Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Genesis 5:21-24 ESV

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 is one of the strange personalities of the Scriptures. In this Genesis account there is nothing that sets him apart but the simple statement, “for God took him”. The fact that he “walked with God” is not unusual in itself. Many others also walked with God. This most common man is otherwise unusual only in the shortness of his years compared with his ancestors.

Alexander Whyte, in his Bible Characters, Vol. I, makes a great deal of Enoch’s relationship with God after he had a son. This great man with his sanctified imagination seems to have missed the mark here.

Enoch’s name is not translatable in either Hebrew or Greek. It is transliterated, thus tells us nothing about him. But he is mentioned twice in the New Testament. Jude verses 14-15 tells his vocation, he was a prophet, “Enoch…prophesied.” And his message is also stated. First, that the Lord comes in judgment. Second, that he has sufficient support to apply his intent. Third, that his judgment is against “ungodly sinners”. There is no reason to think so harsh a message was anymore popular then than it would be now if somebody could be found who would preach it.

Again the writer of Hebrews chapter 11:5 speaks of Enoch among the great worthies of our faith. The writer in this testimony is either using the Septuagint or by inspiration states the same commendation of Enoch, that he “pleased God.” It is most likely the author of Hebrews quotes from the Septuagint.

The Hebrews passage in 11:5 states “he was commended as having pleased God.” But the writer does not leave it there His conclusion in Hebrews 11:6 is one of - if not the greatest - theological statements in all the Scriptures

5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him.

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to Godmust believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him

Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. He concludes that Enoch must have been a man of true faith, “for without faith it is impossible to please God”.

Putting the two descriptions together we catch a far better glimpse of this very unusual man. With an unwavering faith in God who is the rewarder of his people, he believed in the holy justice and uncertain judgment of God. He believed this to the extent that like Jeremiah it was a fire in his bones and he could not forbear.

No, it was not the birth of his son, important as that may have been, but it was the faithful preaching of the holiness of God that pleased God so much that he brought Enoch to Heaven in that direct way that is a wonder to us.