I can’t prove this, but I feel pretty certain about something. Enoch was taken to heaven in this way because there was nothing in this world that he cared about more than he cared about God.
I couldn’t tell you how much this idea of walking with God was literal for Enoch and how much of it was metaphorical. But here is what I do know: at some point, during one of their walks, God must have said, Enoch, want to go on with me up into heaven?
And Enoch said, there’s nothing else I’d rather do. And that was true, and that’s why Enoch could go.
Now, what if God had asked you that question? Would you be ready to go if God called you on home right now? Or would you protest? Would you say, “But I need to do this,” or “but so-and-so needs me,” or but but but.
I want to say something challenging as we close down this short episode today. Something that I am wrestling with in my own life. Would I be ready to go if God asked me? Or would I be saying, “but this and but that.”
Your buts are things more important to you than God.
They might be really important buts. But you’re supposed to love God with no buts.
Jesus said in Luke 9, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Later He said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Those are hard words. Those are heavy words. Those are challenging words. And those are words from Jesus Himself.
You’re supposed to love God so much that if He offered you the chance to walk on up into heaven, you’d be ready to drop whatever’s in your hands and go on up anytime.
And if that sounds weird, I hope you’re a little more weird today, too. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time.