Enoch

Oversimplified

• A descendant of Seth who "walked with God, and was not, for God took him" — taken up without dying.
• One of two men in the Old Testament (with Elijah) spared death; a sign that communion with God is stronger than the grave.

His Story

Enoch (Hebrew Chanokh) is the seventh generation from Adam through the line of Seth, son of Jared and father of Methuselah. Of him alone the genealogy's steady refrain of "and he died" is broken: "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5.24). After 365 years he does not die but is taken up alive into God's presence — a destiny shared in the Old Testament only with Elijah. Hebrews explains it as the reward of faith: "by faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death" (Hebrews 11.5).

A Sign of Things to Come

The Fathers see in Enoch's translation a foreshadowing of the resurrection and ascension — the promise that a life of communion ends not in the grave but in God.[^1] Enoch is also a figure of prophecy; Jude quotes a saying attributed to him (Jude 1.14-15). See Bodily Resurrection, Theosis.

[^1]: The Fathers read Enoch's translation as a foreshadowing of the resurrection and ascension.