September 24, 2006
THE TRANSLATION OF ENOCH
Hebrews 11:5

 

   "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" (Hebrews 11:5). In Genesis we read, "Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years... And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (5:22-24). Adam walked with God in the garden, how long we do not know, but Enoch walked with God for three centuries while others were reviling Him!
   Enoch 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" (Jude 14-15). It is obvious that Enoch must have received enormous opposition from his kindred. And his fellowship with God let him know how God felt about their behavior and speeches.
   Enoch's lifespan was 600 years shorter than his fathers. Instead of his enemies "getting the best of him," God took him. Yet we puzzle over his translation and what it truly means. His life was not shortened because of wickedness. Quite the contrary, he pleased God and walked with Him and had a marvelous testimony.
   Hebrews 11 lists Enoch in the first group of seven elders and says, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off..." (11:13). Did the writer forget what he had just written about Enoch? Or did Enoch really die? Genesis says Enoch "was not; for God took him." God spoke of Rachel weeping and refusing to be com-forted "for her children, because they were not" (Jer. 31:15). There are several other biblical statements describing the dead as "were not."
   The Lord said, "...no man has ascended up to heaven, but He Who came down from heaven" (John 3:13). Did He forget about Enoch? And if "...flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 15:50) we must consider the possibility of his having died. The hope of those listed in Hebrews 11 is a "better resurrection" (11:35), which seems hardly applicable to Enoch if indeed he did not die. A study of "translation" will show that it elsewhere reads "carried over, removed, changed, etc.

Ivan L. Burgener