Smoodock's Blog

When many read Genesis 5:21-24, they often believe that Enoch did not die, yet the plain teaching of Scripture is that all the days of Enoch were 365 years (Genesis 5:23). In all other places where a similar phrase is used it means the one in question lived that many years. If Enoch did not die, this phrase is meaningless and misleading.

What is interesting is that Enoch’s 365 years, though long by our standards was really a short life according to that of the patriarchs of Genesis 5. Enoch is the 7th generation from Adam (Jude 1:14 – Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalalee, Jared, Enoch). The 7th generation from Adam on Cain’s side of the genealogy was Lamech (Genesis 4:17-24; Adam, Cain, Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Methusael and Lamech). What is fascinating for me is that Lamech told his wives that he killed a young man and compared his killing with that of Cain who killed Abel. This implies that the man Lamech killed was a righteous man, just as Able had been.

During the antediluvian age, there was universal unrighteousness, and no doubt this included a great deal of killing (Genesis 6:1-5). Why would this single murder committed by Lamech be worth noting in the word of God? It seems logical to me that since Enoch was younger than all the patriarchs before and after him that he was the man whom Lamech slew (Genesis 4:23). Enoch, the 7th from Adam in the line of Seth  was slain by Lamech, the 7th from Adam on Cain’s side. If Enoch was a preacher of righteousness, which is implied in that he walked with God (Genesis 5:24) and had the testimony that he pleased God (Hebrews 11:5) in a world that had departed from him (Genesis 6:1-6), then it is only logical that Enoch would suffer for his righteousness just as Abel did.

Nevertheless, Hebrews 11:5 claims that Enoch didn’t see death. What does this mean and how is this Scripture to be understood in the light of Hebrews 9:27, which claims that all men die? If it is true that Scripture cannot be contradicted or broken (John 10:35), then it is obvious that Enoch had to have died, implied in Genesis 5:23, and stated in Hebrews 9:27. Nevertheless, how are we to understand Hebrews 11:5 in a manner that does not abuse its clear statement?

I believe the key to its understanding is seen in the meaning of the word translated (metatithemi – G3346) found in Hebrews 11:5. This is a word derived from meta (G3326) and tithemi (G5087). It is translated into carried over in Acts 7:16, where Stephen recalls the carrying of the bodies of Israel from Egypt to Shechem, where Abraham and Sarah were buried. Again the same word is translated changed in Hebrews 7:12, where it is said that a change in the priesthood necessitated a change in the law. It is also translated into removed in Galatians 1:6 where Paul marvels at the apostasy of the Christians at Galatia who were so soon removed from Christ to another gospel. Finally, this same word is translated turning in Jude 1:4, where certain evil men crept into Christianity and tried to turn the grace of God into a license to sin all the more.

It seems plain that Hebrews 11:5 is not speaking of some mysterious translation but of change in the life of Enoch similar to the Christian experience in Colossians 1:13. There the word for “translated” is methistemi (G3179) a synonym for metatithemi (G3346), the word used in Hebrews 11:5. It seems God may have given Enoch a spiritual enlightenment making him spiritually alive in contrast to the world around him that lived in darkness, the spiritual counterpart of being dead to God.

Therefore, when Hebrews 11:5 says that Enoch was translated by faith that he should not see death, it means that he trusted God, and God enlightened him in a similar manner that a Christian is enlightened or born again through the Holy Spirit. This Scripture is not speaking of physical death at all. Hebrews 11:5 tells us that Enoch was given God’s Spirit and made alive to him—he was born again. We die and so did Enoch.