Enoch, Walking With God (part 1)

Genesis 5:22-24 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

I asked my 22 year old son to tell me what he knew about Enoch. He simply said, “Enoch walked with God and was no more.” That is an answer that most people would give. How much more information can you give from three verses here and a small handful in the New Testament?

Did you know that there is a book called Enoch which some accept and others do not? You can find it on the Internet for free. If it is legit then it would be the only book we would have that predates the flood. The Ethiopian Christians have the oldest complete versions of this book in their language, Ge’ez. Some ancient fragments of it have been found near the Dead Sea. Actually, the book of Jude quotes from this book in verses 14 and 15. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/

So much more can be understood about Enoch if we will take the time and discover exactly what the Bible is saying.

What more can we discover? He walked with God for most of his life, for 300 years. Walking with God seemed to be more than just a change in lifestyle. It was this walking that took him to a place he eventually just kept walking and no one ever found him again.

Hebrews 11:5 offers more insight but still not much detailing on what was involved in the walking. His testimony was that he pleased God during his walks and on the day he was taken by God it was an act of faith.

Are we walking a walk with God that pleases Him?

God Pleasers

come walk with me

Hebrews 11:5-6 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

So, what was it that Enoch did that pleased God? The author of Hebrews says that Enoch pleased God and then went on to define what pleases God. It is faith. But where did the author get the evidence of His faith? It is not mentioned in Genesis, or is it.

According to Genesis 5 Enoch walked with God for 300 years but that did not start until the birth of his first son at the age of 65. We know very little about the walk and even less about his time before the birth of his son. But, given the custom of naming your child we can have a clue.

Enoch’s firstborn was named Methuselah which means “his death shall bring.” Bring what? Does Enoch know something about his own son’s death? If so, how? Through a time-line it would seem that Methuselah died within a year or two of the completion of the ark.

Therefore, it would seem that Enoch had a divine visitation from God around the birth of his son and in this visitation God revealed to him the destruction of mankind almost 1,000 years down the road. By faith he names his son after that revelation. By faith he walked with God for 300 years. And it is by faith that we please God.