Genesis 5:21 - Meaning and Application

The story here goes on for several generations with little that stands out, apart from names and ages. But then we come to one person who must not be overlooked, Enoch, the seventh from Adam. The others may have lived upright lives, but he rose above them all and shone brightest in the early family line after Adam.

Only a little is recorded about him, but that little makes his name great. It is greater than the other Enoch, the man after whom a city was named. We are given two main things about him, his holy life in this world and his glorious removal to a better world.

His holy life is described twice in the chapter: Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah (Genesis 5:22), and again, Enoch walked with God (Genesis 5:24). To walk with God means true religion, because what is godliness except living in fellowship with God? Ungodly people live apart from him and against him, but godly people live with him. That includes being reconciled to God, because two people cannot walk together unless they agree (Amos 3:3).

To walk with God also means to keep God always before us and live as those under his eye. It means living in close fellowship with God in worship and in daily life. It means making God’s word our guide and his glory our goal in everything we do. It means making it our constant effort to please him and avoid anything that offends him. It means yielding to his will, joining in his plans, and living as his dear children.

This was also an outstanding kind of religion. Enoch seems to have been wholly free from love for this world. He did not just walk after God, as all true believers do, but walked with God, as though he were already living in heaven. He lived above the common level, not only above other people, but above many other saints. He was not only good in bad times, but the best in good times.

He also seems to have been active in helping others with religion. Serving as a priest is called walking before God (1 Samuel 2:30, 1 Samuel 2:35, Zechariah 3:7). Enoch appears to have been a priest of the Most High God, and like Noah, who is also said to have walked with God, he was a preacher of righteousness. He also prophesied about Christ’s second coming (Jude 1:14). The Holy Spirit does not say, “Enoch lived,” but “Enoch walked with God,” because that is the true life of a good man.

This was the work of Enoch’s life, his steady duty and concern. While others lived for themselves and for the world, he lived for God. It was also the joy and support of his life. Fellowship with God was better to him than life itself. “To live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21).

The timing of his religion is also noted. He lived sixty-five years and fathered Methuselah, but he walked with God after that. This suggests that he did not become especially known for piety until then. At first, he may have walked much like other men. Great saints do not usually reach maturity all at once, but by degrees.

His religion also lasted a long time. He walked with God for three hundred years, as long as he stayed in this world. A hypocrite will not pray all the time, but a true believer, who acts from a real inward principle and chooses religion for himself, will keep walking with God to the end (Psalm 104:33). He lives in a way that looks forward to living with God forever.

Enoch did not die like the rest either. Genesis 5:24 says, “He was not, for God took him.” Hebrews 11:5 explains this by saying that he was taken up so that he would not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. He was removed from this world in a way unlike ordinary death.

This happened when he was 365 years old, which was still early for that age. Most of the patriarchs before the flood lived far longer than that. Why did God take him so soon? Perhaps because the world, now growing corrupt, was not worthy of him. Or perhaps because he was so above the world, and so weary of it, that he desired to be taken quickly from it. Or perhaps because his work was finished, and finished early because he attended to it so carefully. God often takes those soonest whom he loves best, and what they lose on earth is gained in heaven.

It also happened at a time when all the patriarchs named in this chapter were still alive, except Adam, who had died 57 years earlier, and Noah, who would not be born for another 69 years. Adam and Noah had other clear supports for their faith, but for the rest, who witnessed or could have heard of Enoch’s taking, it was a strong help to their faith and hope about life after death.

The way his removal is described is also meaningful: “He was not, for God took him.” That means he was no longer in this world. It was not the end of his existence, only the end of his life here. He was not found, as the apostle explains it from the Greek Old Testament. Neither his friends nor, as some think, his enemies found him.

His friends may have searched for him, as the sons of the prophets searched for Elijah (2 Kings 2:17). His enemies may have looked for him too, wanting to kill him because they hated his serious piety. His prophecy shows that there were ungodly sinners in that day who spoke harsh words, and likely did harsh things too, against God’s people (Jude 1:15). But God hid Enoch from them, not under heaven, but in heaven.

God took him, body and soul, into the heavenly paradise by the ministry of angels, just as he later took Elijah. He was changed, as saints will be who are still alive when Christ returns. When a good person dies, God takes that person, brings them home, and receives them to himself.

The apostle adds that before Enoch was taken, he had this testimony, that he pleased God. That was the good report he received. Walking with God pleases God. We cannot walk with God in a way that pleases him unless we do it by faith. God himself honors those who, by faith, walk with him and please him. He will own them now, and he will testify for them before angels and people on the great day.

Those who live holy lives in this world will find their departure from it truly blessed. Enoch’s taking away was not only a proof to faith that there is a future life, and that the body can exist in glory there, but also an encouragement to all who walk with God to expect to be with him forever. Special godliness will be crowned with special honor.