S149P2 – Stories of life and death: Enoch

Gen 5:18-27

When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch.  Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters.  Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.  When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.  Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.  Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.  Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.  When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech.  Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters.  Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.

When we read a family lineage, we expect to see certain things.  The purpose of the account is to show the course of the life of a family.  We can see where one generation began then ended.  We can see where the other generations fit along the spectrum.  While the names may change from generation to generation, and the ages of the individuals change as well, there is something each person in that lineage has in common.  Except for those living at present, each one will have a beginning and an end.  Each beginning will be a birth, and each end will be a death.  That is what we expect to see, and that is what we normally see, but we see something a little different here.

The account of Enoch’s personal relationship with God is brief.  We know from this passage that he walked with God.  We also know from a second mention in scripture that he pleased God. [Heb. 11:5]  That second mention of his life also tells us that Enoch did not taste death.  Jared lived, and then he died.  Methuselah lived, and then he died.  Enoch lived, and then he was no more.  He is credited with having great faith in God to the point of pleasing him, which I believe is part of this picture.  I do not say that physical death is something that others are required to endure because they do not have such great faith.  However, I must wonder whether Enoch’s pleasing faith is what moved God to take him as He did.

In reading through this chapter of Genesis, Enoch is the only one described as walking with God.  There was something different about his relationship with the Lord, and there was something clearly different about how his life ended.  When we see incredible spiritual fruit manifest in the life of another, we must begin to ask what brought that fruit.  It is only wise to seek after that.  Perhaps none of us will end this life as Enoch did, but it does not mean that we cannot pursue the same kind of God-pleasing relationship and walk with the Lord in the same way.  Father, help us to walk with You as Enoch did, that we would please You with our faith and experience the fruit of that pleasure.