Genesis 5 Commentary

Updated: Thu, 01/18/2024 - 08:32 By admin

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Summary Chart of The Book of Genesis
Focus	Foundation Events (Four Events) (Events Predominant)				Foundation People (Four People) (People Predominant)
Divisions	Creation (Ge 1-2)	Fall (Ge 3-5)	Flood (Ge 6-9)	Nations (Ge 10-12)	Abraham's Faith (Ge 12-24)	Isaac's Family (Ge 25-26)	Jacob's Conflicts (Ge 27-36)	Joseph's Calamity (Ge 37-50)
Topics	Beginning of the Human Race (Race As A Whole)				Beginning of the Hebrew Race (Family of Abraham)
	Faithfulness of Mankind (Noah)				Faithfulness of One Man's Family (Abraham)
	Historical				Biographical
Place	Eastward From Eden to Ur				Westward From Canaan to Egypt
Time	~2000+ Years (20% of Genesis) (~4004-2090BC)				About 300 Years 193 Yr in Canaan, 93 Yr in Egypt (80% of Genesis) (2090-1804BC)
	Primeval History of Humanity				Patriarchal History of Israel
Author	Moses
BEGINNINGS Ge 1:1-25 - The Universe (Everything) Ge 1:26-2:25 - The Human Race Ge 3:1-7 - Sin Enters the World Ge 3:8-24- God Promises Redemption from Bondage to Sin Ge 4:1-15 - Family Life Ge 4:16ff - Civilization Ge 10:1-11:32 - The Nations of the World Ge 12:1ff - The Story of Israel and the Jews

Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.

book- The original word rendered "book," signifies a register, account, history, or any kind of writing. Ge 2:4 6:9 10:1 1Ch 1:1 Mt 1:1 Lu 3:36-38
in the likeness - Ge 1:26-27 Ec 7:29 Ec 12:1 1Co 11:7 2Co 3:18 Eph 4:24 Col 3:10 Heb 1:3 12:9
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

Related Passages:

Genesis 1:26-27+ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned–

Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

James 3:9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;

MAN MADE IN
LIKENESS OF GOD

Ray Pritchard - When we come to Genesis 5, what do we find? Boiled down to its essentials, this is a genealogy of ten men starting with Adam and ending with Noah. The ten generations cover a period of 1,656 years. Thus, this chapter spans the time from Creation to the Flood. And it is a record of ten men who lived by faith in a time of increasing unbelief and widespread secularism. When we read the story of Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuseleh, Lamech and Noah, we are reading more than a dusty list of ancient names. These ten men stand before us as giants of the faith, men who refused to follow the prevailing cultural trends of their day. In a world rushing headlong toward judgment, they followed the way of the Lord. When the writer of Hebrews 11 wanted to list the heroes of faith, he took two names from this list—Enoch and Noah. In contrast to Cain who founded secular civilization, these men were faithful to God. And he was faithful to remember them and to record their names in his book. There are always some who serve God. No matter how many bow the knee to Baal, God never leaves himself without a witness. Even though believers may be in a minority at a given time and place, the Lord is still there watching over his people and protecting them in times of crisis. God remembers the faithful and he rewards them in his own time and in his own way. In the midst of ungodliness, they were godly. In the midst of wickedness, they were good.In the midst of rebellion, they were righteous. In the midst of bitterness, they were blessed.

THOUGHT - Genesis 5 sounds like the records kept down at the county courthouse chronicling those who died, their name, theri age at death and, their survivors. Death is a result of sin, and ultimately reflects God's holy wrath against sin. But as sad as the refrain "and he died" is in Genesis 5, we see once again that in the midst of wrath, God remembers mercy by inserting the story of one man named Enoch who did not die but was taken to heaven. In short, we can see that God's mercy provided hope for sinners to spend eternity with Him, a hope ultimately realized by believing in the Redeemer Jesus Christ. Have you believed in the only One Who can guarantee that when you die you will be taken to join Enoch in Heaven?

This is the book of the generations (toledoth) of Adam. In the day when God created (bara') man - Human beings DID NOT evolve over millennia, but were created in a moment by God. Full stop! If you throw this out and buy into the lie of evolution, you are (1) questioning and bringing into repute the literal inspired Word of God and (2) you open the door in your mind to not trusting other sections of Scripture. God said it that settles it whether we can understand and whether we believe it or not. Full stop!

He made him in the likeness (demut) of God - Notice the phrase in the likeness of God. Not "little gods" but like God. It is fascinating that Paul describes Jesus' incarnation similarly but antithetically writing...

Romans 8:3+ For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

Comment - What does it mean that Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh? | GotQuestions.org

Philippians 2:7+ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

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Generations (08435) (toledoth from yalad = to bear, bring forth, beget) This word carries with it the notion of everything entailed in a person's life and that of his or her progeny.

TWOT The precise meaning of this derivative of yālad "to bring forth," will be discussed below. It occurs only in the plural, and only in the construct state or with a pronominal suffix. In the KJV it is always translated "generations" except for one case (two in the RSV) where it is rendered "birth." RSV generally translates it "generations" but occasionally uses "genealogy." In six occurrences it renders it as "descendants" and once as "history."

The common translation as "generations" does not convey the meaning of the word to modern readers. The English word "generation" is now limited almost entirely to two meanings: (1) the act of producing something or the way it is produced; (2) an entire group of people living at the same period of time, or the average length of time that such a group of people live. Neither of these meanings fits the usage of tôlēdôt.

As used in the OT, tôlēdôt refers to what is produced or brought into being by someone, or follows therefrom. In no case in Genesis does the word include the birth of the individual whose tôlēdôt it introduces (except in Genesis 25:19, where the story of Isaac's life is introduced by reference to the fact that he was the son of Abraham). After the conclusion of the account in which Jacob was the principal actor, Genesis 37:2 says, "These are the tôlēdôt of Jacob" and proceeds to tell about his children and the events with which they were connected.

In line with these usages it is reasonable to interpret Genesis 2:4, "These are the tôlēdôt of heaven and earth," as meaning, not the coming of heaven and earth into existence, but the events that followed the establishment of heaven and earth. Thus the verse is correctly placed as introducing the detailed account of the creation and fall of man. It is not a summary of the events preceding Genesis 2:4.

The often repeated statement that the book of Genesis is divided into natural sections by the word tôlēdôt does not work out on close examination. Sometimes, as in Genesis 36:9, it merely introduces a genealogical table.

In Genesis 10:32; Genesis 25:13; Exodus 6:16, 19 and in eight of the nine occurrences in 1 Chronicles the word is introduced by the preposition l and in Exodus 28:10 it is introduced by k. The significance of the prepositions is not clear, particularly since we have no other evidence relating to the history of the sons of Ishmael (Genesis 25:13) or the arrangement of the stones on the breastplate (Exodus 28:10). Therefore we do not know in accordance with what principle the arrangement was made. In both cases the word "birth" must be considered to be only a guess. (TWOT online)

Toledoth - 39v - account(1), birth(1), genealogical registration(12), genealogies(3), generations(21), order of their birth(1). Gen. 2:4; Gen. 5:1; Gen. 6:9; Gen. 10:1; Gen. 10:32; Gen. 11:10; Gen. 11:27; Gen. 25:12; Gen. 25:13; Gen. 25:19; Gen. 36:1; Gen. 36:9; Gen. 37:2; Exod. 6:16; Exod. 6:19; Exod. 28:10; Num. 1:20; Num. 1:22; Num. 1:24; Num. 1:26; Num. 1:28; Num. 1:30; Num. 1:32; Num. 1:34; Num. 1:36; Num. 1:38; Num. 1:40; Num. 1:42; Num. 3:1; Ruth 4:18; 1 Chr. 1:29; 1 Chr. 5:7; 1 Chr. 7:2; 1 Chr. 7:4; 1 Chr. 7:9; 1 Chr. 8:28; 1 Chr. 9:9; 1 Chr. 9:34; 1 Chr. 26:31

Created (01254) bara' has the basic meaning "to create", to bring into existence (first use Ge 1:1) and God is the subject of the majority of the OT uses of bara' (exceptions - Josh 17:15, 18 = "clear away")! Only God can "create" out of nothing (See Genesis passages below - also Dt 4:32, Ps 89:12, 89:47, Isa 40:26, 43:1 Ezek 21:30; 28:13, 15)! In the context of cutting covenant with Israel, God says He will "perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth." (Ex 34:10). Bara describes the "entirely new thing" God brought about by opening the earth to swallow Korah and his family into Sheol (Nu 16:30). Ps 102:18 describes a "people yet to be created" who will praise the LORD, which anticipates the divine intervention in the future on behalf of Zion (cf Ps 102:13, 16-17, cf Isa 4:5). Ps 104:30 speaks of God creating life in nature by giving breath.

Bara' - brings about(1), clear(2), create(6), created(32), creates(1), creating(3), Creator(4), cut them down(1), make(2), produced(1). Gen. 1:1; Gen. 1:21; Gen. 1:27; Gen. 2:3; Gen. 2:4; Gen. 5:1; Gen. 5:2; Gen. 6:7; Exod. 34:10; Num. 16:30; Deut. 4:32; Jos. 17:15; Jos. 17:18; Ps. 51:10; Ps. 89:12; Ps. 89:47; Ps. 102:18; Ps. 104:30; Ps. 148:5; Eccl. 12:1; Isa. 4:5; Isa. 40:26; Isa. 40:28; Isa. 41:20; Isa. 42:5; Isa. 43:1; Isa. 43:7; Isa. 43:15; Isa. 45:7; Isa. 45:8; Isa. 45:12; Isa. 45:18; Isa. 48:7; Isa. 54:16; Isa. 57:19; Isa. 65:17; Isa. 65:18; Jer. 31:22; Ezek. 21:19; Ezek. 21:30; Ezek. 23:47; Ezek. 28:13; Ezek. 28:15; Amos 4:13; Mal. 2:10

Likeness (form, figure)( 01823) demut from damah - to be like, to resemble) means likeness, shape, form, figure, pattern. Demut is a simile comparing two unlike things - wickedness of people and the venom of a snake (Ps. 58:4), sound of God's gathering warriors and of many people (Isa 13:4), an angelic messenger and a human being (Da 10:16). Describes the likeness of Seth to Adam (Ge 5:3). Ezekiel uses demut to describe his visions by comparing what he saw to something similar on earth (Ezek. 1:5, 16; 10:1).

W E Vine on demuth - First, the word means "pattern," in the sense of the specifications from which an actual item is made (2Ki 16:10, nasb). Second, demût means "shape" or "form," the thing(s) made after a given pattern. In 2Chr 4:3 the word represents the "shape" of a bronze statue. In such passages demût means more than just "shape" in general; it indicates the "shape" in particular. In Ezek. 1:10, for example, the word represents the "form" or "likeness" of the faces of the living creatures Ezekiel describes. In Ezek. 1:26 the word refers to what something seemed to be rather than what it was. Third, demût signifies the original after which a thing is patterned: "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?" (Isa. 40:18). This significance is in its first biblical appearance: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…" (Gen. 1:26). Fourth, in Ps. 58:4 the word appears to function merely to extend the form but not the meaning of the preposition ke: "Their poison is like the poison of a serpent…" (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words)

Norman Geisler - GENESIS 5:1ff—How can we reconcile this chronology (which adds up to c. 4,000 years B.C.) when anthropology has shown humankind is much older?

PROBLEM: If the ages are added in Genesis 5 and 10 with the rest of the OT dates, it comes out to 4,000 plus years B.C. But, archaeologists and anthropologists date modern man many thousands of years before that (at least 10,000 years ago).

SOLUTION: There is good evidence to support the belief that humankind is more than 6,000 years old. But there are also good reasons to believe there are some gaps in the Genesis genealogies. First, we know there is a gap in the genealogy in the Book of Matthew. Matthew’s genealogy says “Joram begot Uzziah” (Matt. 1:8). But when compared to 1 Chronicles 3:11–14, we see that Matthew leaves out three generations—Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah as follows:

Matthew 1 Chronicles
Joram Joram
— Ahaziah
— Joash
— Amaziah
Uzziah Uzziah (also called Azariah)

Second, there is at least one generation missing in the Genesis genealogy. Luke 3:36 lists “Cainan” between Arphaxad and Shelah, but the name Cainan does not appear in the Genesis record at this point (see Gen. 10:22–24). It is better to view Genesis 5 and 10 as adequate genealogies, not as complete chronologies.
Finally, since there are known gaps in the genealogies, we cannot accurately determine the age of the human race by simply adding the numbers in Genesis 5 and 10. (When Critics Ask)

Genesis 5:1 TWO BOOKS

"This is the book of...Adam. Genesis 5:1

[This is] the book of...Jesus Christ. Matthew 1:1

The book of Adam’s family tree and the book of the genealogy of Christ form a striking contrast. One is a record of death, the other of life. Genesis 5 has been called the “obituary chapter” of the Bible, for time after time we read the doleful word,”...and he died.” On the other hand, Matthew, in giving the genealogy of Jesus, constantly repeats the phrase, “...and [he] begot.” Although the people in the line of Christ did eventually die, the word “death” is never mentioned in Matthew, Chapter 1. That suggests to me this application: By our sinful nature we are in Adam’s book on death, but by our spiritual “new birth” we appear in Christ’s living register of the redeemed.

You’ve probably heard the familiar story of the man whose name was printed in the obituary column of a daily paper by mistake. Greatly disturbed, he went to the newspaper office and exclaimed, “This is terrible! Your error will cause me no end of embarrassment and may even mean a loss of business. How could you do such a thing?” The editor expressed regrets, but the man remained angry and unreasonable. Finally the editor said in disgust, “Cheer up, fellow, I’ll put your name in the birth column tomorrow and give you a fresh start!” That’s what happens when we find new life in Christ.

Are you still registered in Adam’s obituary column, or is your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life? There are only two books, and you are in one or the other! H. G. Bosch

No man can say he doesn’t need
Forgiveness from his sin,
For all must come to Christ by faith
To gain new life within.
- Branon

Salvation changes our heritage from a living death to a deathless life.

QUESTION - Who was Adam in the Bible?

ANSWER - Adam was the first man to ever exist (Genesis 1:27; 1 Corinthians 15:45). He was created by God as the first human being and placed in the Garden of Eden designed just for him (Genesis 2:8, 10). Adam is the father of all mankind; every human being who has ever existed is a direct descendant of Adam, and it is through Adam that every human being has inherited a sinful nature (Romans 5:12).

God spoke everything else in the universe into existence (Genesis 1). But on the sixth day God did something different. He got down in the dirt and formed Adam from the clay (the name Adam is related to adamah, the Hebrew word for “ground” or “soil”). God then breathed His own breath into the man’s nostrils, “and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). The breath of God is what separates human beings from the animal kingdom (Genesis 1:26–27). Beginning with Adam, every human being created since then has an immortal spirit as God has. God created a being so like Him that the man could reason, reflect, intuit, and choose his own paths.

The first woman, Eve, was made from one of Adam’s ribs (Genesis 2:21–22). God placed them in His perfect world, with only one restriction: they were not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:16–17). The option for Adam to disobey had to be present, because without that ability to choose, human beings would not be completely free. God created Adam and Eve as truly free beings, and He allowed them to make an entirely free choice.

Genesis 3 details the account of Adam’s choice to sin. Both Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command and ate of the tree which the Lord had forbidden (verse 6). In that one act of disobedience, they brought sin and all of its consequences into God’s perfect world. Through Adam, sin entered the world, and with sin came death (Genesis 3:19, 21; Romans 5:12).

We know that Adam was an actual person, not an allegory, because he is referred to as a real person throughout the rest of the Bible (Genesis 5:1; Romans 5:12–17). Luke, the great historian, traces the lineage of Jesus all the way back to this one man (Luke 3:38). In addition to his being a real person, Adam is also the prototype for all human beings to come. Prophets, priests, and kings, born with a sin nature, were all children of the first Adam. Jesus, virgin-born and sinless, is “the second Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:47). The first Adam brought sin into the world; the second brought life (John 1:4). Jesus, our second Adam, offers a new birth (John 3:3) with a new nature and new life for whoever believes (2 Corinthians 5:17; John 3:16–18). Adam lost paradise; Jesus will regain it.GotQuestions.org

QUESTION - What does it mean that humanity is made in the image of God (imago dei)? SEE VIDEO

ANSWER - On the last day of creation, God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Thus, He finished His work with a “personal touch.” God formed Adam from the dust and gave him life by sharing His own breath (Genesis 2:7). Accordingly, humanity is unique among all God’s creations, having both a material body and an immaterial soul/spirit. Having the “image” or “likeness” of God means, in the simplest terms, that we were made to resemble God. Adam did not resemble God in the sense of God’s having flesh and blood. Scripture says that “God is spirit” (John 4:24) and therefore exists without a body. However, Adam’s body did mirror the life of God insofar as it was created in perfect health and was not subject to death.

The image of God (Latin, imago dei) refers to the immaterial part of humanity. It sets human beings apart from the animal world, fits them for the dominion God intended them to have over the earth (Genesis 1:28), and enables them to commune with their Maker. It is a likeness mentally, morally, and socially.

Mentally, humanity was created as a rational, volitional agent. In other words, human beings can reason and choose. This is a reflection of God’s intellect and freedom. Anytime someone invents a machine, writes a book, paints a landscape, enjoys a symphony, calculates a sum, or names a pet, he or she is proclaiming the fact that we are made in God’s image.

Morally, humanity was created in righteousness and perfect innocence, a reflection of God’s holiness. God saw all He had made (humanity included) and called it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Our conscience or “moral compass” is a vestige of that original state. Whenever someone writes a law, recoils from evil, praises good behavior, or feels guilty, he or she is confirming the fact that we are made in God’s own image.

Socially, humanity was created for fellowship. This reflects God’s triune nature and His love. In Eden, humanity’s primary relationship was with God (Genesis 3:8 implies fellowship with God), and God made the first woman because “it is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Every time someone marries, makes a friend, hugs a child, or attends church, he or she is demonstrating the fact that we are made in the likeness of God.

Part of being made in God’s image is that Adam had the capacity to make free choices. Although they were given a righteous nature, Adam and Eve made an evil choice to rebel against their Creator. In so doing, they marred the image of God within themselves, and passed that damaged likeness on to all their descendants (Romans 5:12). Today, we still bear the image of God (James 3:9), but we also bear the scars of sin. Mentally, morally, socially, and physically, we show the effects of sin.

The good news is that when God redeems an individual, He begins to restore the original image of God, creating a “new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). That redemption is only available by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior from the sin that separates us from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through Christ, we are made new creations in the likeness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17). GotQuestions.org

QUESTION - What is the definition of antediluvian?

ANSWER - Antediluvian (literally, “before the flood”) refers to the time period before the flood recorded in Genesis 6—8. The righteous people who lived before Noah’s time are called antediluvian patriarchs. Those men are listed in Genesis 5 and include Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Enoch, and Methuselah, who lived to be 969, making him the oldest person on record. The word antediluvian has also come to mean “extremely old” or “out-of-date.”

We know from the genealogies listed in Genesis 1—6 that people lived much longer in antediluvian times than they do today. Adam, the first man, lived to be 930 years old (Genesis 5:5). His son Seth lived to be 912 (Genesis 5:8). The length of the antediluvian period, based on the genealogies, was approximately 1,656 years.

A significant change in human behavior occurred in the antediluvian period: “Men began to call on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26). This fact is linked with the birth of Seth and then his son Enosh, indicating that, with the birth of Enosh, the family of Seth began to separate themselves from the wickedness of the world around them and were known as people who worshiped the Lord. The general trend of humanity, however, was spiritual decline. By the beginning of chapter 6, “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (verse 5).

The antediluvian era was also the time of the Nephilim. These were “heroes of old, men of renown,” who were the offspring of an unholy union between the “sons of God and the daughters of men” (Genesis 6:4). Whatever the exact nature of the Nephilim, they were one of the reasons God destroyed everything with a flood. Noah and his wife were not of the Nephilim race and therefore could repopulate the earth as God intended it to be.

Jesus alluded to the antediluvian period when He predicted signs of His second coming: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37–39).

The antediluvian period was unique in human history—a time of long life spans and bodies that were near perfection. Adam lived through more than half of the antediluvian days and was presumably available to recount firsthand accounts of Eden to anyone interested enough to listen. But it didn’t take long for wickedness to grow to such an extent that God had to destroy it all. After the flood, God promised Noah that He would never again flood the entire earth. The symbol of that promise was a rainbow (Genesis 9:12–17). That first rainbow signified the end of the antediluvian era and demonstrated God’s great mercy in giving humanity another chance to know Him. Every rainbow since then is a continuing reminder of the grace of God. GotQuestions.org

Genesis 5:2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.

Genesis 5:2 ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτοὺς καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτούς καὶ ἐπωνόμασεν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῶν Αδαμ ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ ἐποίησεν αὐτούς

LXE Genesis 5:2 male and female he made them, and blessed them; and he called his name Adam, in the day in which he made them.

KJV Genesis 5:2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

NET Genesis 5:2 He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them "humankind."

CSB Genesis 5:2 He created them male and female. When they were created, He blessed them and called them man.

ESV Genesis 5:2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

NIV Genesis 5:2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them "man. "

NLT Genesis 5:2 He created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them "human."

NRS Genesis 5:2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them "Humankind" when they were created.

NJB Genesis 5:2 Male and female he created them. He blessed them and gave them the name Man, when they were created.

Male - Ge 1:27 Mal 2:15
their - Ge 2:15,23 *marg: Ac 17:26
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

GOD CREATED
ADAM AND EVE

He created (bara') them male and female, and He blessed (barak) them and named them Man (adam) in the day when they were created (bara') - Don't miss that twice the Spirit uses the word created (bara') and both times the Greek Septuagint uses the verb poieo which means made and both times it is in the aorist tense which means made at a point in time. Poieo is not in the present tense as would be expected if God had used evolution to produce Adam and Eve, so called theistic evolution. God did not use or did He need to use a "process" to create Adam and Eve. He made them both in an instantaneous moment in time! Believe it or not! Case closed!

Genesis 5:3 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.

in his - Job 14:4 15:14-16 25:4 Ps 14:2,3 51:5 Lu 1:35 Joh 3:6 Ro 5:12 1Co 15:39 Eph 2:3
called - Ge 4:25
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

Related Passages;

Romans 5:12+ Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned–

SETH BORN IN THE
LIKENESS OF ADAM

When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years - TSK note " The chronology differs in the Hebrew Text, the Samaritan, the LXX., and Josephus. The LXX. adds 100 years to each of the patriarchs Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Enoch, before the birth of their sons; while they take 20 from the age of Methuselah, and add 6 to that of Lamech. Thus the space from the creation to the deluge is made 2,242 years, according to the Vatican copy, but 2,262 by the Alexandrine; and the sum total by Josephus is 2,265, by the Samaritan 1,307, and the Hebrew Text, 1,656. The sum total from the Deluge to the 70th year of Terah, according to these authorities, is, Heb. 292; Sam. 942; Sept. Vat. 1,172; Alex. 1,072, and Josephus 1,002."

He became the father of a son in his own likeness (demut), according to his image - Note the shift from Adam created in the likeness of God to Seth in the likeness of Adam, a sinner. Even here we see an indirect allusion to the passage of the "sin virus" from Adam to his offspring (Ro 5:12+).

And named him Seth - Adam was also the father of Cain, but because of Cain's sin of murder the lineage would not be named through Cain but through Seth.

Ray Pritchard on in his own likeness (demut), according to his image - Does that mean that Adam is in God’s image but Seth is not? That can’t be right because the “image of God” is what separates us from the animals. We are made in God’s image and the animals are not. Since Adam is created in God’s image, and since Seth is born in Adam’s image, he too is made in the image of God. But there is another truth implied here. Romans 5:12-14 reminds us that sin came into the world through Adam, and that when Adam sinned, we all sinned in him. When he fell, we fell because he was the federal head of the human race. So now he is a sinner by choice and by nature and that nature (with its corresponding desires) is now passed along to his descendants. Genesis 5 tells us that the whole human race now shares in Adam’s fallen estate. We are all made in God’s image and we are all born with a nature that leads us to rebel against God.By the way, notice that Cain isn’t mentioned at all even though he is also Adam’s son. Genesis 4 tells us what happened to him. He went out from the presence of the Lord and founded a vibrant secular civilization that remains with us to this very day. But as far as God is concerned, Cain’s line is irrelevant. Genesis 5 traces the line of faith, which is the only line that matters to the Lord. All that secular power and wealth and achievement is just so much dust in the wind as far as eternity is concerned.

QUESTION - Who was Seth in the Bible?

Seth, a son of Adam and Eve (the third of their sons named in Scripture), was born after Cain murdered Abel (Genesis 4:8). Eve believed that God had appointed him as a replacement for Abel and named him Seth, which means “set in place of” (Genesis 4:25). Later, when Seth was 105 years old, his son Enosh was born (Genesis 4:26), and Enosh continues what is sometimes called “the godly line of Seth” that leads to Abraham.

The story of Cain’s killing the righteous “seed” (Abel) and God’s raising up another “seed” (Seth) becomes the central theme of the divine plan. Evil is always attempting to rid the world of good, and God is always thwarting evil’s plans. There is always a Seth to replace Abel. It was through the seed of Seth that Jesus was born (Genesis 5:3–8, 1 Chronicles 1:1, Luke 3:38).

After the birth of Seth’s son Enosh, the Bible tells us, “At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26), which confirms Eve’s foretelling of the purpose of Seth’s birth. The word call also means “to proclaim,” which refers to men testifying about God to one another. It was through Seth’s family that organized, corporate worship of the one true God began to enter the fallen world. Though the descendants of Seth are not the first in Adam’s line to develop inventions or advances in civilization, they are the first to praise and worship God.

Unlike Cain’s descendants, Seth’s prove faithful to God. From Seth come the patriarchs, the nation of Israel, and eventually Christ. And it’s Christ who not only destroys Satan but also condemns sin and death (Luke 3:23–38). It was through Seth that the “Offspring of the Woman” came who would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15).

Seth is also mentioned in other works, including the Apocrypha (Sirah 49:16), the pseudepigraphical works, such as the Ascension of Isaiah, Jubilees, and the Life of Adam and Eve. His name is also recorded in some of the Gnostic texts, e.g., the Gospel of the Egyptians and the Second Treatise of the Great Seth. | GotQuestions.org

Genesis 5:4 Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters.

Then the days - 1Ch 1:1-3 Lu 3:36-38
and he - Ge 5:7,10,13,19,22,26,30 1:28 9:1,7 11:12 Ps 127:3 144:12
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

ADAM AND EVE ARE
FRUITFUL

Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters - Adam obeyed God's commands in Genesis 1:28 " God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

QUESTION - Who was Seth in the Bible?

ANSWER - Seth, a son of Adam and Eve (the third of their sons named in Scripture), was born after Cain murdered Abel (Genesis 4:8). Eve believed that God had appointed him as a replacement for Abel and named him Seth, which means “set in place of” (Genesis 4:25). Later, when Seth was 105 years old, his son Enosh was born (Genesis 4:26), and Enosh continues what is sometimes called “the godly line of Seth” that leads to Abraham.

Gleason Archer in Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties - Two of the sons of Adam and Eve had wives. Where did their wives come from?

Genesis 5:4 tells us that during Adam’s long lifetime of 930 years (800 after the birth of Seth), he had other sons and daughters. Since he and Eve had been ordered to produce a large family in order to populate the earth (Gen. 1:28), it is reasonable to assume that they continued to have children for a long period of time, under the then ideal conditions for longevity.

Without question it was necessary for the generation following Adam to pair off brothers and sisters to serve as parents for the ensuing generation; otherwise the human race would have died off. It was not until the course of subsequent generations that it became possible for cousins and more distant relations to choose each other as marriage partners. There seems to be no definite word about the incestuous character of brother-sister marriage until the time of Abraham, who emphasized to the Egyptians that Sarah was his sister (cf. Gen. 20:12), thus implying to the Egyptians that if she was his sister, she could not be his wife (Gen. 12:13).
In Leviticus 20:17 the actual sanction against brother-sister marriage is spelled out. But as for Cain and Seth and all the other sons of Adam who married, they must have chosen their sisters as wives.

Genesis 5:5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

nine - Ge 5:8,11,14,17-32 De 30:20 Ps 90:10
and he died - Ge 5:8,11,14-32 3:19 2Sa 14:14 Job 30:23 Ps 49:7-10 89:48 Ec 9:5,8 Ec 12:5,7 Eze 18:4 Ro 5:12-14 1Co 15:21,22 Heb 9:27
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AND HE DIED!

So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died - Here we see one of the major themes of Genesis 5, the theme of death. The implication is that Genesis 5 demonstrates clearly the fulfillment of the prophetic warning God had first given to Adam and Eve that if they eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil "you shall surely die." And so we read of Adam that he died paying the wages of sin (Ro 6:23+). And he died is found 8 times in Genesis 5 far more than any other chapter in the Bible. Only Enoch did not die and Noah's death is recorded later (Ge 9:29). I interpret the Bible literally and take the long lifespans in Genesis 5 as literal (Adam 930 years, Seth 912 years, Enosh 905 years, Kenan 910 years, Mahalalel 895 years, Jared 962 years, Enoch 365 years, Methuseleh 969 years, Lamech 777 years).

And he died - 25x/25v - Gen. 5:5; Gen. 5:8; Gen. 5:11; Gen. 5:14; Gen. 5:17; Gen. 5:20; Gen. 5:27; Gen. 5:31; Gen. 9:29; Jdg. 1:7; Jdg. 9:54; 1 Sam. 4:18; 1 Sam. 25:38; 2 Sam. 1:15; 2 Sam. 6:7; 2 Sam. 10:18; 2 Sam. 20:10; 2 Ki. 7:17; 2 Ki. 7:20; 2 Ki. 12:21; 2 Ki. 23:34; 1 Chr. 13:10; 2 Chr. 13:20; 2 Chr. 21:19; 2 Co. 5:15

THOUGHT - How often do you think about the reality that one day you will die, that your heart will stop and your breathing will stop? This is not about being morbid, but about being motivated. Motivated for what you say? Motivated to use each day (each day is a gift from God) in such a way that we seek to bring God glory. Motivated to redeem the time, for the days are evil (and will become more evil in the years to come!) (Eph 5:16KJV+) James says "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." (Jas 4:14+). The psalmist echoes this thought about the brevity of our life writing "Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow." (Ps 144:4+) Dear believer, please do not waste your life on the temporal trinkets and passing pleasures of sin, but instead store up for yourself treasure in heaven (Mt 6:20+), where your investment will yield a return for eternity! Where is your heart, dear believer in Jesus? Jesus tells us how we can know where our heart is "for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Mt 6:21+)

Here is a summary of the time spans between fathers and sons

Adam to Seth — 130 years
Seth to Enosh — 105 years
Enosh to Kenan — 90 years
Kenan to Mahalalel — 70 years
Mahalalel to Jared — 65 years
Jared to Enoch — 162 years
Enoch to Methuselah — 65 years
Methuselah to Lamech —187 years
Lamech to Noah —182 years

ILLUSTRATION - Years ago a London merchant named Henry Goodear scoffed at the Bible. But one Sunday, just to please his niece, he went to church. The young lady was greatly disappointed when she learned that the pastor’s message was based on Genesis 5. As she listened to the boring list of names being read, she wondered why God had permitted the pastor to pick that text on the day her uncle came to church. As they walked home, little did she know that every step of her uncle’s feet and every beat of his heart seemed to repeat the gloomy refrain, “And he died! And he died!” The next day, Goodear could not concentrate on his work. That night he searched for a family Bible and read over those words, “and he died, ... and he died.” Goodear thought, “Now I’m living, but someday I too must die, and then where will I spend eternity?” That very night he asked the Lord Jesus to forgive him and make him his child. (Adapted from “Our Daily Bread,” Fall, 1978.)

The Bible says that “it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27+). Don’t assume that your date with death will be many years in the future. It could be today. Jesus said, “He who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24+). That promise is for you to claim today!

Gleason Archer in Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties - Why do people not live as long now as they did in early times (cf. Gen. 5:5; Ps. 90:10)? Was time calculated differently then?

At the time Adam and Eve were created, they were in an ideal environment for the preservation of human life. The Garden of Eden was ideally suited to maintaining their health and vigor unimpaired. Even after they were expelled from Eden, it would seem that conditions for longevity were still far more favorable than they later became after the Flood; and there may well have been a virtual absence of disease. When these conditions gradually changed for the worse, particularly after the terrible judgment of the Flood, the life expectancy of man became progressively shorter. By Moses’ time a lifetime of seventy years was considered normal, and those who lived on the eighty or beyond were generally beset with discomforts and weaknesses of various sorts, until they finally passed off the scene (see Ps. 90:10, dating back to the time of Moses, around 1400 B.C.). It seems that there was gradual working out of the cursed effects of sin on the physical well-being and stamina of the human race, even long after the Fall had taken place.

As for the suggestion that time may have been computed differently during the earlier history of mankind, this could only have been the case if the planet Earth revolved more rapidly around the sun then than it does now. By definition of a year is reckoned as the time necessary for the earth to revolve around the sun. According to Genesis 1:14, this revolution, as well as the daily rotation of the earth, was pretty well set and standardized right from the beginning. It is rather unlikely (though not absolutely impossible) that these planetary movements would have greatly altered since the creation of man.

Norman Geisler in When Critics Ask - How could people live over 900 years?

PROBLEM: Adam “lived nine hundred and thirty years” (Gen. 5:5), Methuselah lived “nine hundred and sixty-nine years” (Gen. 5:27), and the average age of those who lived out their normal life span was over 900 years of age. Yet even the Bible recognizes that most people live only 70 or 80 years before natural death occurs (Ps. 90:10).

SOLUTION: First of all, the reference in Psalm 90 is to Moses’ time (1400s B.C.) and later, when longevity had decreased to 70 or 80 years for most, though Moses himself lived 120 years (Deut. 34:7).

Some have suggested that these “years” are really only months, which would reduce 900 years to the normal life span of 80 years. However, this is implausible for two reasons. First, there is no precedent in the Hebrew OT for taking the word “year” to mean “month.” Second, since Mahalalel had children when he was only 65 (Gen. 5:15), and Cainan had children when he was 70 (Gen. 5:12), this would mean they were less than six years old—which is not biologically possible.

Others suggest that these names represent family lines or clans that went on for generations before they died out. However, this does not make sense for a number of reasons. First, some of these names (e.g., Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah) are definitely individuals whose lives are narrated in the text (Gen. 1–9). Second, family lines do not “beget” family lines by different names. Third, neither do family lines “die,” as each of these individuals did (cf. 5:5, 8, 11, etc.). Fourth, the reference to having “sons and daughters” (5:4) does not fit the clan theory.

Consequently, it seems best to take these as years (though they were lunar years of 12x30=360 days) for several reasons: (1) First of all, life was later shortened to 120 years as a punishment from God (Gen. 6:3). (2) Life span decreased gradually after the flood from the 900s (Gen. 5) to the 600s (Shem 11:10–11), to the 400s (Salah 11:14–15), to the 200s (Rue 11:20–21). (3) Biologically, there is no reason humans could not live hundreds of years. Scientists are more baffled by aging and death than by longevity. (4) The Bible is not alone in speaking of hundreds of years life spans among ancients. There are also records from ancient Greek and Egyptian times that speak of humans living hundreds of years.

Steven Cole - The Epitaph of Sin (Genesis 5:1-32) When asked what he would like his epitaph to read, Johnny Carson quipped, “I’ll be right back.” He won’t be back from the grave, of course. Nobody will. While we all may have differing epitaphs, there is really only one epitaph for the fallen human race: “He died.” Genesis 5 shows us that the epitaph of sin is death.

It’s a chapter many would be inclined to skip. Perhaps in your Bible reading, you skim these verses, wondering why they are in the Bible. Gen 5:1-3 tell us why: Moses takes us back to Genesis 1, before the fall, to show that God’s original purpose for man, created in His image, is now to be carried out through Adam’s line through Seth, not through Cain. But there is a marked difference since the fall: While Adam was created in God’s likeness (Ge 5:1), he became the father of a son in his own (Adam’s) likeness (Ge 5:3). While people after the fall retain a vestige of the divine image (Gen. 9:6; 1 Cor. 11:7; James 3:9), they also contain the image of their parents, born in sin. God’s purpose is now realized through those who by faith are of the line of Adam through Seth, not through Cain.

The line of Cain looks impressive on the surface.
But it was progress without God, which is not true progress

Adam’s descendants through Cain fall under the heading, “Cain went out from the presence of the Lord” (Ge 4:16). But even so, they made great progress in many areas. The line of Cain looks impressive on the surface. But it was progress without God, which is not true progress. The descendants of Seth fall under the heading, “Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord” (Ge 4:26). With a couple of exceptions, not much is said of these men or their achievements, except that they had children, lived so many years, and died. The line of Seth reminds man of his mortality. But through Enoch, it also shows the hope of eternal life for those who walk with God. Also, it was through the line of Seth that God raised up Noah, and through him came Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and, eventually, Jesus Christ.

Moses wrote these words to the Israelites who were poised to enter and conquer Canaan. They were prone to rebel and return to Egypt or to join the idolatry and immorality of the pagan nations around them. Moses wrote Genesis 4 and 5 to show them that they needed to follow the line of Seth, not the line of Cain. Moses is saying to his people, “As you go into a godless culture that will have many temptations, including the temptation to make progress without God, be careful! Remember that you will die, and that you live in this fallen world by calling upon the name of the Lord, by walking with God.”

His words are just as practical for us as they were for ancient Israel. We, too, live in a pagan world that tempts us to forget the shortness of life and join its progress without God. God is saying, “Remember as you live in this glittery world that you will die, and walk with Me.”

Because of sin we all must die, but those who walk with God have the hope of eternal life.

1. Because of sin we all must die.

God’s word is always true. Satan is a liar. God said, “... in the day that you eat from [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil], you shall surely die” (Ge 2:17). Satan said, “You surely shall not die!” (Ge 3:4). Chapter 5 shows who was right. God’s warning was no idle threat. The repeated phrase, “and he died” sounds like a funeral bell, tolling eight times throughout the chapter (Ge 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, and 31). It tells us that ...

A. ALL MUST DIE.

We need to feel the force of God’s judgment upon sin. This chapter follows the godly line of Seth, of those who called upon the name of the Lord, not of those who went out from the presence of the Lord. But even so, we read over and over, “and he died, ... and he died.” Even though they lived long lives, they died.

Memento mori, “a reminder of death”

We don’t like to think about death, especially our own! It used to be more common. Jonathan Edwards, at 19, resolved among other things “to think much, on all occasions, of my dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.” In the Middle Ages it was common for scholars and other men of prominence to keep a skull on their desk to remind them that they, like the victim, must die. The Latin name for such a skull was a memento mori, “a reminder of death” (James Boice, Genesis [Zondervan], 1:238). It sounds gruesome to us. But Genesis 5 is God’s memento mori, His reminder to us that all must die. Why?

B. SIN IS THE CAUSE OF OUR DEATH.

Death entered the human race through Adam’s disobedience. Paul put it, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). “For the wages of sin is death ...” (Rom. 6:23). When Adam and Eve sinned, instantly they died spiritually--they were separated from God. But also they began to die physically. With them it was a longer process than it is with us, but it was set in motion the minute they sinned. Seth, born in Adam’s likeness, inherited a sin nature which he passed on to his descendants. Adam’s sin brought death to all.

Critics scoff at the long lives attributed to the patriarchs. While there could be some gaps between the names listed, there is no reason, except an arbitrary bias against the Bible, to doubt the ages given. There is good reason to believe that before the flood, conditions on earth were different than they are now. A cloud canopy could have protected the early human race from the aging process known to be accelerated by the ultraviolet rays of the sun. Also, God is the one who determines the length of man’s life (Ge 6:3; Ps 90:3, 10; 139:16). If God determined that the early human race live to be 900 to populate the earth rapidly and to advance civilization, and later He shortened that life span to teach us the penalty for sin, who are we to scoff at the historical record?

The point is that sin is the cause of death in the human race. A popular idea promoted in our day is that death is a natural part of life. We are born, move through life, and then we die. Man is just like the animals, going through the life cycle. But that line of reasoning dilutes the reality that death is God’s judgment on our sin. Death is not natural. It is a horrible reminder that we have wronged the holy God and that someday we all must stand before Him. We can try to block it out of our minds, we can joke about it, but we are still going to die. The only way to live wisely is to keep in constant focus that whether I have less than 24 hours, or a few years, it is certain that I am going to die and stand before a holy God. I’d better be ready to meet Him!

If this genealogy just recorded that each man lived, had some children, and died, it would be a bleak picture. But in the middle of this dismal pattern, there is a bright exception: “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Ge 5:24). If that were the only verse in the Bible about Enoch, what actually happened to him might be a mystery. But Hebrews 11:5 makes it plain that “Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death.” With Enoch the death bell did not sound. His life shows that .

Genesis 5:6 Seth lived one hundred and five years, and became the father of Enosh.

begat - Ge 4:26
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

Seth lived one hundred and five years, and became the father of Enosh.

Gleason Archer in Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties - Why is so much emphasis put on the antediluvian genealogy in the Bible? If the whole world was destroyed with the Flood, wouldn’t everybody be of the same bloodline through Noah and his family? In other words, aren’t we all related?

Yes, we are indeed all descendants of Noah, for all other families in the antediluvian human race were destroyed by the Flood (so Gen. 7:21: “And all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts … and all mankind”). The reason for the genealogical listing in Genesis 5 was to give the family line of Noah himself, since his descent from Adam through the covenant line of true believers was a matter of prime importance. Likewise in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ, as given in Luke’s gospel, these same antediluvian ancestors are listed (see Luke 3:36–38) to show that the Second Adam was descended from the first Adam. Furthermore, the godly walk of leaders like Seth, the son of Adam (Gen. 4:26), and his son Enosh was a matter of great importance; so too was the close fellowship Enoch had with God before the Lord took him at the age of three hundred years to dwell with Him in heaven’s glory.

Genesis 5:7 Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.

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Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters

Genesis 5:8 So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.

Ge 5:8
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So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.

QUESTION - Why did the people in Genesis live such long lives?

ANSWER - It is somewhat of a mystery why people in early chapters of Genesis lived such long lives. There are many theories put forward by biblical scholars. The genealogy in Genesis 5 records the line of the godly descendants of Seth—the line that would eventually produce the Messiah. God possibly blessed this line with especially long life as a result of their godliness and obedience. While this is a possible explanation, the Bible nowhere specifically limits the long lifespans to the individuals mentioned in Genesis chapter 5. Further, other than Enoch, Genesis 5 does not identify any of the individuals as being especially godly. It is likely that everyone during that time lived several hundred years. Several factors may have contributed to this.

Something happened at the global flood to shorten men’s lifespans. Compare the lifespans before the flood (Genesis 5:1–32) with those after the flood (Genesis 11:10–32). Immediately after the flood, the ages decreased dramatically and then kept decreasing. A key may be in Genesis 6:3: “The Lord said, ‘My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.’” Many people see the reference to “a hundred and twenty years” as the new, divinely appointed limit on man’s age. By the time of Moses (who lived 120 years), lifespans were much lower. After Moses, only one person is recorded as having lived past 120 (2 Chronicles 24:15).

One theory for why the people of Genesis lived such long lives is based on the idea that a canopy of water used to surround the earth. According to the canopy theory, the water “above the firmament” (Genesis 1:7KJV) created a greenhouse effect and blocked much of the radiation that now hits the earth, resulting in ideal living conditions. At the time of the flood, the water canopy was poured out on the earth (Genesis 7:11), ending the ideal environment. The canopy theory has been abandoned by most creationists today.

Another consideration is that, in the first few generations after creation, the human genetic code had developed few defects. Adam and Eve were created perfect. They were surely highly resistant to disease and illness. Their descendants would have inherited these advantages, albeit to lesser degrees. Over time, as a result of sin, the human genetic code became increasingly corrupted, and human beings became more and more susceptible to death and disease. This would also have resulted in drastically reduced lifespans. GotQuestions.org

Genesis 5:9 Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan.

Cainan - Heb. Kenan, 1Ch 1:2 Lu 3:37
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Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan

Genesis 5:10 Then Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after he became the father of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters.

begat - Ge 5:4
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

Then Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after he became the father of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters

Genesis 5:11 So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died.

died - Ge 5:5
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died

Genesis 5:12 Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel.

Mahalaleel - Gr. Maleleel, Lu 3:37
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Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel.

Genesis 5:13 Then Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters.

and begat - Ge 5:4

Then Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters - Mahalalel means 'praise of God,'

Genesis 5:14 So all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.

Ge 5:5
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So all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died

Genesis 5:15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Jared.

Jared - 1Ch 1:2
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Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Jared.

Genesis 5:16 Then Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters.

he became the father of Jared, - Ge 5:4
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Related Passages:

1 Chronicles 1:2 Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared,

Luke 3:37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,

Then Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:17 So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.

died - Ge 5:5
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So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died - His name means something like "praising God" or "praise of God." He is the fourth in descent from Adam in the line of Seth.

Genesis 5:18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch.

Enoch - Ge 4:17 1Ch 1:3, Henoch, Lu 3:37 Jude 1:14,15
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch - Enoch means "dedicated" and was the father of Methuselah and an ancestor of Jesus (Lk 3:37+).

QUESTION - Who was Enoch in the Bible?

ANSWER - There are at least four different men in the Bible named Enoch (Genesis 4:17; 5:18; 25:4; 46:9). We should note that, in Genesis 25:4 and Genesis 46:9, the NIV gives the name “Hanok,” while some other translations, such as the Darby translation, give the name “Enoch” instead. In both verses, the name “Hanok” is from the same Hebrew word translated “Enoch” in Genesis 4:17 and Genesis 5:18. Other translations say “Hanoch” or “Henoch.” The only difference is one of English spelling.

It is only the Enoch mentioned in Genesis 5:18 that the Bible gives any significant information about. This Enoch was the great-great-great-great-grandson of Adam. Genesis 5:22–24 says,

“After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”

Hebrews 11:5 gives a little more detail:

“By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: ‘He could not be found, because God had taken him away.’ For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.”

This being “taken away” is what Enoch is most famous for. Only two people in the Bible are said to have been chosen by God to escape death, Enoch and Elijah. Enoch appears to have been given this privilege due to being a man who walked faithfully with God (Genesis 5:24) and pleased God (Hebrews 11:5). For what purpose was Enoch taken away? The Bible does not specifically say. The most common assumption is so that he could serve as one of the two witnesses, alongside Elijah, in the end times.

There are also three pseudepigraphal books using Enoch’s name, with 1 Enoch being the most well known, often referred to as the Book of Enoch. None of the pseudepigraphal books of Enoch were actually written by the biblical Enoch. However, since the biblical book of Jude quotes from 1 Enoch and attributes the quotation to the biblical Enoch (Jude 14), at least that one small prophecy must be truly attributable to the biblical Enoch.

Enoch draws a lot of attention due to the mystery surrounding him. Far too much speculation has gone into how and why God took Enoch away. Instead of conjecturing, we should be seeking to follow Enoch’s example by being men and women who walk faithfully with God and seek to please Him with our lives.GotQuestions.org

Genesis 5:19 Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters.

and begat - Ge 5:4
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters

Genesis 5:20 So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.

he died - Ge 5:5
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died

Genesis 5:21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah.

Methuselah - Lu 3:37
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah

QUESTION - Who was Methuselah in the Bible?

ANSWER - Genesis 5 tells us about Methuselah, who was the son of righteous Enoch. Enoch is one of only two people in Scripture who did not die but were transported miraculously into heaven (Genesis 5:24). The other, Elijah, was taken up to God in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). When Enoch was 65, he became the father of Methuselah, who lived to be the oldest person on record in human history, at 969 years old.

Methuselah had a son named Lamech who became the father of Noah (Genesis 5:26–29). It is interesting to note that both Lamech and Methuselah were alive when Noah was building the ark, but they both died before the flood. Some have suggested that Noah’s grandfather Methuselah died the week before the flood, citing the fact that God told Noah and his family to enter the ark seven days before the rains came (Genesis 7:1, 10). It has been speculated that this seven days was a period of mourning for Methuselah, as was common in humanity’s early history (see Genesis 50:4; 2 Samuel 11:27).

While we cannot know this for sure, Scripture does seem to say that, when the flood came, no righteous people were left on the earth except for Noah and his family (Genesis 7:1). Because Methuselah was raised by righteous Enoch, and Methuselah’s grandson Noah also walked with God, it seems likely that Methuselah himself was also a godly man. Lamech, too, may have obeyed God and even helped his son build the ark. This family line from Enoch to Noah, descended from Adam’s son Seth, appears to have been God-honoring and the only ones through whom God could work His plan to save the world.

Whether Lamech and Methuselah helped to build the ark, we don’t know. But we do know that there is much more to the lives of the people we read about than the Bible tells us. They were real people with real relationships and real struggles just as we have. There is also much more to the story of Noah building the ark than we are told. He worked for many years to build it, and it is doubtful that he worked alone. Was Noah preaching truth to the neighbors who helped him (see 2 Peter 2:5)? Did his father Lamech and grandfather Methuselah help?

Methuselah would have known about God’s coming judgment and the reason for the ark, yet he is not mentioned by God as a possible occupant of the ark. He must have also known that he would die before the flood came. He must have understood that the Lord knows the ones who are His and delivers them from His judgment (Malachi 3:16–18). We may not live to be 969 like Methuselah, but, if we belong to God, we can have Methuselah’s peace concerning God’s coming wrath upon the world.GotQuestions.org

Genesis 5:22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.

Ge 6:9 17:1 24:40 48:15 Ex 16:4 Lev 26:12 De 5:33 13:4 28:9 1Ki 2:4 2Ki 20:3 Ps 16:8 26:11 56:13 86:11 116:9 128:1 Song 1:4 Ho 14:9 Am 3:3 Mic 4:5 6:8 Mal 2:6 Lu 1:6 Ac 9:31 Ro 8:1 1Co 7:17 2Co 6:16 Eph 5:15 Col 1:10 4:5 1Th 2:12 4:1 Heb 11:5,6 1Jn 1:7
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

Related Passages:

Colossians 1:10+ so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

IMITATING ENOCH'S
WORTHY WALK

Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters - Enoch is an example of a life to imitate as he had a long obedience in the right/righteous direction! The fruit of Enoch's long walk is described in Genesis 5:24.

BIBLICAL DESCRIPTION OF A WORTHY WALK The Bible defines a worthy walk as consisting of the following

A worthy walk is a walk in...

the Holy Spirit (Ro 8:4-+, cp Gal 5:16+, Gal 5:25-+)
humility (Ep 4:2+)
purity (Ro 13:13+; Ep 5:3+)
contentment (1Co 7:17)
faith (2Co 5:7+)
righteousness (Ep 2:10+)
unity (Ep 4:3+; Php 1:2+)
gentleness (Ep 4:2+)
patience (Col 1:11+)
love (Ep 5:2+)
joy (Col 1:11+)
thankfulness (Col 1:12+)
light (Ep 5:8+, Ep 5:9+)
knowledge (Col 1:10+)
wisdom (Ep 5:15+)
truth (3Jn 3, 4)
fruitfulness (Col 1:12+)

In short, “The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:6+), because that pleases God (1 Thes 4:1+).

How is it possible to walk worthy? Good question! It is learning to walk like Jesus walked. See The Holy Spirit-Walking Like Jesus Walked!

Or to answer another way how we walk worthy? In a word...

You honor God's Name
When you call Him your Father
And live like His Son.

THOUGHT: “Am I conducting myself in a manner worthy of the Gospel?” is a good question for us to ask ourselves regularly.

To reiterate this important point -- Right thinking should always lead to right conduct. Knowledge and obedience go together. One cannot separate learning from living. The idea of "worthy" is that the conduct of the saints weigh as much as the character of Christ. Why? Because when we are surrendered to His will, He is living His life through us via His indwelling Spirit. Ultimately His conduct is the only conduct which is truly worthy, for no other conduct would balance God's perfect scales. Christ alone pleases the Father completely and as we allow Christ to rule and reign in our lives, our lives become pleasing to the Father.

Genesis 5:23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

Ge 5:23
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years - Enoch has the shortest lifespan of all the men mentioned in Genesis 5.

Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

BGT Genesis 5:24 καὶ εὐηρέστησεν Ενωχ τῷ θεῷ καὶ οὐχ ηὑρίσκετο ὅτι μετέθηκεν αὐτὸν ὁ θεός

LXE Genesis 5:24 And Enoch was well-pleasing to God, and was not found, because God translated him.

KJV Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

NET Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God, and then he disappeared because God took him away.

CSB Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.

ESV Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

NIV Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

NLT Genesis 5:24 walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him.

NRS Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.

NJB Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God, then was no more, because God took him.

NAB Genesis 5:24 Then Enoch walked with God, and he was no longer here, for God took him.

YLT Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walketh habitually with God, and he is not, for God hath taken him.

GWN Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; then he was gone because God took him.

BBE Genesis 5:24 And Enoch went on in God's ways: and he was not seen again, for God took him.

RSV Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

NKJ Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

ASV Genesis 5:24 and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

DBY Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

BHT Genesis 5:24 wayyithallëk Hánôk ´et-hä|´élöhîm wü´êneºnnû Kî|-läqaH ´ötô ´élöhîm P

NIRV Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God. Then he couldn't be found, because God took him from this life.

RWB Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

WEB Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God, and he {was} not: for God took him.

walked - Ge 5:21
he was not - The same expression occurs, Ge 37:30 42:36 Jer 31:15 Mt 2:18
for - 2Ki 2:11 Lu 23:43 Heb 11:5-6 1Jn 1:7
Genesis 5 Resources - Multiple sermons and commentaries

Related Passage:

2 Kings 2:11 (ELIJAH TAKEN TO HEAVEN) As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up (Septuagint = analambano) by a whirlwind to heaven.

1 John 1:7+ but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Jude 1:14+ It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,

Hebrews 11:5+ By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

ENOCH'S DEVOTION TO GOD
A MODEL FOR ALL BELIEVERS

Enoch walked with God - The Septuagint translates walked (Hebrew = halak) with the verb euaresteo which means to be well-pleasing, to behave in a manner that is pleasing to another. See study of related word euarestos. While clearly other men walked with God, it is interesting that Enoch and Noah are the only two people in the Bible who are specifically said to have walked with God (Gen. 5:22; Gen. 5:24; Gen. 6:9)

NET Note has an interesting insight on Hebrew verb halak noting that "The rare expression “walked with” (the Hitpael form of the verb הָלָךְ, halakh, “to walk” collocated with the preposition אֶת, ’et, “with”) is used in 1Sa 25:15+ to describe how David’s men maintained a cordial and cooperative relationship with Nabal’s men as they worked and lived side by side in the fields. In Ge 5:22 the phrase suggests that Enoch and God “got along.” This may imply that Enoch lived in close fellowship with God, leading a life of devotion and piety. An early Jewish tradition, preserved in 1Enoch 1:9 and alluded to in Jude 1:14+, says that Enoch preached about the coming judgment.

You are headed in the right direction
when you walk with God!

And he was not for God took him - This phrase gives hope to all who believe in God and Christ, not a hope so, but a hope sure that we too will one day be escorted into the presence of Jesus, either by the rapture or by falling asleep in Jesus. The Septuagint translates the Hebrew "took" with the very metatithemi which literally, refers to causing a change from one place to another and to transfer or transplant. This is the very verb used by the writer of Hebrews...

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. 6 And without faith (FAITH THAT OBEYS) 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 seek Him.(Heb 11:5-6+)

The closer you walk with God,
the less room for anything to come between.

Ray Pritchard - What does it mean to “walk with God?” Walking can be defined as a series of small steps in the same direction over a long period of time. In Enoch’s case, he began walking with God after the birth of his son Methuseleh. Perhaps he was like many men who don’t get serious until they look into the face of their firstborn son or daughter. Suddenly they realize the heavy weight of responsibility that is upon them. Many men have gotten serious about marriage and fatherhood and their faith because of the birth of a baby. Perhaps that’s what happened to Enoch. In any case he walked with God for 300 years.Walking implies a number of things. First, you have to be in the same place at the same time. If I’m on 5th Street and you are on Dogwood Lane, we are both walking but we are not walking together. And if we are on Broad Street but you are there at 7:00 a.m. and I am there at 2:45 p.m., we still aren’t walking together. Second, you have to be going in the same direction. If you go east and I go west, we aren’t walking with each other. Third, you have to be going at the same pace. If you speed walk and I stroll along, we might both be having a good time but we aren’t walking together.Walking together implies a shared commitment to be at the same place at the same time going in the same direction together. The best illustration that comes to mind is not walking but riding bikes. For the last several years I’ve spent a lot of time riding my bike. I have a daily route laid out that takes me through Oak Park, River Forest and Forest Park. I can do 11.2 miles in 44-48 minutes, depending on the time of day and the traffic. Until recently I’ve always ridden alone. About three weeks ago my wife Marlene decided to start riding with me. I was delighted and cleaned up an old bike we had in the garage. We took a few short rides together, and when I saw how much she enjoyed it, I took her to a bike shop in Chicago and bought her a very nice bike. Yesterday we got up early and took our first long bike ride together. It was early, the weather was nice, and the streets were almost deserted. We got our bikes out, put on our helmets, and prepared to set off. As we started peddling, Marlene said, “Which way?” “Go right and right,” I said, meaning, “Turn right out of the driveway and then turn right on Randolph Street.” She was slightly ahead of me as we turned right out of the driveway. A few seconds later we came to Randolph Street and she kept right on going through the intersection. She went “right and straight” instead of “right and right.” So now I was faced with a dilemma: Turn right on Randolph and ride by myself or go straight and ride with my wife. Well, that wasn’t a hard decision. I went straight, followed Marlene, and we had a great ride together. (When I told this to the congregation, I said there are several applications to that story and I would let them figure it out.)For Enoch to walk with God, it meant that every day he got up and said, “Lord, where do you want to go today?” And wherever God went, Enoch went too. He set his heart to walk with God, by his side, in the same direction, at the same pace, all day long. And so he did, day after day, week after week, year after year. Because his heart was set to follow the Lord, he walked with him as a habit of life. Eventually, he didn’t have to think, “Will I walk with God today?” That decision had been made long before, and he simply continued in the same direction he had started.We often have trouble with this because we say, “Lord, today let’s go right and right.” And the Lord says, “You think so?” And off we go together, us and the Lord, but as soon as we get started, the Lord goes right, then suddenly he turns left, then he stops, we circle the block, and then the Lord leads us in a brand-new direction. With each turn we have to decide whether we will follow our own inclinations and walk alone or whether we will put our agenda aside and simply let the Lord lead us moment by moment, step by step, wherever he wants to go. That’s what it means to walk with God. He leads and we follow. Any other plan is bound to fail.One day Enoch and God had walked so far that God said, “Why don’t you come home with me?” And Enoch walked beyond space and time into eternity. He “was not” because God took him off the earth and allowed him to enter heaven without experiencing death. It is the picture of the coming Rapture of the Saints (I Thessalonians 4:13-18) and a reminder that death will not have the last word. One day death itself will be destroyed once and for all (I Corinthians 15:26).What a blessing it was for his children that Enoch left behind such a testimony. Some buy Bibles bound in leather. They received theirs bound in their father. And he walked with God in an ungodly age. Jude 14-15 reminds us that Enoch was a preacher of righteousness who declared the truth of God to an ungodly generation. If he walked with God in such moral darkness, we can too.

Spurgeon - The way to please God, then, is to believe in Him—and if there is any possibility of entering heaven without seeing death, faith alone can point the way. You cannot be Enochs unless you please God, and you cannot please God unless you have faith in Him. If we cannot get a translation as Enoch did, let us not be content without getting God’s good pleasure as he did. Oh, that it may be said of us that we pleased God! Then we shall, one way or another, conquer death; for if we do, we shall triumph over the grave. And if Christ shall come before we die, we shall triumph in the coming of Christ. Anyhow, faith shall be more than a match for the last enemy.

Spurgeon - “Enoch walked with God.” - He walked with God 400 years. This implies perseverance. You have received Christ; persevere in receiving him. You have come to trust him; keep on trusting him. You hang about his neck as a poor, helpless sinner; remain hanging there. Abide in him.

Spurgeon - GENESIS 5:21–24 OUR reading leads us to think upon that eminent saint of the antediluvian church, Enoch, the seventh from Adam. "21, 22, 23, 24 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 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." Here it is worthy of notice that the sacred writer says once that Enoch “lived;” but he changes the word and writes Enoch “walked with God;” thus teaching us that communion with God was Enoch’s life, and truly so it ought to be ours. He was not a mere talker about God, but a walker with God. This holy patriarch lived in unbroken intercourse with the Lord for three hundred years, not now and then visiting with God, but habitually walking with him. This is a point of great difficulty. To draw near to God is comparatively easy; but to remain in undivided fellowship, “this is the work, this is the labour.” Yet the Holy Spirit can enable us to accomplish even this. Continued communion is what we should aim at, and we should not be content with anything short of it. Some excuse themselves from seeking after unbroken fellowship with God because of their calling, their circumstances, and their numerous engagements. Enoch had the cares of a family upon him, and he was also a public preacher, and yet he kept up his walk with God: no business or household cares should make us forget our God. Society with God is the safety of saints, it is their solace and delight, it is their honour and crown. More to be desired is it than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Happy was Enoch to enjoy it so sweetly, and so continuously. The long intercourse of this good man with his God ended in his being borne away from earth without death to that place where faith is lost in sight. He did not live like others, and therefore he did not die like others. Paul tells us a little more concerning this holy man, and we will gather up the fragments of his history which remain on record, that nothing may be lost. HEBREWS 11:5, 6 - Faith was the spring from which his communion was derived. Works do not make us walk with God; but faith brings us into his presence, and keeps us there. It is very likely that Enoch’s pious conversation did not please men, but that little mattered since it pleased God.

Spurgeon - MEDITATION—to be Practised - THOSE who would be in health do not sit still in their houses to breathe such air as may come to them, but they walk abroad and seek out rural and elevated spots that they may inhale the invigorating breezes; and thus those godly souls who would be in a vigorous spiritual state, do not merely think upon such holy doctrines as may come into their minds in the ordinary course of thought, but they give time to meditation, they walk abroad in the fields of truth, and endeavour to climb the heights of gospel promises. It is said that Enoch walked with God: here is not an idle but an active communion. The road to bodily health is said to be a footpath, and the way to spiritual health is to exercise one’s self in holy contemplation. (Feathers for arrows)

David Olford has an interesting introduction to his famous father Stephen Olford's devotional notes According to Your Word - Just after the Second World War, sensing a deep spiritual hunger, my father was refreshed and revived during a time of personal retreat with the Lord. Shortly thereafter, he met Billy Graham (1946). Due to young Billy Graham's similar spiritual hunger, the two arranged to meet in Wales for a time of retreat together. It is my understanding that one of the subjects discussed during this time together was the devotional life or the “quiet time.” According to Your Word reveals that the “quiet time” was already a discipline in my father's life before this important meeting in 1946. These devotionals are evidence of a thoughtful and prayerful reading of the Word of God that was (and would be) a regular feature of my father's life. My father practiced the quiet time until his death at age eighty-six. His sudden departure reminds me of the Scriptural account of Enoch who “walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Ge 5:24). We miss Dad greatly, but we know that his walk with God continues above. (According to Your Word)

Enoch walked by faith. Paul charges believers today to "Walk by faith not sight." (2 Cor 5:7+)

Robert Neighbour-Sermons and Bible Studies - By faith Enoch walked with God. He walked with God in the midst of an age that was fast corrupting itself and turning away from Jehovah; he walked with God in the midst of his own home, where he begat sons and daughters. Surely we then may walk by faith in this our day. To be sure sin is much the same as it was in Enoch's day; but we have added light and increased blessings — should we not have a greater faith?

Closer, Lord, to Thee I come,
Light of life Divine;
Through the ever Blessed Son,
Joy and peace are mine;
Let me in Thy love abide,
Keep me ever near Thy side,
In the "Rock of Ages" hide, —
Closer, Lord, to Thee.

JUST A CLOSER WALK WITH THEE
I am weak but Thou art strong
Jesus keep me from all wrong
I'll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee

Just a closer walk with Thee
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be

When my feeble life is o'er
Time for me will be no more
Guide me gently, safely o'er
To Thy kingdom's shore, to Thy shore

Just a closer walk with Thee
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be

Enoch "Walked With God"

He "walked with God!" Could grander words be written?
Not much of what he thought or said is told;
Not where or what he wrought is even mentioned;
He "walked with God"—brief words of fadeless gold!

How many souls were succored on his journey—
Helped by his words, or prayers, we may not know;
Still, this we read—words of excelling grandeur—
He "walked with God," while yet he walked below.

And, after years, long years, of such blest walking,
One day he walked, then was not, God said "Come!
Come from the scene of weary sin-stained sadness!
Come to the fuller fellowship of home!"

Such be the tribute of thy pilgrim journey
When life's last mile thy feet hath bravely trod—
When thou hast gone to all that there awaits thee,
This simple epitaph—"He walked with God!" (Ge 5:24)
—Poems for Sunshine and Shadow

Below are the other OT (Lxx) passages where euaresteo is used to translate the Hebrew verb halak. It is notable that in all these OT uses of euaresteo we find depictions of men like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and David, whose lives were characterized not by perfection but by direction. That is to say that their lives manifested a general tendency toward godliness and toward their future promised home in heaven. As a corollary, if you believe you are headed for heaven in the future, your life should reflect it on earth in the present! If it does not, you might be deceiving yourself (study 2Cor 13:5-note) and your life might not be pleasing to God now or then (cp Mt 7:21-note, Mt 7:22, 23-note).

Genesis 6:9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God (Hebrew = halak; Lxx = "Noah was well-pleasing to God").

NET Bible note on Ge 6:9: The construction translated "walked with" is used in Ge 5:22, 24 and in 1Sa 25:15, where it refers to David's and Nabal's men "rubbing shoulders" in the fields. Based on the use in 1Sa 25:15, the expression ("walked with") seems to mean "live in close proximity to," which may, by metonymy, mean "maintain cordial relations with."

Genesis 17:1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty (EL Shaddai - God Almighty); Walk (Hebrew = halak ; Lxx = be "well-pleasing to") before Me, and be blameless.

Genesis 24:40 "And he said to me (Isaac speaking), 'The LORD, before whom I have walked (Hebrew = halak ; Lxx = "well-pleasing to"), will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives, and from my father's house;

Genesis 48:15 And he (Israel or Jacob is speaking - Ge 48:14) blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked (Hebrew = halak; Lxx = "well-pleasing to"), the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

Psalm 26:3 (David writes) For Thy lovingkindness is before my eyes, And I have walked (Hebrew = halak; Lxx = "well-pleasing to") in Thy truth.

Psalm 56:13 (David writes) For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk (Hebrew = halak; Lxx = "well-pleasing to") before God In the light of the living.

Psalm 116:9 (Author not stated) I shall walk (Hebrew = halak; Lxx = "well-pleasing") before the LORD In the land of the living.

Spurgeon comments: This is the Psalmist's second resolution, to live as in the sight of God in the midst of the sons of men. By a man's walk is understood his way of life: some men live only as in the sight of their fellow men, having regard to human judgment and opinion; but the truly gracious man considers the presence of God, and acts under the influence of His all observing eye. "Thou God sees me" is a far better influence than "My master sees me." The life of faith, hope, holy fear, and true holiness is produced by a sense of living and walking before the Lord, and he who has been favored with divine deliverances in answer to prayer finds his own experience the best reason for a holy life, and the best assistance to his endeavors. We know that God in a special manner is nigh unto His people: what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness? (2Pe 3:11-note)

WALKING - James Smith

I. Before God: Divine Inspection (Gen. 17:1).
II. With God: Divine Companionship (Gen. 5:22).
III. After God: Divine Leadership (Deut. 13:4).
IV. In God: Divine Indwelling (Col. 2:6). And the last includes all the others.

FAITH - James Smith

1. The Ear of Faith, 1 Kings 18:41
2. The Eye of Faith, 2 Kings 6:17.
3. The Feet of Faith, Genesis 5:24.
4. The Hand of Faith, Acts 3:7.
5. The Heart of Faith, Rom. 10:10.

PLEASING GOD. - James Smith

"Ye ought to please God" (1 Thess. 4:1).

I. Those who are not pleasing God.

1. They that live ONLY FOR THEMSELVES are not pleasing God. "We ought not to please ourselves, for even Christ pleased not Himself" (Rom. 15:1-3). Self is all the god that many worship.
2. They that only seek to PLEASE MEN are not pleasing God. "Do I seek to please men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ" (Gal. 1:10).
3. They that are IN THE FLESH cannot please God. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit" (Rom. 8:8, 9).
4. They that have NO FAITH cannot please God. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Heb. 11:6). A man might have faith in the minister, in the Church, and Bible, and yet have no faith in God.

II. Those who are pleasing God.

1. Those who ASK RIGHT THINGS from God. "David asked for an understanding heart to discern between good and bad, and the speech pleased the Lord" (1 Kings 3:9, 10).
2. Those who are SEPARATED FOR GOD. "No man that warreth entangleth himself, that he may please Him who hath chosen him" (2 Tim. 2:4). How numerous are the entanglements!
3. Those who are WHOLLY YIELDED TO GOD. Now God "working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight" (Heb. 13:20, 21).
4. Those who WALK WITH GOD. "Enoch walked with God" (Gen. 5:24), "and he pleased God" (Heb. 11:5).
5. Those who PRAISE GOD. "I will praise the Name of God. This also shall please the Lord" (Ps. 69:30, 31). All singing is not praising. God judgeth the heart.

III. Promises to those who please God.

1. "Their ENEMIES shall be at peace with them" (Prov. 16:7). This is a different thing from being at peace with our enemies. They surrender.
2. Their PRAYERS shall be answered (1 John 3:22). If we are always doing what pleases Him we may always expect what we ask.
3. Their NAME shall be everlasting (Isa. 56:4, 5). "Choose the things that please Me, and I will give an everlasting name." "They shall be called by His Name, and His Name endureth for ever."

Steven Cole - The Epitaph of Sin - WE MUST WALK WITH GOD.

(1) A walk with God is begun by faith. The world takes note of those who achieve in science or business or entertainment. It makes celebrities of notorious criminals. But God takes note of the person who walks with Him by faith. Hebrews 11:5-6 states, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And 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 seek Him.” Enoch believed God; God rewarded him accordingly.

The starting place of a walk with God is to come to Him in faith. You must trust in the sacrifice He has provided for your sin in the Lord Jesus Christ, just as Abel, by faith, offered to God a bloody sacrifice, and was accepted on that basis (Heb. 11:4). You must put off any trust in your own goodness or works and rely solely on Christ’s death as the just penalty for your sin.

(2) A walk with God is helped, but not guaranteed, by a godly family. The people in this chapter are related to one another, as are the people in chapter 4. The contrast of the two families, Cain and Seth, shows us the importance of godly families. In just seven generations from Adam through Cain we come to the arrogant, violent Lamech. In seven generations from Adam through Seth we find the godly Enoch and, later, Noah. It’s not certain, but Enoch could have begun his 300 year walk with God after the birth of his son, Methuselah (5:22). Often the birth of a child makes us think about the kind of life we’re leading and the kind of example we’re going to set for our children. God uses that to bring us to repentance. God often works through families to call people to Himself.

There’s both good news and bad news in this observation. The good news is that any person can be the start of a godly line that will be used to turn many from their sin. Although you may have come from a godless family, if you will walk with God, your children and grandchildren can have the privilege of being raised in a godly home, where the love of Christ reigns. Of course that means that those of us who have had the privilege of being raised in a Christian home have a great responsibility to carry the torch ourselves and to hand it on to our children.

That leads to the bad news--that it only takes one generation to turn a godly family into a godless one. At the time of the flood (four generations from Enoch), Noah and his sons were the only ones on the face of the earth whom God saw fit to save. Enoch and his descendants had other sons and daughters than those mentioned here by name (5:22, 26, 30). Apparently they followed the way of the world, not the way of the Lord. Consequently they all came under God’s judgment in the flood. Matthew Henry notes, “Grace does not run in the blood, but corruption does. A sinner begets a sinner, but a saint does not beget a saint” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary [Revell], 1:47).

Did you know that the famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, came from a solid Christian family? His parents and both sets of grandparents were evangelical Christians. As a boy he sang in the choir, tithed his allowance, and read through his King James Bible. Yet he rebelled against his upbringing and became notorious for his profligate, godless life. Lonely, bitter, and depressed, he shot himself at age 61. His descendants are thoroughly pagan.

But, thankfully, it can go the other way. Hudson Taylor, founder of the great China Inland Mission, traced his spiritual roots through his mother back to his great-grandfather who was converted from a worldly way of life. Today, Taylor’s great-grandson is a prominent missions leader. Millions of souls have been won to Christ because Taylor’s great-grandfather established a Christian home.

What about you? Are you walking with God and raising a godly family who will walk with God? If you are single, I cannot overemphasize the importance of your marrying a mate who will join you wholeheartedly in walking with God and raising up children who walk with God. But even then it is not easy. That leads to a third observation:

(3) A walk with God is distinct from the crowd. Enoch stood out in his day. He lived at the same time as the lustful, boastful murderer, Lamech (they are both the seventh generation from Adam). Jude 14-15 records what Enoch prophesied: “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” He warned the ungodly of God’s coming judgment.

That probably didn’t make Enoch the most popular fellow of his day! People like to hear upbeat messages on how they can succeed and be happy. They don’t like to be confronted with their ungodly ways. But the closer a man walks with God, the more he realizes how ungodly his own heart is, and how ungodly his own generation is. As he grows in holiness, he stands out as distinct from the crowd.

Thus a walk with God is begun by faith; it is helped, though not guaranteed by a godly family; it is distinct from the crowd. Finally,

(4) A walk with God is not spectacular. Can you imagine how we would write the biography in our day of a man who was translated bodily to heaven without dying? We certainly wouldn’t title it, “The Man Who Walked With God.” We might call it “The Man Who Flew With God.” We’re so caught up with the sensational and the shallow, but we ignore the things that are truly sensational in God’s sight. Walking with God for 300 years in the midst of an ungodly generation is what counts with God.

Walking is a graphic word picture of the spiritual life. It is not the quickest or flashiest way to get someplace. But it’s the way God ordained. Walking is a steady progression over time toward a goal (“Pilgrim’s Progress”). To walk with God means that our lives are going the same direction God is going. We are yielded in obedience to Him.

Walking with God also pictures intimacy and fellowship. Walking with a friend is a time for talking, for getting to know one another better, for sharing the things that are happening in your lives. Walking with God is a daily process of growing more intimate with God as you go through life. Of course you have to do your own walking. Someone else can’t do it for you. You must take the initiative, effort, and time necessary to walk with God. Enoch’s life shows that if we walk with God ...

B. WE GAIN THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE.

It’s interesting that the most godly man in this genealogy has by far the shortest life--365 years. (The next shortest is Lamech--777 years.) Walking with God is not a guarantee of a long life on earth; it is a guarantee of eternal life with God. In Enoch, as Calvin points out, there is “an instruction for all the godly, that they should not keep their hope confined within the boundaries of this mortal life” (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], 1:232).

Enoch is also a type of those who will be alive at the Lord’s coming and who will be taken directly to heaven without dying. This is the blessed hope of every believer, to be caught up “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:13-17+).

Those who do not walk with God do not have the hope of eternal life, but only the fear of judgment. Enoch prophesied of God’s coming judgment, and he did it through more than just his preaching: He named his son Methuselah. The most likely meaning of that name is, “When he is dead, it shall come.” What does that mean? Apparently God revealed to Enoch that He was going to send His judgment upon that godless world. Enoch responded by naming his son, “When he is dead, it shall come.” What would come? God’s judgment! If you figure out the chronology of the ages listed in Genesis 5 (assuming no gaps), you discover that Methuselah died the same year that God sent the flood to destroy the earth.

Do you know why Methuselah lived longer than any other person in recorded history? Because his life is a testimony of the patience and grace of God, who “is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). In the context Peter is discussing the flood and the certainty of God’s judgment. Peter is arguing that just as men then scoffed for almost 1,000 years at the fact that judgment had not come, so in the last times men will scoff and say that the Lord is not coming. But, just because judgment is delayed does not mean that it is not certain. Rather, it reveals God’s great patience and mercy. Repent before His certain judgment falls!

Illustration of walking with God - A little child gave a most exquisite explanation of walking with God. She went home from Sunday School, and the mother said, "Tell me what you learned at school." And she said: "Don't you know, Mother, one day they went for an extra long walk, and they walked on and on, until God said to Enoch, 'You are a long way from home; you had better just come in and stay.' And he went." (Ge 5:24) (G Campbell Morgan)

C H Spurgeon - Enoch - Genesis 5:24

We are told that ‘he was not’. Those who believe that the word to ‘die’ means to be annihilated, would have been still more confirmed in their views if the words ‘he was not’ had been applied to all the departed, for if any expression might mean annihilation, this is the one. ‘He was not’ does not, however, mean that he was annihilated, and neither does the feebler term of dying signify anything of the kind. ‘He was not’ means he was not here, that is all. He was gone from earth, but he was there, where God had translated him. He was, he is, with God. Do not grudge him his avoidance of death. It was a favour, but not by any means as great as some would think, for those who do not die must undergo a change and Enoch was changed. ‘We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.’ The flesh and blood of Enoch could not ‘inherit the kingdom of God’: in a moment he underwent a transformation which we will have to undergo in the day of the resurrection; and so, though he was not on earth, he was translated or transplanted from the gardens of earth to the Paradise above. If there is any man in the world that shall never die, it is he who walks with God. If there is any man to whom death will be as nothing, it is he who has looked to the second advent of Christ and gloried in it; if there is any man who, though he pass through the iron gates of death, shall never feel the terror of the grim foe, it is he whose life below has been perpetual communion with God. Go not about by any other way to escape the pangs of death, but walk with God, and you will be able to say, ‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?’

Genesis 5:21-32 Charlie’s Walk On The Moon February 6, 2010 — by Dennis Fisher

Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. —Genesis 5:24

The documentary In the Shadow of the Moon includes the story of Charlie Duke, one of the Apollo 16 astronauts launched to the moon in 1972. While the command ship orbited the moon, Duke and another astronaut landed the lunar module Orion on the moon’s surface. After 3 days of running experiments and collecting lunar rocks, the Apollo 16 crew safely returned to earth.

Later, Charlie had a spiritual transformation. He said it began when his friend invited him to a Bible study. After the meeting, Charlie prayed to Christ, “I give You my life, and if You’re real come into my life.” He then experienced an indescribable peace. It was so profound that he began to share his story with others. Charlie told them, “My walk on the moon lasted 3 days and it was a great adventure, but my walk with God lasts forever.”

The Bible tells us of another man who walked with God. “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). His spiritual walk with God was so close that God took him directly into eternity (see Heb. 11:5).

We can learn a lesson from Charlie and Enoch. For believers, no matter where our journey leads, our walk with God will last for eternity!

Let me walk with You, dear Savior,
Side by side and hand in hand;
Keep me clean and pure and faithful
Till I reach the heavenly land.
—Hess

Keep eternity’s goal in sight by walking daily in God’s light.

Steady or Erratic - How would you describe your spiritual life? Is it marked by steady growth as you walk in fellowship with Jesus and learn from Him each day? Or is it an up-and-down kind of roller-coaster ride with times of intensity followed by seasons of indifference?

Too many people are "religious only by fits and starts," remarked the noted American pastor Jonathan Edwards. Used by God to spearhead a powerful revival in colonial New England, Edwards said churchgoers are

"like the waters in the time of a shower of rain, which during the shower, and a little after, run like a brook and flow abundantly, but they are presently quite dry, and when another shower comes, then they will flow again. Whereas a true saint is like a stream from a living spring which, though it may be greatly increased by a shower of rain and diminished in time of drought, yet constantly runs."

If someone were to monitor our lives, would our discipleship be characterized as "fits and starts" or like "a stream from a living spring"? Could we say that we, like Enoch, "walked with God"? (Gen. 5:22).

If our discipleship has been like a roller coaster, let's prayerfully begin a steady walk with our Lord. — Vernon C. Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Dear Jesus, take my heart and hand,
And grant me this, I pray,
That I through Your sweet love may grow
More like You day by day.
--Garrison

Discipleship demands discipline

Private: Every Step Counts - People who want to feel better, reduce stress, and shed unwanted pounds are discovering that walking may be the best exercise of all. A fitness philosophy of 10,000 steps a day, which first took hold in Japan, is gaining popularity in other countries. Experts advise starting slowly and working toward a higher goal, realizing each day that every step counts.

It's even more important to stay spiritually fit by "walking with God," which the Bible describes as an intimate, growing relationship with the Lord. "Enoch walked with God three hundred years" (Genesis 5:22). "Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God" (Ge 6:9). Both men are mentioned in Hebrews 11, where they are commended for their faith. "Enoch … had this testimony, that he pleased God" (v.5). "Noah … became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith" (v.7).

To walk with God, we need to keep in step without running ahead or lagging behind. Along the way, we talk with the Lord, listen to Him, and enjoy His presence. We trust His guidance when we cannot see what lies ahead. It is not just the destination that's important, but the journey we take together.

There's no better time than now to begin walking with God, because each day every step counts. — David C. McCasland (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Knowing God will take a lifetime,
Walking with Him day by day,
Learning all we can about Him,
Loving Him in every way.
—Sper

You are headed in the right direction when you walk with God.

Keeping Clean - A writer who visited a coal mine noticed a perfectly white plant growing by the side of the entrance. The author and the other visitors with him were astonished that there, where coal dust continually blew and settled, this little plant would be so pure and white.

As the people watched, a miner took some black coal dust and threw it on the plant, but not a particle stuck. The visitors repeated the experiment, but the dust would not cling. Nothing could stain the plant's snowy whiteness.

This illustrates what every Christian life should be like. We live in an evil world, surrounded by ungodly influences. It is our mission to be pure amid all this dirt and remain unspotted from the world. How is this possible?

Enoch lived in the days before the flood, a time when "the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5). Yet the Bible tells us that "Enoch walked with God three hundred years" (Ge 5:22).

If the Lord can keep a plant white as snow amid clouds of black dust, can He not by His grace keep your heart pure in this world of sin? — M. R. De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Let me walk with You, dear Savior,
Side by side and hand in hand;
Keep me clean and pure and faithful
Till I reach the heavenly land.
-Hess

We live in the world, but the world must not live in us.

Walking With God As we read through the Bible, Genesis 5 sounds like the records kept down at the county courthouse. Name, age at death, survivors. But in this terse list, we are suddenly confronted with a man who stands out from everyone else. "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him" (v.24).

We don't know much else about Enoch. He probably took care of the herds, worked the land, cared for his family. Whatever his duties were, we know that he had an ongoing conversation with God. Enoch expressed his joys, his hurts, his confusions, and the responsibility he felt for his children. He walked with God.

Enoch came to love what God loves and hate what God hates. More interesting, though, the Lord was pleased with Enoch (Heb. 11:5). One day He must have said something like: "Enoch, we've come a long way together. Why don't you just come on home and stay with Me." The ancient writer simply reports, "And he was not, for God took him" (v.24).

The Lord still looks for those who will walk with Him. What a privilege for us! The One who is the Creator of the cosmos, the Ruler of heaven, and the Redeemer of mankind seeks our friendship. Are we seeking His? — Haddon W. Robinson (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Savior, let me walk beside Thee,
Let me feel my hand in Thine;
Let me know the joy of walking
In Thy strength and not in mine.
--Sidebotham

A Commitment To Walk - One thing that impresses me about my wife is her commitment to walk two to four times a week for at least an hour. Come rain, snow, sleet, or shine, my wife layers up or down (depending on the weather), puts on her headphones, and off she goes walking through our community.

My wife’s commitment to walking reminds me of a man named Enoch. Genesis 5:18-24 is a short paragraph about his life, and it shines like a diamond amid the earthly record of deaths. In a storyline where the funeral bells tolled out their mournful drone (“and he died” is repeated eight times in the chapter), there is a ray of hope—Enoch walked with God.

What did it mean for Enoch to walk with God? It describes Enoch’s close communion with God—as if literally walking by His side. Also, it refers to Enoch’s unswerving obedience to God in a corrupt culture. God rewarded Enoch’s faithfulness by taking him to heaven while he was still alive. Death would not have the final word in God’s creation.

Enoch’s walk with God reminds us that it is possible for all of us to enjoy intimate communion with the Lord. Let’s commit ourselves to walking faithfully with Him every day. — Marvin Williams (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known. —Miles
© Renewal 1940 The Rodeheaver Co.

DON'T BE A "SPIRITUAL VAGRANT" - And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him. Genesis 5:24 - Efficient leaders of organizations and responsible individuals set specific goals for which they constantly strive. A vagrant, on the other hand, is an extreme example of one who has no such purposes in view. He does not hold a steady job, does not obligate himself for the purchase and maintenance of a home, and often has no loved ones for whose future he is concerned. The utter aimlessness of such a life was strikingly demonstrated by the tramp who declined a ride someone offered him, saying, "No, thank you! I am not going any place, so I am just as well off here as I would be 10 miles farther on." All who do not believe in God are in a sense "spiritual vagrants" — living without an ultimate aim or goal. The Christian, however, knows where he is going. He also perceives his purpose — "To glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever." Moreover, Hebrews 11:1 says that a believer's faith gives him absolute assurance that he will certainly enjoy the "things hoped for," and that "the things not seen" are definite realities. For this reason he seeks to please the Lord by worshiping in an acceptable manner like Abel, by walking in fellowship like Enoch, and by working faithfully like Noah. These men believed in God and directed their efforts in doing His will. They did not wander aimlessly through life without purpose or goal. Neither should you.

Dear reader, what is your highest ambition? Are you truly seeking to glorify God and do His will, or are you a "spiritual vagrant"? When you pass from this earthly scene may it be said of you as it was of Enoch, he "walked with God."

Such be the tribute of thy pilgrim journey
When life's last mile thy feet have bravely trod—
When thou hast gone to all that there awaits thee,
This simple epitaph—"He walked with God!"
—Anon.

Our lives constantly manifest
what we truly think about God!

Vance Havner - THERE'LL BE A WAY

Enoch walked with God.... Genesis 5:24.

I live, when on the road, in motels most of the time. I like to walk, but motels are made for motorists, not pedestrians, and usually they stand on highways and crowded traffic intersections. Sometimes it has looked to me on arrival that walking would not be possible, but I have never failed to find some way to take a stroll.
If you really want to walk with God, there'll be a way. It may not be ideal, it may lead through a dark valley or over rugged mountain passes, but there'll be a way. An invalid spending life between bed sheets can still walk with God. Paul did it in a Roman prison awaiting execution. It may not be your way or my way, but still in God's way there'll be a road to walk with Him. (All the Days)

Keep Step with God

Enoch walked with God. Genesis 5:24.

Enoch did not run ahead of God or lag behind Him. He walked with Him. Some go too fast, they hasten to an immature and superficial experience with God, and their consecration is not thorough. They make a mechanical "decision," but the depths have never been stirred. Or else in a spell of emotion they make a hurried covenant with God but have no root or depth.

Others go too slowly. They are so afraid of a false decision that they make none. They spend nights praying for what is already theirs in Christ. They go into vagaries and extremes of "seeking," and sometimes become unbalanced.

There is a happy balance here. All that we need is in Jesus. Let us make no cheap and quick committals until all has been laid at His feet and we really mean business. Long hours of prayer are necessary only if we are stubborn, God is not slow to hear and answer. If we really mean business we need not tarry. Christ is here now, immediately accessible. No use wasting time afraid we are not "sure." We can never be sure of ourselves; He is the sure One!

Walk with God. "Run not before him." Lag not behind Him. (Day by Day)

Vance Havner - "Vival" or Revival?

Enoch walked with God. Genesis 5:24.

Enoch did not need a revival every year to keep him going. Most Christians and churches need a periodic stirring up, but it should not, and need not, be so. We are in danger of thinking of revival as an occasional shot in the arm, a spurt of religious enthusiasm that soon plays out. God never meant that His children should live by fits and starts, an up-and-down experience. Some husbands and wives live that way, with periods of indifference, quarreling, and then making up again. How much better is that steady and constant companionship, not perfect, but faithful and dependable day by day!

With churches on almost every other corner, it is pathetic that we should have to have a special reviving every year. If we walked with God and kept up to date with Him we should never need to call in a preacher to get us back to normal. For real revival is simply normal New Testament Christianity, not an unusual religious spree.

If we had a daily "vival" we should not need an occasional revival. Let us walk as children of the day and we shall not need to be awakened every year. (Day by Day)

Hebrews 11:4-6; Genesis 4:1-5; 5:18-24

Without faith it is impossible to please God. - Hebrews 11:6

TODAY IN THE WORD
When veteran FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested earlier this year and charged with spying for Russia, many people who thought they knew Hanssen expressed their surprise. One neighbor said about the accused spy and his family, “They go to church every Sunday--if that means anything--loading all six kids into the van.”

This person’s telling comment reminds us that the way we worship and the way we walk, or live our lives, needs to be consistent with what we say we believe. The author of Hebrews pointed to Abel and Enoch as worthy examples of what it means to worship and to walk by faith.

Most people remember Abel as part of a famous brother pair, and as the first murder victim in history at the hands of his brother Cain. But it was Abel’s act of worship, bringing a sacrifice to the Lord, that earned him God’s favor and a place among the Bible’s faith heroes.

It’s interesting that the Scripture does not say exactly why Abel’s sacrifice pleased God, except that he obviously offered it in the right spirit (Gen. 4:4-5). It could have been more costly than Cain’s offering, since Abel’s required sacrificing some of his sheep.

Whatever the reason, Abel understood that he needed to approach God in humility and faith to secure His approval. Abel’s offering, and the heart attitude it revealed, marked him out as a righteous person. God was so pleased with Abel that He made Eve’s second son an example of faith for every generation by including him in this list of godly examples in Hebrews.

Enoch is the classic illustration of what it means to walk by faith. In the Bible, “walk” is a synonym for our daily life. Enoch’s life was so consumed by his relationship with God that he simply disappeared one day (Gen. 5:24). The Scripture suggests that God enjoyed fellowship with this amazing man so much that He didn’t allow Enoch to experience death, which in the Old Testament always meant separation from God.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We can’t study the lives of Abel and Enoch without examining the quality of our own worship and walk.

QUESTION - Why did God take Enoch and Elijah to heaven without them dying?

ANSWER - According to the Bible, Enoch and Elijah are the only two people God took to heaven without them dying. Genesis 5:24 tells us, "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." 2Ki 2:11 tells us, "Suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind." Enoch is described as a man who "walked with God for 300 years" (Genesis 5:23). Elijah was perhaps the most powerful of God’s prophets in the Old Testament. There are also prophecies of Elijah’s return (Malachi 4:5-6).

Why did God take Enoch and Elijah? The Bible does not specifically give us the answer. Some speculate that they were taken in preparation for a role in the end times, possibly as the two witnesses in Revelation 11:3-12. This is possible, but not explicitly taught in the Bible. It may be that God desired to save Enoch and Elijah from experiencing death due to their great faithfulness in serving and obeying Him. Whatever the case, God has His purpose, and while we don’t always understand God’s plans and purposes, we know that “His way is perfect” (Psalm 18:30). GotQuestions.org

Genesis 5:24 Hebrews 11:1-6 Walking With Him December 13, 1999 — by David C. McCasland

Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. —Genesis 5:24

One hot summer day my daughter and I were enjoying the slides and tube runs at a waterpark. While waiting in line for one of the rides, I overheard a man ask, “Does anyone know where this line is going?” The person next to him said, “I don’t have a clue.” I chuckled at their apparent ignorance, but then I realized that I didn’t know where the line was going either.

It didn’t make any difference, though. It was a dad-and-daughter day and we were having a good time. It wasn’t important where we were going; it was being together that mattered most.

That experience caused me to ponder my attitude toward what we often call “walking with the Lord.” Are we so worried about where we’re headed in life that we fail to enjoy being with Him each day? Isn’t our life of faith more a matter of companionship than getting somewhere?

Enoch, the Old Testament saint, “walked with God three hundred years” (Gen 5:22). And then he just walked off the earth into God’s presence without even experiencing death (Heb. 11:5).

We may not know where life’s road will take us, but we can enjoy the journey if we are walking with our Lord.

Thank You, Lord, for walking with us
As our guardian, friend, and guide;
Help us sense Your loving presence
Every day, close by our side.
—Sper

You're headed in the right direction if you're walking with Christ.

A W Tozer - THE WALK OF FAITH Enoch walked with God…for God took him. Genesis 5:24

There are spiritual lessons for every Christian believer in the life of godly Enoch, seventh generation from Adam through Adam’s third son, Seth.

We are impressed that he could resist the devil and find fellowship with his Creator God, for he lived in a worldly society headed for destruction.

Enoch’s daily walk was a walk of faith, a walk of fellowship with God. The Scriptures are trying to assure us that if Enoch could live and walk with God by faith in the midst of his sinful generation, we likewise should be able to follow his example because the human race is the same and God is the same!

Beyond that, Enoch reminds us that the quality and boldness of our faith will be the measure of our preparation for the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. We walk by faith as Enoch did, and although it is now twenty centuries after Christ’s sojourn on earth, we hold firmly to the New Testament promise that our risen Lord will return to earth again!

F B Meyer - Enoch walked with God.

What an epitaph on this ancient saint! It is as clear-cut today as when first recorded here. We know nothing of Enoch but this brief record; but it tells us everything. It was not an act or a number of acts, but a high tone of life constantly maintained. Better to walk with God every day in calm, unbroken fellowship, than to have occasional rapturous experiences, succeeded by long relapses and backslidings. The Hebrew word might be rendered, “Enoch walked, and continued to walk.”

Be sure to go God’s Way. — He will not walk with thee in thy way, but thou mayest walk with Him in his. To this He calls thee. Each moment, and especially when two or three roads diverge, look up to Him, and say, “Which way art Thou taking, that I may accompany Thee?” It will not be so hard to forsake inviting paths and engaging companions, if only the eye is kept fixed on his face, and the track of his footsteps determines thy road beyond hesitation or dispute.

Be sure to keep God’s Pace. — Do not run impetuously before Him; learn to wait his time: the minute-hand as well as the hour-hand must point the exact moment for action. Do not loiter behind in indolence or sloth. Be loyal and true to his ideals, and quick to obey his least commands.

Be sure to wear God’s Livery. — He is in the light; the light is his chosen symbol; it ill becomes thee to wear the unfruitful works of darkness. Put them off, and put on the armor of light. Walk with Him daily in stainless robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb. Then thy fellowship shall be with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and with all holy souls everywhere.

D L Moody - A GREAT deal is being said about holiness. Every true child of God desires to be holy, as His Father in heaven is holy. And holiness is walking with God. Enoch had only one object. How simple life becomes when we have only one object to seek, one purpose to fulfill—to walk with God, to please God! It has been said that the utmost many Christians get to is that they are pardoned criminals. How short they fall of the joy and blessedness of walking with God!

James Smith - Handfuls of Purpose - WALKING WITH GOD

“Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24).

Walking with God simply means living in the presence of God (Gen. 17:1). A life regulated by His will, inspired by His Spirit, and devoted to His purpose. It implies—

I. Entire Self-surrender. The name Enoch means “dedicated,” one yielded up to God, to be conformed to His mind and will.

II. Unbroken Fellowship. “How can two walk together except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). Good company makes the road short.

III. Continual Progress. To walk with God means a growing knowledge of Him. The light on this path shineth more and more. There is no standing still with Him. The wheels that are full of eyes rest not.

IV. Complete Separation. You could not think of Enoch taking part in the world’s sinful pleasures. “Be ye holy” (Lev. 20:7), for I am holy. God is light, and those who love the light do not walk in darkness.

V. Unfailing Perseverance. For 300 years he walked with God. Not once a week, not only in the morning or the evening for a few minutes, but continually, and amidst all the cares and trials of the ordinary family life. He was no hermit or recluse.

VI. Fearless Confidence (Psa. 23). When we can say, “THOU art with me,” what need we fear? Greater is He that is with us than all that can be against us. Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory over sin, the world, death, and the devil (1 Cor. 15:57).

VII. Intense Satisfaction. “He hath this testimony, that he pleased God” (Heb. 11:5). What a consolation this is, “He pleased God.” In so doing he would no doubt displease many. Because ye are not of this world therefore doth the world hate you (John 15:18).

VIII. Future Blessedness. “God took him.” This is the epitaph written concerning a man who was buried in Heaven before he died. He went in “to walk with Him in white” (Rev. 3:4). A figure of the transformation of the Church at the Coming of the Lord (Jude 14, 15).

IX. Simple Faith. “By faith Enoch was translated” (Heb. 11:5). He evidently believed that God would take him in without tasting death, and He did it. By faith in Christ God still takes men into His company, enabling them to please Him, and transforming them into His own likeness. “Walk worthy of the Lord” (Col. 1:10).

Oswald Chambers - Getting into God’s stride Genesis 5:24.

The test of a man’s religious life and character is not what he does in the exceptional moments of life, but what he does in the ordinary times, when there is nothing tremendous or exciting on. The worth of a man is revealed in his attitude to ordinary things when he is not before the footlights. (Cf. John 1:36.) It is a painful business to get through into the stride of God, it means getting your ‘second wind’ spiritually. In learning to walk with God there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride; but when we have got into it, the only characteristic that manifests itself is the life of God. The individual man is lost sight of in his personal union with God, and the stride and the power of God alone are manifested.

It is difficult to get into stride with God, because when we start walking with Him we find He has outstripped us before we have taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined into His ways. It was said of Jesus-“He shall not fail nor be discouraged,” because He never worked from His own individual standpoint but always from the standpoint of His Father, and we have to learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned by atmosphere, not by intellectual reasoning. God’s Spirit alters the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and things begin to be possible which never were possible before. Getting into the stride of God means nothing less than union with Himself. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give in because the pain is bad just now, get on with it, and before long you will find you have a new vision and a new purpose.

Walter Kaiser - 5:23–24 What Happened to Enoch? (Go to page 74 of Hard Sayings)

Too many people assume that there is no uniform and sure doctrine on the subject of life after death in the Old Testament. Only one reference in the Old Testament is counted as a clear and undisputed reference to the resurrection of the dead by most Old Testament scholars, Daniel 12:2: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” Unhappily, however, even those who concede this point incorrectly place Daniel in the second century B.C.

A few scholars are willing to add Isaiah 26:19 to the Daniel 12:2 passage and count it as a second passage supporting the idea of resurrection of the dead in the Old Testament. It reads, “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.”

Nevertheless, it is amazing to see how many learned men and women will deny even these two texts and argue that the Old Testament teaches virtually nothing about resurrection or life after death.

The truth of the matter is that ancient peoples were more attuned to the subject of life after death than moderns suspect. The peoples of the ancient Near East wrote at length about what life was like after one left this earth. One need only consult such representative pieces as the Gilgamesh Epic, The Descent of Ishtar into the Netherworld, the Book of the Dead and the Pyramid Texts. Indeed, the whole economy of Egypt was geared to the cult of the dead, for all who wished a part in the next life had to be buried around the pyramid of the Pharaoh. What these Egyptians could expect in that afterlife was depicted in the scenes on the walls of their mortuaries: eating, drinking, singing and all the joys of this life. Each joy, of course, would be magnified and still enjoyed through a body.

By the time Abraham arrived in Egypt, such concepts had been emblazoned on their walls in hieroglyphics, murals and models made of clay, to make sure no one missed the point. Life after death was not a modern doctrine developed by an educated society that began to think more abstractly about itself and its times. Instead it was an ancient hunger that existed in the hearts of humanity long before the patriarchs, prophets and kings of the Old Testament began to function. Why should we attribute this idea to the second and third centuries B.C. if already in the third and second millennium B.C. there is strong evidence to support it?

The earliest biblical mention of the possibility of a mortal’s inhabiting the immortal realms of deity can be found in Genesis 5:24. There we are told that a man named Enoch lived 365 years, all the while “walking with God.” Suddenly, “he was no more, because God took him away.”

Enoch, whose name means “beginner,” must have been unusually godly—not that he achieved this distinction by removing himself from the world and contemplating only the presence of God. In fact, he fathered the famous Methuselah (the man who lived the longest that we know about on planet Earth, 969 years!). And he had other sons and daughters. This man was hardly removed from the daily grind and the problems of life. Nevertheless, he was able to walk with God.

Since this quality of “walking with God” is ascribed only to Enoch and Noah (Gen 6:9), it is significant that Malachi 2:6 shows that the concept involved having a most intimate communion with God. What a tribute to a mortal who is also a sinner! On the other hand, since Exodus 33:20 teaches that “no one may see [God] and live,” the possibility of an outward, physical meeting with God is ruled out.

Many think that only since New Testament times have such nearness and inner communion with God become possible. But here was one who found such uninterrupted consciousness of the living God that it appears to match what we in the post-New Testament era experience.

After 365 years of intimacy with the Almighty, suddenly the Lord “took” Enoch. What can it mean that he “took” him?

The Hebrew root for the verb to take is used over a thousand times in the Old Testament. However, in two contexts—this Genesis 5 passage and the account of Elijah’s assumption into heaven in 2 Kings 2:3, 10–11—it refers to a snatching of a person’s body up to heaven.

In light of these two cases of physical assumption, are there other cases where the verb is used in the Old Testament with a similar meaning?

There are two additional contexts in which more is intended than a mere rescue from dying or distress. Psalm 49 presents a stark contrast between the end of the lives of the wicked and the end of the lives of the righteous. The wicked are like “the beasts that perish” (Ps 49:12, 20) without any hope that they “should live on forever” (Ps 49:9). However, the righteous have the triumphant expectation that “God will redeem [them] from the grave [Hebrew Sheol]; he will surely take [them] to himself” (Ps 49:15). The idea is the same as that of Genesis 5:24: God will snatch, take or receive us to himself when we die. If the psalmist had in mind the fact that he would be rescued from death for a few years, though he knows he still must eventually die like the beasts, then the psalm has very little, or no, point.

Psalm 73:23–25 makes a similar contrast between the wicked and the righteous. Once again there is faith that reaches beyond this life, and it centers on this verb to take (Hebrew lāqaḥ). Says the psalmist, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory” (Ps 73:24).

Accordingly, it can be argued on very strong linguistic and conceptual grounds that the “taking” of a person from this earth implies that mortals are capable of inhabiting immortal realms. For the believer in Yahweh in Old Testament times, death did not end it all. There was life after death, and that life was to be in the presence of the living God.

While Enoch did not experience “resurrection,” he did experience glorification. He did, along with Elijah, transcend this mortal life and go in his body to be with God. Since Enoch had not died, he could not be resurrected.

Such a view of an immediate access into the presence of God would also close down all speculation on any kind of intermediate state, receptacle or location as unscriptural. To say that Old Testament believers stayed in a separate compartment in Sheol or in a kind of purgatory runs directly counter to the fact that God snatched Enoch and Elijah away “to himself.”

To say that the Old Testament offers the hope of personal fellowship with God beyond the grave with a real body is not outlandish or incorrect. That hope is a teaching of the text itself.

See also comments on GENESIS 25:8 (See page 98); JOB 19:23–27 (See page 228); PSALM 49:12, 20 (See page 241); ECCLESIASTES 3:19–21 (See page 265).

FOLLOWING FROM
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR

ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD

The life and translation of Enoch

I. Consider THE LIFE OF ENOCH. He “walked with God.” These words seem to imply that Enoch possessed a remarkable resemblance to God in moral excellence; that he realized God’s presence, and enjoyed His communion in an extraordinary measure, and that he publicly avowed himself to be on God’s side, and stood almost alone in doing so. We notice especially the quietness and unconsciousness of his walk with God. The life of David or of Job resembled a stormy spring day, made up of sweeping tempest, angry glooms, and sudden bursts of windy sunshine; that of Enoch is a soft grey autumn noon, with one mild haze of brightness covering earth and heaven.

II. Notice ENOCH’S PUBLIC WORK OF PROTEST AND PROPHECY. The Epistle of Jude supplies us with new information about Enoch’s public work. He not only characterized and by implication condemned his age, but predicted the coming of the last great judgment of God. He announced it
(1) as a glorious and overpowering event;
(2) as one of conclusive judgment and convincing demonstration.

III. Look now at ENOCH’S TRANSLATION. How striking in its simplicity is the phrase, “He was not, for God took him!” The circumstances of his translation are advisedly concealed: “translated that he should not see death.” Many a hero has gathered fame because he stood “face to face with death,” and has outfaced the old enemy; but death never so much as dared to “look into Enoch’s eye as it kindled into immortality.” The reasons why this honour was conferred on him were probably--
(1) to show his transcendent excellence;
(2) to abash an infidel world;
(3) to prove that there was another state of being, and to give a pledge of this to all future ages. (G. Gilfillan.)

Enoch’s life

Few words are needed to describe the salient features of the majority of human lives. It is not needful to write a volume to tell whether a man has spent a noble or a wasted life. One stroke of the pen, one solitary word, may be enough.

I. HERE IS A LIFE SUDDENLY AND PREMATURELY CUT SHORT; for, although Enoch lived 365 years, it Was not half the usual age of the men of his day.

II. A LIFE SPENT AMID SURROUNDING WICKEDNESS.

III. A LIFE SPENT IN FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. In the expression “walked with God,” there is the idea of--
(1) strong persistence and determination;
(2) progress.

IV. A LIFE OF NOBLE TESTIMONY. “V. A LIFE CROWNED BY TRANSLATION. His translation was--
(1) A reminder to the men of his day that there was another state above and beyond the present;
(2) an intimation of the final reward of the saints. (J. W. Atkinson.)

Enoch, one of the world’s great teachers
Three strange things in connection with Enoch’s history:
(1) That so little is said about him;
(2) the comparative shortness of his stay on earth;
(3) the manifest singularity of the life he lived.

I. HE TAUGHT THE WORLD BY HIS LIFE.
1. “He walked with God.”
2. “He had the testimony that he pleased God.”

II. HE TAUGHT THE WORLD BY HIS TRANSLATION.
1. That death is not a necessity of human nature.
2. That there is a sphere of human existence beyond this.
3. That there is a God in the universe who approves of goodness.
4. That the mastering of sin is the way to a grand destiny.

III. HE TAUGHT THE WORLD BY HIS PREACHING (Jude 1:14-15).
(1) The advent of the Judge.
(2) The gathering of the saints.
(3) The conversion of sinners. (Homilist.)

The heavenly walk

I. THAT IT MAY BE PURSUED NOTWITHSTANDING THE PREVALENCY OF SIN AROUND.

II. THAT IT MAY BE PURSUED IN THE VERY PRIME OF BUSY MANHOOD.

III. THAT IT MAY BE PURSUED IN THE VERY MIDST OF DOMESTIC ANXIETY AND CARE. Many people have lost their religion through the increase of domestic cares. But a godly soul can walk with God in family life, and take all its offspring in the same holy path. Enoch would instruct his children in the right way. He would pray for them. He would commend them to his Divine friend. Happy the home where such a godly parent is at its head.

IV. THAT IT MAY BE PURSUED INTO THE VERY PORTALS OF HEAVEN AND ETERNAL BLISS. Enoch walked with God, and one day walked right into heaven with Him. Heaven is but the continuation of the holy walk of earth. (J. S.Exell, M. A.)

Enoch: accounting for men’s disappearance from the earth
“God took him.”

I. WE SHOULD TAKE AN INTEREST IN THE DESTINY OF MEN.

II. WE SHOULD RECOGNIZE THE HAND OF GOD IN THE REMOVAL OF MEN.

III. WE SHOULD BELIEVE IN THE PARTICULARITY OF GOD’S OVERSIGHT OF MEN. When God takes a good man--
(1) He takes that man to a higher blessing,
(2) He will fill that man’s place as a Christian worker upon earth.
(3) He trains survivors towards self-reliance and emulous work. Or thus:
1. God took him the assertion of a sovereign right.
2. God took him--an illustration of Divine regard.
3. God took him--an assurance of eternal blessedness.
4. God took him--a pledge that all like him will be associated. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Enoch

I. ENOCH AS TO HIS AGE.
1. It Was an age of longevity.
2. It was an ungodly age.

II. ENOCH AS TO HIS RELIGION.
1. He was independent.
2. Practical.

III. ENOCH AS TO HIS DEPARTURE.
1. His departure implies a future state.
(1) Analogy says so.
(2) The state of the world shows that there is a hereafter to square the accounts.
(3) Revelation proves it.
2. His departure shows that there is a reward to the faithful.
(1) Present satisfaction.
(2) Future felicity. Heb 4:9. (W. Griffiths.)

Enoch

I. WHAT IS MEANT BY ENOCH’S WALKING WITH GOD?
1. That he was well-pleasing to God (Heb 11:5). Amity, friendship, intimacy, love.
2. That he realized the Divine presence (Heb 11:6). God was to him a living Friend, in whom he confided, and by whom he was loved.
3. That he had very familiar intercourse with the Most High.
4. That his intercourse with God was continuous. He did not take a turn or two with God and then leave His company, but walked with God for hundreds of years. He did not commune with God by fits and starts, but abode in the conscious love of God.
5. That his life was progressive. At the end of two hundred years he was not where he began; he was not in the same company, but he had gone forward in the right way.

II. WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES WERE CONNECTED WITH ENOCH’S WALKING WITH GOD?
1. The details of his life are very few. Quite enough for us to know that he walked with God.
2. It is a mistake to suppose that he was placed in very advantageous circumstances for piety.
(1) A public man.
(2) A family man.
(3) Living in a very evil age. Still he bore his witness for God.

III. WHAT WAS THE CLOSE OF ENOCH’S WALK?
1. He finished his work early.
2. He was missed. “Not found” (Heb 11:5).
3. His departure was a testimony. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Enoch’s walk with God

In “Kitto’s Daily Bible Readings” there is an exceedingly pleasing piece, illustrating what it must be to walk with God by the figure of a father’s taking his little son by the hand and walking forth with him upon the breezy Dills. He says, “As that child walks with thee, so do thou walk with God. That child loves thee now. The world--the cold cruel world--has not yet come between his heart and thine. His love now is the purest and most beautiful he will ever feel, or thou wilt ever receive. Cherish it well, and as that child walks lovingly with thee, so do thou walk lovingly with God.” It is a delight to such children to be with their father. The roughness of the way or of the weather is nothing to them: it is joy enough to go for a walk with father. There is a warm, tender, affectionate grip of the hand and a beaming smile of the eye as they look up to father while he conducts them over hill and dale. Such a walk is humble too, for the child looks upon its father as the greatest and wisest man that ever lived. He considers him to be the incarnation of everything that is strong and wise, and all that his father says or does he admires. As he walks along he feels for his father the utmost affection, but his reverence is equally strong: he is very near his father, but yet he is only a child, and looks up to his father as his king. Moreover, such a walk is one of perfect confidence. The boy is not afraid of missing his way, he trusts implicitly his father’s guidance. His father’s arm will screen him from all danger, and therefore he does not so much as give it a thought--why should he? If care is needed as to the road, it is his father’s business to see to it, and the child, therefore, never dreams of anxiety--why should he? If any difficult place is to be passed, the father will have to lift the boy ever it, or help him through it; the child meanwhile is merry as a bird--why should he not be? Thus should the believer walk with God, resting on eternal tenderness and rejoicing in undoubted lave. What an instructive walk a child has with a wise, communicative parent! How many of his little puzzles are explained to him, how everything about him is illuminated by the father’s wisdom. The boy, every step he takes, becomes the wiser for such companionship. Oh, happy children of God, who have been taught of their Father while they have walked with Him! Enoch must have been a man of profound knowledge and great wisdom as to Divine things. He must have dived into the deep things of God beyond most men. His life must also have been a holy life, because he walked with God, and God never walks out of the way of holiness. If we walk with God, we must walk according to truth, justice, and love. The Lord has no company with the unjust and rebellious, and therefore we know that he who walked with God must have been an upright and holy man. Enoch’s life must, moreover, have been a happy one. Who could be unhappy with such a companion! With God himself to be with us the way can never be dreary. Did Enoch walk with God? Then his pilgrimage must have been safe. Nothing can harm the man who is walking with the Lord God at his right hand. And oh, what an honourable thing it is to walk with the Eternal! Many a man would give thousands to walk with a king. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

High ground

I. WHAT IS IT TO WALK WITH GOD?
1. Reconciliation with God.
2. Spiritual life (Gal 5:25).
3. None walk with God closely but those who love Him supremely.
4. Those with whom we walk, and whom we love, we are desirous to please and oblige. And those who walk with God delight to do His will.
5. Communion with God.
6. Similarity of disposition and feeling.

II. THE ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM SUCH A WALK.
1. It gives a real enjoyment, for which we are not at all dependent on external things, and of which nothing in this world can deprive us.
2. It sweetens all earthly pleasures and pains.
3. The man who walks with God learns much of the will of God.
4. Such a walk is a preparation for the enjoyment of God in heaven. (Benson Bailey.)

Enoch

I. ENOCH’S PIETY.
1. Walking with God includes--
(1) A true knowledge of God--of His character and laws; of His will concerning us, etc.
(2) Reconciliation to God (Am 3:3). In Jesus alone can this be effected.
(3) Cheerful obedience to the commands of God (1Jn 2:3).
(4) Devotional intercourse with God. Meditation. Prayer. Praise.
(5) Assimilation to the holy image of God (2Co 3:18).
(6) Advancement in all the things of God.
2. Walking with God is associated with--
(1) True dignity.
(2) Real pleasure.
(3) Permanent security. And
(4) eternal advantages.

II. HiS DISTINGUISHED REMOVAL.
1. “He was not.” No more among men.
(1) He was not allowed to remain in a troublesome and ungodly world.
(2) He was not subjected to the, otherwise, universal stroke of mortality. Exempted from disease, death, and corruption.
2. “God took him.”
(1) In a peculiar way. Body and soul unseparated.
(2) God took him to Himself--to His own immediate presence, “where is fulness of joy,” etc.
(3) God took him; and thus signalized and honoured distinguished piety.
Application: Learn--
1. The nature of true piety. To walk with God.
2. The reward of true piety. Interested in God’s gracious care; and ultimately raised to His own Divine presence.
3. Removal of Enoch teaches immortality of soul. (J. Burns, D. D.)

Enoch’s walk with God

I. EXPLAIN THE VIEW GIVEN OF ENOCH’S LIFE AND CHARACTER.

II. THE SINGULAR CLOSE OF HIS PIOUS COURSE.
1. It was a sudden change.
2. It was a miraculous change.
3. It was a happy change. (The Evangelical Preacher.)

Walking with God

I. HIS GENERAL CHARACTER. He walked with God.
1. What walking with God supposes.
2. Some advantages which result from walking with God.
(1) Guidance in difficulties (Pro 3:6). “He shall direct.” Psa 32:8).
(2) Preservation from falling (Psa 16:8).
(3) Assistance in weakness (Isa 41:10).
(4) Comfort in afflictions (Psa 46:1; Psa 94:19).
(5) Improvement in piety (Pro 4:18).

II. SOME PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH IT. Particularly--
1. The period of its commencement, and the time of its continuance. It commenced in what may be considered his early youth; when he had not lived the twelfth part of the then usual age of man. This shows us that early piety is acceptable to God (Pro 8:17). Seek it (Ecc 12:1); for early habits are most easily formed, and most lasting Lam 3:27). It continued at least three hundred years. This teaches us that the pleasures of religion never cloy (Psa 63:3-4); and that God’s grace is sufficient for the longest pilgrimage (2Co 12:9).
2. The relations under which it was sustained.
(1) The relation of a family governor. Hence, we see the falsehood of three common suppositions. First, “That solitude is necessary to piety.” This is an error of superstition; as Christians we are called to sociability Mat 5:14-16). Secondly, “That religion is injurious to social duties and comforts.” This is an error of prejudice, which is confuted by many living characters (Pro 12:26). Thirdly, “That we serve God only when we engage in acts of devotion.” This is an error of ignorance; for we also serve God acceptably when we serve mankind in obedience to Act 13:36; Gal 5:14; Gal 6:2; Gal 6:10).
(2) This character was also sustained by Enoch, under the relation of a public teacher. From this example we learn that teachers of others should be careful to walk with God themselves; in domestic life, that they may engage their families in God’s service (Jos 24:15); in public life, that their labours may be blessed by God (Psa 51:12-13; Mal 2:6).
3. The scenes amidst which it was preserved. These were examples of prevailing ungodliness, when piety was generally reproached. Thus, when iniquity is general, it is our duty to be singular (Ex 23:2); for we are called by God to be a peculiar people (Tit 2:14; Rom 12:2). A resolute confession of God in the face of an opposing world, is highly pleasing to Him (Heb 11:5). “He pleased God” Num 14:24). Those who honour God are honoured by Him (1Sa 2:30).
4. The glorious event which succeeded this holy walk: “God took him.” He was translated body and soul to heaven, without seeing death.
(1) This removal was gainful to him; it perfected his felicity. So the death of all true believers is followed by the eternal consummation of all their happiness (Php 1:21; Php 1:23; Luk 23:43).
(2) It was honourable to God. To His wisdom in discriminating characters; to His goodness, in rewarding the faithful; and to His truth, in fulfilling His promises. So is the death of all His saints (Psa 116:15; Psa 58:11).
(3) It was beneficial to mankind. It teaches mankind in all ages--
(a) That there is another and better world reserved for the righteous, as the ascension of Elijah and our Lord did afterwards (Heb 1Pe 1:3-5);
(b) that piety is extensively profitable, being evidently conducive to our eternal, as well as to our present welfare (1Ti 4:8);
(c) that the redemption of our bodies as well as our souls is certain. For we see God able and faithful to fulfil His engagements (Ho Php 3:21);
(d) that an early removal is no loss to the righteous. For what is taken from time is added to a blissful eternity (Rev 7:14-17);
(e) that a sudden removal, when God appoints it, is no cause of terror to those who die in Him, for to all such characters sudden death becomes sudden glory. (Sketches of Sermons.)

Walking with God

I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THE TERM.

II. I SHALL PRESCRIBE SOME MEANS, IN THE LAWFUL USE OF WHICH BELIEVERS ARE ENABLED TO KEEP UP THEIR WALK WITH GOD.
1. By studying the Scriptures.
2. By constant and earnest prayer.
3. By watching the dealings of God without.
4. The motions of God within.
5. Walking in ordinances.
6. Walking in providences.
7. In the communion of saints.
8. And by meditation.

III. I SHALL OFFER SOME MOTIVES TO STIR US UP TO THIS HOLY PRACTICE. It is most honourable: most pleasing: and abundantly beneficial to the souls of men.
1. This walking is by faith in Christ (2Co 5:7).
2. Looking to the promises of God (1Ti 4:8).
3. Trusting to the wisdom of God (Rom 8:28). (T. B. Baker.)

Enoch

I. ENOCH’S CHARACTER. “He walked with God.”

II. ENOCH’S END. “He was not” any longer subject to pain, sickness, infirmity, sorrow; all of which are still the portion even of those who walk with God in this vale of tears. “He was not” any longer tempted by Satan, by the world, by his own fallen nature, to sin against his kind Friend and Saviour; and thus his heaviest burden is removed. “He was not” any more “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked,” with the dishonour cast on his God, with the “triumphing of the wicked.” “He was not” spared to see their ungodliness proceeding to that gigantic pitch, which at length brought upon them the flood of waters to destroy all the earth. (J. Jowett, M. A.)

Enoch; or, the earthly walk and heavenly home

I. HE “WALKED WITH GOD”--A BRIEF AND SIMPLE STATEMENT OF A MOMENTOUS FACT. Of course the meaning is, that he was a good man, that he lived religiously. True religion is, walking “with God.” We are meant to walk with someone. We are social as well as active. Solitary journeying is sorrowful journeying. Company gives safety as well as cheer, beguiles the long hours and goads the flagging spirits. Most men have fellowships in their journey through life--companions of their moral ways, “walking with the wise,” or “going with the evil.” But the highest of all fellowships is with God: and “if we all walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” We “walk with God.” What does it include? Unquestionably realization. God is with us wherever we are, but we are with Him only as we recognize and feel Him to be present. God is “invisible,” and only faith can realize; and “by faith Enoch was translated.” In the dark night, a stranger perhaps might place himself by our side, or just behind us, for a time, but we should not walk with him. In the dark night of sin, “God is not far from every one of us,” but only one here and there are with Him. To see God, to be aware of His solemn nearness, to act as if this thought were ever in our mind, “Thou, God, seest me,” doing His will as that of a present Master, rejoicing in His favour as that of a present Friend, and trusting in His succour as that of a present Protector--to go on thus divinely right, and brave, and happy, is to “walk with God.” It includes intercourse. “But truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

II. Enoch walked with God, AFTER THE BIRTH OF METHUSELAH. It was then, so far as appears, that he began to do so. It is not said that he did so before. Until then it is said that “he lived,” as it is said of the rest. Does it not imply that he had not walked with God for sixty-five years? Or, supposing the expression, in his case, refers to eminence in religion, does it not imply that at that time his religion received a new start?

III. Be this as it may, the fact is clear that Enoch did walk with God after the birth of Methuselah and the births of other children. One of the two men who have had the honours of translation in this world for “pleasing God” was a man who LIVED IN THE MIDST OF SOCIETY, and was surrounded with children; he was not a recluse or a celibate. He lived in that condition in which there are natural and necessary distractions and temptations. It would be saying very little for religion if such a case were impossible. It would be queer theology which taught that man must denude himself of a portion of himself, ignore some of his capabilities and propensities, in order to know and possess much, or most, of God. When it is said that Enoch walked with God, it is meant that he attained to special religious excellence. His religion did not merely come into contact with his secular life; his spiritual humanity did not merely touch his social humanity, but, like the prophet upon the dead child, “stretched itself upon” it, mouth on mouth, eyes on eyes, hands on hands, and made it live. His religion was life, an active life. He “walked with God.”

IV. We see Enoch’s eminent godliness attaining A STRANGE AND SIGNAL HONOUR. “He was not, for God took him.” Paul says of Enoch, he did not “see death.” Christ says of every disciple that “he does not taste death.” I know not how it strikes you, but I always feel when reading this passage as if there was a beautiful fitness in this exit, a fitness of course and end. God took him who had walked with Him, bore him away to another sphere. The very silence of the historian aids the impression: there is no breach between the earthly and the heavenly life, no defined horizon--clouds, and sky, fields, hills, and wood, meet together, and this world’s beauty and the glory of the world above melt into each other, and one unbroken scene fills and satisfies the eye. He was with God here, he is with God there. He became more and more Divine in the lower and harder conditions of life, and now he has reached a state where nothing exists to check or disappoint his Godward aspirations. There is no translation now for the righteous, but there is better, transformation, the being “changed from glory to glory now,” and “the bearing of the image of the heavenly” hereafter. (A. J. Morris.)

Enoch’s character and translation

Observe, Be the times never so bad, it is men’s own fault they are bad too. Eminent holiness, and intimate communion with God, may be attained in the worst of times. The reasons are--
1. Because, however men grow worse and worse, heaven is still as good and bountiful as ever (Isa 59:1-2).
2. Because those that mind for heaven must row against the stream always; and if they do not, they will be called down the stream in the best of times; for, says our Lord (Mat 11:12).
3. The badness of the times affords matter to excite God’s people the more to their duty and close walking with God. The profaneness and formality of those they live among, and the dishonour done to God thereby, should be like oil to the flame of their holy love and zeal, as it was to David Ps 119:126-127).
4. Because, as the Lord shows Himself most concerned for the welfare of those who are most concerned for His honour, so the worse the times are, they that cleave to Him closely may expect to fare the better.

I. Let us consider Enoch’s holy life in this world; “Enoch walked with God.” The Spirit of God puts a special remark on this. It is Enoch’s honour, that he did not walk as others did, after their lusts. Observe,
1. God takes special notice of those who are best when others are worst Gen 6:9).
(1) To be thus argues an ingenuous spirit, a love to the Lord for Himself, and a love to His way for its likeness to Himself; that the soul is carried thus to it against the stream of the corruption of the age.
(2) It argues not only grace, but the strength of grace. It must be strong faith, love, etc., that so much bear out against the strong temptation to apostasy, arising from the combination of a generation against God and His way. To be holy when the helps to a holy life are least in the world, argues the vigour of grace in the heart. Labour ye then to be best while others are worst, to confront the impiety of the generation wherein ye live. Do they indulge themselves in licentiousness? be ye the more strict and holy in your walk. Do they take up with mere externals in religion? strive ye the rather to get into the inner court, to taste and see, and here to have communion with God. Observe,
2. It is the honour of a professor of religion to outgo others in the matter of close walking with God. In the first part of the words we have--
(1) The person characterized; and that is Enoch. There was another of this name descended from Cain, who had a city called after his name Gen 4:17). Immortality is desired of all; and because men cannot stave off death, they follow after a shadow of immortality, that at least their name may live when they are gone. Therefore that has been an ancient custom, for men to call their lands after their own names (Psa 49:11). How much better was it with this Enoch, that took that course to get on him the name of the city of God, which Christ promises to write on all his people (Rev 3:12)? The city called by the name of the other Enoch was destroyed by the deluge, and is now unknown; but the city of God lasts still, and will last forever. Observe, True piety is the best way to honour, even to true honour. For “the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance,” when “the memory of the wicked shall rot.” Observe, They that live near God are most likely to be put upon His secrets, and to know most of His mind (Psa 25:14).

II. His character; he “walked with God.” He lived like a man of another world; a life of close communion with God. It imports--
(1) That he was really religious; not only religious before men, but before God. Religion lies inwardly. We are that really which we are before the Lord; “He is a Jew which is one inwardly.” See, here, what he was: a spiritual traveller through the world; he “walked.” “He walked with God.” He looked on himself as a pilgrim and stranger in this present world Heb 11:13). (T. Boston, D. D.)

Of walking with God

I. First, I am to consider walking with God in the foundation thereof, with respect to our state.

II. Secondly, I shall consider walking with God in the matter of it, in respect of our frame and conversation. And, indeed, this duty goes as broad as the whole law. If we would have the life of religion in our walk, we must not walk at random.
1. We must walk with God in the way of habitual eyeing of Him in all things.
2. We must walk with God in the way of the heart’s going along with Him in all things, as the shadow goes with the body. Walking with God is no bodily motion, but a spiritual motion, a moving of the heart and affections; and so it must import necessarily the heart’s going along with Him.
3. We must walk with God in ordinances (Luk 1:6). The ordinances are the banqueting house of Christ wherein He feasts His people (Song 2:4), the galleries wherein the king is held by those that walk with him there (Song 7:5).
4. We must walk with God in the stations and relations wherein He hath placed us. These are the sphere that God hath given us to move in, in the world. There are two pieces of work which a Christian has to do.
(1) One for himself, and that is his salvation work (Php 2:12). This lies in his personal walk.
(2) One for God, and that is his generation work (Act 13:36). This lies in his relative walk.
5. We must walk with God in all our actions, whether natural, civil, or religious. “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1Co 10:31).

III. Thirdly, I shall consider walking with God in the properties thereof. Walking with God is religion; and it is--
1. Practical religion, religion in deed, not in word only; and there is no other sort of religion that will bring us to heaven; hence says our Lord Joh 13:17).
2. It is inward and heart religion (1Pe 3:4). They that have no religion but what is visible to the world, have no true religion; for God is the invisible God, and walking with Him must be so too (Rom 2:28-29).
3. It is heavenly religion (Php 3:20). According to men’s state and their nature, so will their actions be; for as is the tree, so will the fruit be. The heart of man, according as grace or corruption reigns in it, will tincture everything that comes through it.
4. It is lively and active religion, being a walking with the living God, wherein there is not only grace, but grace in exercise (Song 1:12).
5. It is regular religion, and uniform; for he that walks with God must needs walk by a constant rule, eyeing Him not in some things only, but in Gal 6:16; Psa 16:8). He gives one rule of walking, extending to man’s whole conversation; and so he that walks with Him, walks regularly, aiming at a holy niceness, preciseness, and exactness, in conformity to that rule in all things (Eph 5:15).
6. It is laborious and painful religion; for it is no easy life they have whose trade it is to walk on their feet (Heb 6:10). And it is no easy religion to walk with God. Religion is not a business of saying, but doing; not of doing carelessly, but carefully, painfully, and diligently.
7. It is a self-denied religion (Mat 16:24).
8. It is a humble religion (Mic 6:8).
9. It is constant religion. Walking is not a rising up and sitting down again, but a continued action, like that of a traveller going on till he come to his journey’s end. Enoch walked on through the world, till he was not.
10. It is progressive religion; religion that is going forward (Pro 4:18). (T. Boston, D. D.)

Walking with God

I. First and chiefest, because it will secure the rest, walk CONFIDENTLY with God. Rest upon His faithfulness. Entertain no suspicions of His love.

II. Walk OBEDIENTLY with God; i.e., be diligent in keeping His commandments. And let your obedience be an unreserved, warm-hearted, zealous, faithful obedience, an obedience of love which is ready at all times, as love is ready. Walk, then, unreservedly, in the love of the Lord with all its glorious consequences. And walk obediently with God in the second commandment as well as the first. Oh! then, let your walk with God be obedient; unreserved, without fear of excess; universal, without exception or partiality; and persevering, without yielding to monotony.

III. Walk HUMBLY with your God. He is a Father, and we are children. What does that relationship call for? Reverence--filial reverence, it is true, but still reverence, or honour--the honour of the father and the mother. “If I be a Father,” He says, “where is My honour? and if I be a Master, where is My fear?” Further, He is the Creator, and we are the creatures of His hands; and this relationship calls for real subjection and prostration.

IV. Walk PATIENTLY with God. For however confiding your walk may be; however obedient with all the great characteristics of obedience; however humble, still you will suffer, and must be prepared for endurance. “The Lord chastens every son whom He receiveth”; and you must not expect to walk through this world exempt from trouble. “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you.” It is not a strange thing, it is the common case of the Lord’s children. (H. McNeile, D. D.)

Enoch’s walk and translation

I. THE CHARACTER OF ENOCH, WITH HIS DECIDED RELIGIOUS WORTH.

II. ENOCH’S GLORIOUS TRANSLATION FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN.
1. A sign of God’s love.
2. It is remarkable that three eminent translations distinguished three dispensations of God’s mercy to men--the last the most glorious.
(1) Enoch’s translation in the patriarchal age.
(2) Elijah’s translation in the prophetic age.
(3) Our Lord Jesus Christ ascended, was translated to heaven, in the Christian dispensation, when, after His triumphant resurrection and sojourn on earth for forty days, He ascended on a cloud of glory before His own disciples. Now, these three most memorable instances of translation to heaven clearly prove a separate state--a glorified humanity and an immortal life.

III. A FEW PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS MAY PROFITABLY CONCLUDE THIS SERMON: especially when a solemn event fills the minds of so many with deep thoughts.
1. We may all copy the living sermon of a holy life dedicated to Christ.
2. How sweet and blessed is the death of the Christian! His soul is taken away to the Saviour whom he loved; and his body rests in hopes of resurrection glory. His soul is gone; he is not on earth; God has taken him to heaven! No more shall sin or sorrow cloud the soul; no more shall trial, suffering, or death affect the body; no more shall the gloom of life intercept or darken the eye of faith, or the streaming light of heaven. (J. G.Angley, M. A.)

The piety and translation of Enoch

I. ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD.

II. THE TRANSLATION OF ENOCH.
1. As a work of omnipotence.
(1) A suspension of the order of nature in this particular case, arresting the arm of death.
(2) There was also a miraculous removal of the body of Enoch.
2. As a work of mercy. The wings of heavenly mercy overshadowed him, to protect him from the penalties of a violated law.
3. The translation of Enoch eminently displays the glory and honour of God. His love of the righteous was strikingly shown. His moral government was manifested, and His entire command over the present and the future so fully exemplified, that we cannot contemplate it without profound adoration of the Most High.
4. It was calculated to be beneficial to mankind, and to serve in that early stage of society the interests of truth and piety. (Essex Remembrancer.)

The character and translation of Enoch

I. HISTORY OF ENOCH.

II. CHARACTER OF ENOCH.

III. CONDUCT OF ENOCH. The conduct of this antediluvian saint was the piety of intelligence; he understood God’s claim and his own obligations, and it was not a mere custom. It was the piety of deliberate design and choice; he was not, so to speak, thrown accidentally into God’s company, but chose to go to Him, and with fixed, determinate purpose, sought His friendship. It was the piety also of a minister of religion; and what is any minister of religion, without personal godliness, but an actor in the most dreadful tragedy ever performed on the stage of this world, since it ends not in the feigned, but the real, death and destruction of the performer? It was the piety of one who had few of those helps and advantages of divine revelation and ordinances which we enjoy, and therefore shows how God can, and will, help those in the Divine life, who are, by Providence, deprived of the assistance which others possess. It was piety, maintained during a long period of severe trial, a profession consistently upheld amidst all conceivable opposition for nearly four centuries, thus exhibiting a sublime instance of endurance, perseverance, and victorious faith.

IV. TRANSLATION OF ENOCH. Enoch’s translation was a testimony to that generation of which he was a member, and to the whole world from that time to this, of God’s approval of his conduct. (J. A. James.)

Walking with God

I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN WALKING WITH GOD.

II. THAT GOD WILL MANIFEST SOME PECULIAR TOKENS OF HIS FAVOUR TO THOSE WHO WALK WITH HIM.
1. God will guard them against the favours of the world.
2. God graciously guards his friends while they walk with Him, from their invisible as well as visible enemies.
3. God will give those who walk with Him peculiar evidence of their interest in His special grace. He loves those who walk with Him, and will manifest His love to them. He expressly called Abraham His friend when he offered up his son upon the altar. He sent a messenger from heaven to declare that Daniel was greatly beloved. And He manifested His special love to David by lifting the light of His countenance upon him.
4. God will manifest His peculiar favour to those who walk with Him, by giving them not only inward light, and joy, and peace, and the full assurance of hope, but by granting them outward prosperity.
5. Those who walk with God have ground to hope for another great and peculiar favour; that is, His gracious and comforting presence when they leave the world.
IMPROVEMENT.
1. We may learn from the nature and effects of walking with God how all true believers may attain to the full assurance of hope. If saints would prevent or remove darkness, doubts, and distress from their minds, let them walk closely with God, who will give them peculiar tokens of their displeasing Him, and standing high in His favour.
2. If God manifests peculiar tokens of His favour to those who walk with Him, then they have more to gain than to lose by walking with Him.
3. If God be highly pleased with His friends while they walk with Him, then He must be highly displeased when they depart from Him.
4. It appears from the nature of walking with God, that those who walk with Him in a day of degeneracy do peculiar service and honour to religion.
5. This subject calls upon all who have professed to walk with God to inquire whether they have walked worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called.
6. This subject exhorts all who have not hitherto walked with God to walk with Him. (N. Emmons, D. D.)

Walking with God
Other notable men existed in that ancient time, to whom we are apparently more indebted than we are to Enoch; men who were the fathers of arts and sciences, and the founders of political institutions--pioneers in the onward march of civilization. But what are Jabal, and Jubal, and Tubal-Cain to us but so many cyphers associated in our minds with certain objects? We know something of these men’s work; of themselves we know absolutely nothing. Here, on the contrary, nothing is told us of any outward work that the man did; we only have the brief and summarized story of an inner life. But more than this. Enoch was the first saint, in the full sense of the word, of whom we hear anything in human history, as Abel was the first “righteous for justified] man.” He stands, perhaps, historically speaking, at the head of the great master roll of heaven’s nobility; and it is the brotherhood of saints that makes the ages one. We are more indebted to the first pioneer upon the highway of holiness than to the earliest discoverers in science and in art. Holiness is, above everything else, the reproduction of the Divine. As I said a moment ago, very little has been told us about Enoch, where our curiosity would fain have heard a great deal; but the little that has been told us is suggestive, and every point seems to carry its own lesson. To begin with his name. Enoch has the double meaning of consecration and initiation, suggesting first the thought that he who bore that name was to be one of God’s consecrated ones, “a priest unto God,” and next that, as a priest, he was to be introduced into the spiritual temple, to be allowed to see and know what the outer world knows nothing of, and to be initiated into the deeper mysteries of the spiritual life. And in this name we have the clue not only to his career, but to that of every other saint who, like him, walks with God. The life of fellowship must needs be the product of a state of consecration. God consecrates us His spiritual priests that our whole manhood may be set apart and our whole lives dedicated to His service. We may be occupied, as Enoch was, in the ordinary duties of life; our hands and our heads may be busy, yet may we find God’s temple everywhere, and His service in everything. For there is nothing secular, all is a sanctity, where all is given to God. Further, our attention is specially called by a New Testament writer to the fact that Enoch was the seventh from Adam. His was the Sabbath life in that genealogical record. As the Sabbath days to the other days of the week, so must his life have seemed as compared with the lives of others in those troublous and tumultuous days. And there is a rest even here for the people of God. We need not defer the Sabbath keeping of the soul to that glorious future which awaits God’s faithful ones yonder. It may seem, perhaps, fanciful to call attention to another fact mentioned in this brief notice, but I cannot bring myself to pass it over. We read that “all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years.” That is to say, he lived a perfect year of years; as many days as there are in the year, so many years there were in his life; he fulfilled his year. Perhaps when we reach the other side we shall make some strange discoveries with respect to the term of our existence here in the house of our discipline. Perhaps we may find that some lives have been lengthened out to extreme old age, just because life’s lessons were being learned indeed, but learned wondrous slowly by very dull scholars; and that some lives were cut short just because Divine Omniscience saw no probability of these lessons ever being learned at all by scholars who positively refused to learn. But to every man is appointed his own proper year; and blessed are they who so live that the year completes the life in every sense of the word! Blessed are they who so walk with God that when their appointed life period draws to a close their life lesson may be learnt, and they themselves be ready for the call to higher knowledge and more perfect service, while it is said of them, “He was not; for God took him.” Enoch’s life was not a long one as lives went in those days; he was only in what would be then regarded as early middle life when his call came, but had fulfilled his year. His life was complete in God’s sight, his day’s work done, and there was no necessity that he should tarry in the house of discipline through the long ages which measured the life of a Methuselah. But it is time that we looked more closely at this pregnant phrase, which tells us all that we historically know of the religious life of this ancient servant of God, “Enoch walked with God.” What is it, let us ask, to walk with God? More than a single idea would seem to be suggested by this familiar expression. As the words stand in the original they suggest primarily the idea of walking with reference to God. It is the idea that the Psalmist expresses when he says, “I foresaw God always before mine eyes.” In the practical issues of life, and in all its complete details, everything turns upon our choice of our centre of reference. He whose central idea in life is, How shall I please myself? can never walk with God, because God is not his centre of reference. Or again, this life of reference to God stands contrasted with the life of reference to the world, that conventional life which so many people condescend to lead. With such the question is, What is expected of me? or, What is the correct thing? or, What do others do? or, Will people like it? What will people say if I adopt this course, or do not adopt the other? Do not aim at singularity, but, on the other hand, do not shrink from it. You needs must be singular if you serve God in a world that serves Him not; you needs must be singular if you put the good before the fashionable in a world that puts the fashionable before the good; you needs must be singular if you put duty before worldly expediency, and the love of God and man before both in a selfish, shallow world, where all men seek their own. But there is nothing to be ashamed at in such singularity, and he who plays the poltroon, and is afraid to face reproach, would indeed be very singular in heaven if he were ever to get there. Better surely to be singular in this perishing world than hopelessly out of harmony with the spirit and genius of heaven. But this leads us to consider another thought suggested by the words of our text, closely connected with what we have just been considering, and yet distinct from it. To walk with God is not only to walk with reference to God, but to move, so to speak, on the same moral plane as belongs to God--seeing things from His point of view, entering into His designs, and drinking ever more and more deeply of His Spirit. There is a unity of heart and mind, of thought and feeling, that is usually a feature of close association amongst ourselves; and something of this kind would seem to be implied by the words, “Enoch walked with God,” Listen to the words quoted by St. Jude, “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.” The man that uttered those words was clearly looking at things from the Divine standpoint. With him sinners are regarded specially as ungodly, and sins are ungodly deeds; the habit of life that induces them is an ungodly habit of life, and the very words that such sinners are wont to speak are ungodly words. And the reason of this way of viewing things is that the man is walking with God. He takes measure of evil and of good, according as it affects that Divine Being with whom his life is hid. His standpoint is no longer merely ethical; he is conversant rather with She very heart of God than with moral principles. He is jealous for God’s glory with a godly jealousy, and is fired with a holy indignation at all that militates against this. And oh, with what a heart full of yearning love does he who thus walks with God gaze upon a God-dishonouring world! God loved the world, and loves it, and he who is in fellowship with the mind of God must needs love it too. The more He hates sin, the more does He long for the salvation of the sinner. But let us take the words of our text in the meaning which they most naturally bear, and which suggests perhaps the most important lesson of all. “Enoch walked with God”; that is to say, he lived in the society of God. In all his life an invisible but ever-present Friend was his Companion. He lived in His society, he consulted Him about everything, he was in communion with Him everywhere. So he lived out his allotted life, his year of years, until he passed from the triumphs of the walk of faith to the glories of the Land of Vision; for there is no death for such. The presence of God makes earth heaven, and brings heaven down to earth. The presence of God turns the shadow of death into the morning, and invests him who enjoys it with immortality. “I am the resurrection, and the life,” saith the Lord: “he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and he that liveth and believeth on Me shall never die.” By-and-by, when the last of the three hundred and sixty five days of his year had arrived and was reaching its close, the call came, “Friend, come up higher”: and “he was not; for God took him.” For as to walk with God is the secret of perfection here on earth, so to walk with God will be the crowning glory of that higher world. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)

Enoch, the model walker

I. A SAFE WALK. During a sudden freshet, a labouring man and his child, living in a cottage that stood by itself, were obliged to walk at midnight for more than a mile through water reaching to the little boy’s waist before they could reach a place of safety. After they had changed their clothes, and were feeling comfortable, the friend in whose cottage they had found shelter said to the little boy, “And wasn’t you afraid, Jack, while walking through the water?” “No, not at all,” said the little fellow, who was but seven years old: “I was walking along with father, you know. And I knew he wouldn’t let the water drown me.” This was very sweet. And if, like Enoch, we are walking with God, let us remember that we are walking with our heavenly Father. And He promises us expressly, “When thou passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee” (Isa 43:2). One morning a teacher found many empty seats in her schoolroom. Two little scholars lay dead at their homes, and others were sick. The few children present gathered around her, and said, “Oh! what shall we do? Do you think we shall be sick, and die too?” The teacher gently touched the bell, and said, “Children, you are all afraid of this disease. You grieve for the death of your little friends, and you fear that you also may be taken. I only know of one thing for us to do, and that is to hide. Listen whale I read to you about a hiding place. Then she read the 91st Psalm, which begins thus: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” They were all hushed by the sweet words, and then the morning lesson went on as usual. At recess, a dear little girl came up to the desk, and said, “Teacher, aren’t you afraid of the diphtheria?” “No, my child,” she answered. “Well, wouldn’t you be if you thought you would be sick, and die?” “No, dear, I trust not.” The child gazed wonderingly at her for a moment; and then her face lightened up as she said, “Oh! I know! You are hidden under God’s wings. What a nice safe place that is to hide in!”

II. WALKING WITH GOD IS A USEFUL WALK. Suppose that you and I were taking a walk through the wards of a hospital. It is full of people who are suffering from accidents, and diseases of different kinds. There are some people there with broken limbs. Some are blind, others are deaf; and some are sick with various fevers, and consumption. And suppose that, like our blessed Lord, we had the power, as we went from one bed to another, to heal the sick and suffering people in that hospital. Here is a lame man. We make his limbs straight and strong, so that he can walk. Here is a blind man. We touch his eyes with our fingers; they open, and he can see. We speak to those who are suffering from diseases of different kinds, and make them well. Then we might well say that our walk through that hospital was a useful walk. But we have no such power as this to cure the diseases from which the bodies of men are suffering. Yet this may afford us a good illustration of what we can do for the souls that are suffering around us, when we become Christians, and walk with God. Some years ago a gentleman from England brought a letter of introduction to a merchant in this country. The stranger was an intelligent man with very pleasant manners, but he was an infidel. The gentleman to whom he brought the letter of introduction, and his wife, were earnest Christian people. They invited the stranger to make their house his home during his stay, and treated him with the greatest possible kindness. On the evening of his arrival, before the hour of retiring, the gentleman of the house, knowing what the views of his guest were on the subject of religion, told him they were in the habit of having family worship every evening; that they would be happy to have him join with them; or, if he preferred, he could retire to his room. He said it would give him pleasure to remain. Then a chapter of the Bible was read, and the family knelt in prayer, the stranger with them. After spending a few days in that pleasant Christian home, the stranger embarked on board a ship, and sailed to a foreign land. In the course of three or four years he returned, and stayed with the same family. But what a change there was in him! His infidelity was all gone. He was now an humble, earnest Christian. In speaking to his friend of this change, he said: “Sir, I owe it all to you. When I knelt down with you at family prayers on my former visit, it was the first time for years that I had ever bowed my knees before God. It brought back to me the memory of my pious mother, now in heaven, and all the teaching she had given me when a boy. I was so occupied with these thoughts that I did not hear a word of your prayer. But this led me to give up my infidelity, and seek the blessing of my mother’s God. And now I am as happy as the day is long in His service.” Here again we see how true it is that walking with God is a useful walk.

III. A PLEASANT WALK. When we are taking a walk there are several things that will help to make up the pleasure to be found in that walk. If we have a guide to show us the road; if we have a pleasant companion to talk with as we go on our way; if we have plenty of refreshments--nice things to eat and drink; if there are bright and cheerful prospects around and before us; and especially, if we are sure of a nice comfortable home to rest in when our walk is ended, these will help to make it pleasant. But when we walk with God, as Enoch did, we have all these things, and more too.
And these are sure to make it a pleasant walk. Solomon is speaking of this walk when he says: “Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace.” “I visited a poor old woman belonging to my congregation,” said a minister. “She was entirely dependent on the church for her support. Her home was a very small cottage. The moment I entered it I saw how neat and clean everything was. She had just been gathering some sticks from the lane with which to cook her evening meal. Her face was one of the sweetest I ever saw. It was surrounded by the strings of her snow-white cap. On the table lay a well-worn copy of the Word of God. I looked around for a daughter or friend to be her companion and caretaker, but saw none. I said: ‘Mother Ansel, you don’t live here alone, do you?’ ‘Live alone! Live alone!’ she exclaimed in surprise, and then, as a sweet smile lighted up her face, she added, ‘No, sir, the blessed Lord lives with me, and that makes it pleasant living!’” Certainly she found walking with God a pleasant walk. A Christian lady was visiting among the poor one day. She called, among others, on a little sick girl. Her home was a dreary looking one. The room she occupied was on the north side of the house. There was nothing bright or pleasant about it. Everything looked dark and cheerless. “I am sorry you have no sun on this side of the house,” said the lady. “Not a ray of sunshine gets in here. This is a misfortune, for sunshine is everything.” “Oh, ma’am! you are mistaken,” said the sick girl, as a sweet smile lighted up her pale face. “My sun pours in at every window, and through all the cracks.” “But how can the sun get round on this side of the house?” asked the visitor. “It is Jesus, ‘the Sun of Righteousness,’ that shines in here,” was the reply, “and He makes the best sunshine.” That sick girl found walking with God a pleasant walk.

IV. A PROFITABLE WALK. We see a good deal of walking done without much profit. But sometimes we hear of people who are able to make their walking pay. There was a walking match in New York not long ago. A number of persons were engaged in it, and the man who won the prize secured twenty-five thousand dollars. That was profitable walking, so far as money was concerned; but walking with God is more profitable than this. Suppose there was a savings bank half a mile from your house, and you were told that if you walked to that bank every week, and put a penny in the treasury, for every penny you put in you would get a dollar at the end of the year. A penny a week would make fifty-two pennies by the end of the year, and if for these fifty-two pennies you were to receive fifty-two dollars, that would make your walk to the bank profitable walking. “It would be getting what we call a hundredfold for the money invested there.

There is no such savings bank as this. But, when we learn to walk with God, we find that serving Him is just like putting money in such a bank. Jesus says that if we give a cup of cold water to one of His disciples, or if we suffer for Him, or do any work for Him, we “shall receive a manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.” And if such rewards are given to those who walk with Him, then we may well say that that is profitable walking. An infidel was one day laughing at a plain farmer because he believed the Bible. The farmer surprised him by saying, “Well, you see, we plain country people like to have two strings to our bow.” “And pray what do you mean by that?” asked the infidel. “Only this,” was the farmer’s answer, “that believing the Bible, and acting up to it, is like having two strings to one’s bow; for, if the Bible is not true, still I shall be a better and happier man for living according to its teachings, and so it will be profitable for me in this life; this is one string to my bow, and a good one, too. And, if the Bible should prove true, as I know it will, it will be profitable for me in the next world, and that is another string, and a pretty strong one, too. But, sir, if you do not believe the Bible, and do not live as it requires, you have no string to your bow in this world. And, oh, sir! if the tremendous threatenings of the Bible prove true--as they surely will--you will have no string to your bow for the next world, and what will become of you then?” This shows us that walking with God is profitable walking. (R. Newton, D. D.)

Known by his walk

“That man’s been in the army,” said a gentleman to his friend the other day, as a stranger passed them in the street; “I know a soldier by his walk.” Men ought to know Christ’s soldiers by their walk.

The biography of Enoch; or, a glorious life and a glorious end

Enoch is one of the few excellent men mentioned in the Bible, of whom nothing bad is recorded. Abraham is described as the father of the faithful; and yet there are instances on record in which his mighty faith gave way. Who ever thinks of the flaws on the face of beauty? Who ever thinks of the spots which deface the sun? They exist, you may find them by minute observation; but they do not make a deep impression upon your mind. Thus the character of Enoch, in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation, seemed to be one mass of light, in which there was no darkness at all. Enoch is one of these men who owe their immortality to the brightness of their characters. Let us then consider the text as--

I. A SIMPLE RECORD OF A GLORIOUS LIFE. What does a glorious life consist in? The poet thinks it a glorious thing to produce burning thoughts, to master the powers of language, to command brilliant imagery; to revel in imagination through the ethereal regions of the lovely, the grand, the eternal; and then descend from those lofty heights to the lowly regions of real life, to enlighten its gloom, to soothe its sorrows, to strengthen its hopes. The orator thinks it a glorious thing to rivet the attention of assembled multitudes. The warrior thinks it a glorious thing to be entrusted with the command of a powerful army. Here is a simple record of a glorious life; let us now endeavour to analyse it. The words point to--
1. A life of absolute devotedness. It is not a selfish existence, but an existence linked to another existence, subordinate to another existence, devoted to another existence. “With God.”
2. A life of steady progress. This is clearly suggested by the term walking. Man is never more dignified than when he walks with a regular, firm, steady step; it is then that he looks every inch the lord of creation; you wonder not that other creatures should submit to his sway. But let him loiter about as if he had nothing to do, or let him run as if he were pursued, and he falls at once in your estimation. There is a touch of manliness about the very act of walking, which indicates a definite purpose, a reasonable aim, a complete mastery over one’s self. You have only to conceive of a man walking and a man running, and compare these two conceptions together, in order to be impressed with the superiority of the one over the other. But the expression employed here has a wider meaning than this. “Enoch walked with God.” This indicates progress. It is progress in knowledge, progress in holiness, progress in good works. It is an upward struggle, a heavenward course, a climbing up to the mount of God.
3. A life of blessed companionship. “With God.” Now, the blessed companionship of Enoch with God, which was a type of all true companionship, implied faith in God. Enoch’s companionship implied also a certain degree of familiarity with God. Just think of it. God’s friend must become a God-like character. The moon which is bathed in the transforming light of the sun, becomes itself a luminous body, and lightens up the sombre blackness of the night with its pale, beautiful, silvery rays. And so the man who walks in the light of God’s countenance must necessarily catch some of the glory and reflect it upon the world around him. Besides this, God’s friend needs fear no enemy.

II. A SIMPLE RECORD OF A GLORIOUS END. “And he was not, for God took him.” A good man is never lost; long after his body has mouldered in the dust, the influence of his holy example will remain, will remain as a mighty power; a power which will not diminish, but grow with the flight of ages. (D. Rowlands, B. A.)

Enoch’s walking with God

I. As the first acceptable worshipper of God was Abel, so the first acceptable walker with God was Enoch, in Scripture record. Here are two remarks upon Enoch recorded in Scripture. The first is, his appearance in the world. The second is, his disappearance from the world.
1. His appearance is attended with sundry considerable circumstances. As
(1) his name.
(2) His time.
(3) His Age.
(4) His office or employ. Concerning his name Enoch, which has a double signification.
Enoch signifies “dedicated”; his father Jared (which signifies “meek”) being a lowly and a holy man, did dedicate this son to God, as soon as he had received him from God.

II. Enoch signifies “catechized” or “instructed”; well knowing, also, that the care of the means was committed to the father, though he had committed the care of the end to the Lord. The paternal instruction must promote the dedication. As Jared had marred him by propagation (begetting a son in his own, the fallen image), so he must mend him by instruction. God is so exact in Scripture record, stating him the seventh patriarch, not only to declare the genealogy of Christ in a more distinct chronology of succession than can be found in any of the best human histories, but also to show both His great care of His Church and His great delight in His Church.
1. His great care of it in upholding it by seven descents of holy patriarchs.
2. His great delight in His Church above all other His concerns in the world, being only, all of them, in order to His Church.
3. The age of life that Enoch lived. The years that he lived in this lower world were exactly answerable to the days of a year, to wit, 365. What he wanted in the silver of a life natural, he had well paid him in the gold of a life eternal; so that not only the shortness of the father’s life was made up in the long life of his son, but also, God took him from a worse place to plant him into a better. His translation was but transplantation, as it were, out of God’s kitchen garden into His heavenly paradise. Thus we see here on earth, those northern plants which are transplanted out of their cold climate into a warmer southern soil, find no detriment, but advantage thereby, and thrive the better. How much more was it no loss, but gain, to Enoch to be translated out of the vale of tears into God’s garden of celestial pleasures! There are many talkers and but few walkers; many talkers of God, few walkers with God. Their lives give the lie to their lips or tongues, as not running relatively in parallel lines together with the heart. A man’s conversation is the most conspicuous comment upon all that the heart believeth and the mouth expresseth (Rom 10:9-10).

I. WHAT IS THIS WALKING WITH GOD?
1. Negatively. It is not as if a man should desert the society of mankind, and run into a desert or cloister; or as if a man should depart out of the world, and fly up into heaven. Neither does this phrase import only Enoch’s public capacity, as if it were proper solely to such as serve God in some high office. There are three Scripture phrases--
(1) Walking with God, as here.
(2) Walking before God (Gen 17:1).
(3) Walking after God (Deut 13:4).
2. Showing what it is to walk with God positively; that is, he did serve God in his generation according to his will, as is said of David (Act 13:3; Act 13:6).

II. HOW THIS WALKING WITH GOD IS MAN’S DUTY. Upon a threefold respect.
1. It is the principal end why God created man, that man should walk with God his Creator.
2. It is the creature’s homage and fealty to his creator, God, to walk with Him, not with Satan, or with sin and sinners.
3. This walking with God is the very badge and character whereby saints are distinguished from sinners, believers from unbelievers, and the children of God from the children of the World.

III. HOW THIS WALKING WITH GOD IS MAN’S DIGNITY AS WELL AS DUTY. It is not only man’s homage, but it is also his honour to walk with God. It is accounted honourable to be but a follower of a mortal king. Inferences hence are--
1. It is our duty to walk with God, though the whole world walk contrary to God. The worse that times are, the better should we be, that the times may not be worse, but better by us. We should all strive to be the most holy persons, even in the most unholy times.
2. Therefore we should all strive to walk with God, upon these three following motives; besides the reasons of the duty, as also of the dignity.
(1) Safety.
(2) Solace.
(3) Satiety.
Having done with Enoch’s first grand concern, to wit, concerning his appearance in the world--all which he managed in a constant walking with God--I come now to discourse upon his second grand concern, concerning his DISAPPEARANCE FROM THE WORLD; to wit, his translation from earth to heaven. (C. Ness.)

The memorial of Enoch
Could we but hope that, even in a limited sense, these words might be inscribed as the motto on our tomb, then we need not envy either the mausoleums of the Pharaohs, the tomb of Alexander or Napoleon, or the sepulchres of the Caesars! Our “record would be on high,” and our memorial would live when the scroll of fame should be scattered by the winds of heaven, and perish forever in the conflagration of the world; for they who walk with God on earth shall reign with Christ in heaven.

I. CONTEMPLATE THE CHARACTER HERE GIVEN OF ENOCH--“HE WALKED WITH GOD.” Let none suppose that, whatever this may imply, it was the exclusive privilege of Enoch, and, therefore, is not to be sought after by others; for of Noah it is written--he “found grace in the eyes of the Lord; for he was a just man, and perfect in his generation.” And “Noah walked with God.” To Abraham, also, it was commanded--“Walk before Me”; and this the father of the faithful actually described himself as doing, when he said, “The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with thee, and prosper thy way.”
1. It must imply the true knowledge of each other; for familiar intercourse is founded on knowledge. On the part of God, the knowledge is perfect and infinite. Well, then, might the Psalmist exclaim--“O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compasseth my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo! O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.” But man is naturally ignorant of God. He knows Him not, nor desires to know Him; for “God is not in all his thoughts.” How, then, shall he understand His being and perfections, His works and His ways? “Such knowledge is too wonderful” for him; “it is high,” he “cannot attain unto it.” “For who by searching can find out God? who can find out the Almighty to perfection?” But He has graciously revealed Himself to us by His Spirit, in His Holy Word.
2. The most sincere friendship.
3. The strongest proofs of devoted attachment. Without these, friendship itself is only a name; but with them, the very balm of life.
4. But, in one word, to walk with God includes a community of interests. Their aim is one. Now, as God necessarily exists for His own glory, and delights in its manifestation in the happiness of His creatures; so man, regenerated and sanctified, supremely seeks the glory of God in all things.

II. CONTEMPLATE HIS SPECIAL PRIVILEGE. He was removed to heaven, without tasting the bitterness of death. It might be sooner than he expected; for he had not attained to half the years of the life of his father--but he rejoiced to depart, and to be with “God, his exceeding joy,” forever and ever! And was not this the richest boon he could possibly receive? Classic story has told us of two lovely youths that were found dead in their bed, soon after the prayer had been offered for them, that they might possess the best blessing heaven could bestow. And the Christian well knows, that “to depart, and to be with Christ, is far better” than anything here. Such was the privilege of Enoch--but as to the mode of his translation we know nothing. Yet, it must have been eminently gracious. Whatever was the manner of his translation, it was evidently supernatural--the doing of the Lord, and marvellous in the eyes of all. No rude stormof chaos, no fortuitous blast of atoms hurled him on high. But the Lord did it, in His own most gracious way. He had frequently conferred on him many distinguished favours--but then, to crown all, he took him as a special friend to Himself, to be forever with Him in heaven, in joys unutterable and full of glory. But do not expect the same kind of dismissal as Enoch. Only Elijah and he ever entered the eternal kingdom, without passing through the gate of death. (J. Clunie, LL. D.)

Enoch’s holiness and its reward
His mind was pure; his spirit rose above the turmoil of worldliness; he delighted in calm communion with God; once more the familiar intercourse between God and man, which had existed in the time of paradise, was restored; the path commenced by Seth was continued by Enoch; the former addressed God by the medium of the word; the latter approached Him by the still more spiritual medium of thought: the highest form of religious life was gained. But, unfortunately, Enoch alone “walked with God”; his contemporaries were sunk in iniquity and depravation; but the measure of their wickedness was not yet complete; three generations more were required to mature their destruction; and God, in order to rescue Enoch, took him to Himself, delivering him from the contamination of his time at a comparatively early period of his life. Was this early death a punishment? But the piety of Enoch is repeatedly stated. Was it a misfortune? It was this as little as the full length of Noah’s life; both cases were analogous; in the one, the pious man left the wicked generation; in the other, he was by a catastrophe freed from it; and in both instances, the deliverance was miraculous and supernatural, by the immediate agency of God. If this is the clear internal meaning of Enoch’s history, who can doubt that he was called away from the earth, not to cease his life abruptly, but to continue it in a better sphere, and in still more perfect virtue? We are convinced that the “taking away” of Enoch is one of the strongest proofs of the belief in a future state prevailing among the Hebrews; without this belief, the history of Enoch is a perfect mystery, a hieroglyph without a clue, a commencement without an end. If, then, pious men could hope to continue a brighter existence after their transitory sojourn upon earth, the books of the Old Testament are not enveloped in the gloomy clouds of despair; they radiate in the beams of hope; and, if a long life on earth was also gratefully accepted as a high, though not the highest, boon, this may have sprung from the just feeling, that man is born to enjoy and to work, to receive much and to give more; and that he does not deserve the blessing of eternal rest before he has toiled to extend the empire of truth and piety (comp. Gen 4:7-10.) God “took” Enoch as He “took” Elijah (2Ki 2:9), or “he was translated by faith, that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him” (Heb 11:5). The notion seems to be, that Enoch passed from earth to heaven without the intermediate state of decrepitude and dissolution; he suffered no bodily infirmity; “his eye grew not dim, nor did his natural strength abate,” as it is stated with regard to Moses, who also disappeared, so that no mortal knew his grave. For the pious Enoch, death lost its pang and its sting; though the descendant of a sinful race, he was delivered from the real punishment which sin inflicted upon the human family; his existence was uninterrupted; he was undying, as man was originally intended to be; for he passed from this life into a future state both without fear and without struggle. God took him as a loving father to His eternal home. The history of Enoch has ever been regarded as embodying profound truths; and, we think, there are few so strongly affecting the very root of religious life as those which we have just briefly indicated. And, as the virtuous are thus translated into heaven, the wicked are devoured alive in the gulf of the earth (Num 16:1-50). It is known that the classical writers also mention such translations into heaven; they assign this distinction among others to Hercules, to Ganymede, and to Romulus. But it was awarded to them either for their valour, or for mere physical beauty, which advantages, though valued among the Hebrews, were not considered by them as sublime or godlike; a pious and religious life alone deserved and obtained the crown of immortal glory. In no single feature can the Scriptures conceal their high spiritual character. However, the idea of a translation to heaven is not limited to the old world; it was familiar to the tribes of Central America; the chronicles of Guatemala record four progenitors of mankind who were suddenly raised to heaven; and the documents add that those first men came to Guatemala from the other side of the sea, from the east. This is, then, apparently, a rather remarkable connection of the primitive traditions of the most different nations. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)

My ministry
On the 22nd of February 1880 Dr. Raleigh preached for the last time. His text was, “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Had he known that he would never preach again, he could not have chosen a more appropriate text, or have spoken with more impressiveness and pathos. One of the members of the congregation said, on returning home, “I have heard today what I never expect to hear again in this world.” Dr. Raleigh was compelled to rest; weeks passed away, but there was no amendment in his health, and at length he had to be told that there was an hope of his recovery. When he received the intelligence he said, “Then my ministry is ended.” There was a pause, and then he added, “My ministry!--It is dearer than my life.” On the Tuesday before his death, he was visited by the Rev. Joshua Harrison, to whom he freely expressed his confidence in the glorious work of the Saviour, and said, “in any case I may well be content and thankful. I am not an old man, yet I have lived long and worked hard. I have had, on the whole, a most happy, and I think I may say successful, ministry. God has blessed my work, and has always given me true friends. If I have finished my work, I am ready to go. Indeed, I should have no regrets but for these dear ones” (his wife and children). When reminded of the prayers which were being offered on his behalf, he replied, “Yes, my people’s prayers make me sometimes think I may have a little more work to do, but it not, I shall calmly march up to the gates.” Still trusting in Christ, he went “through the gate,” April 1880. In the presence of a sorrowing multitude, his coffin was lowered into a grave in Abney Park Cemetery. (Old Testament Anecdotes.)

Gathering flowers to compose him in the hour of death
We know it to be a Scripture fact that men have “walked with God” in closest intimacy, and that God hath held converse with them, “even as a man converseth with his friend.” Such was the case with Enoch, Abraham, Moses, and all that luminous cloud of witnesses so brightly and clearly revealed in the Bible. The Church of God, even down to our own time, furnishes innumerable witnesses to this truth, which we will establish by the mouth of two of them. John Holland was an old Puritan minister, who died two hundred and fifty years ago. Little is known of him, except what relates to his deathbed. Perceiving that he was near his end, he said, “Come, oh, come; death approaches. Let us gather some flowers to comfort this hour.” He requested that the eighth chapter of Romans might be read to him. But at every verse he stopped the reading, while he expounded it to the comfort of his soul, and to the joy and wonder of his friends. Having thus continued his meditations above two hours, he suddenly cried out, “Oh, stay your reading. What brightness is this I see? Have you lighted any candles?” They told him “No; it is the sunshine.” “Sunshine?” said he; “nay, my Saviour’s shine! Now farewell, world--welcome, heaven. The day star from on high hath visited my heart. Oh! speak when I am gone, and preach it at my funeral, ‘God dealeth familiarly with man.’” In such transports his soul soared towards heaven. His last words, after repeating the declaration that “God doth and will deal familiarly with man,” were these: “And now, thou fiery chariot, that camest down to fetch up Elijah, carry me to my happy home. And, all ye blessed angels, who attended the soul of Lazarus to bring it to heaven, bear me, oh! bear me to the bosom of my best beloved. Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!” One other present witness is Gilbert Tennent, who was a main instrument, with Whitefield and Edwards, of the great revival in New England one hundred years ago. In one of his letters to his brother, the holy William Tennent, he says, “Brother, shall I tell you an astonishing instance of the glorious grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is this, that one of the meanest of His servants has had His presence every day, in some degree, for above eleven weeks, Nor is the great, good Master yet gone. Oh, brother, it is heaven upon earth to live near to God! Verily, our comfort does not depend so much upon our outward situation as is generally supposed. No, a Saviour’s love is all in all. Oh, this will make any situation sweet, and turn the thickest darkness into day!” (Old Testament Anecdotes.)

Preparation for death necessary
I have read of a gentleman who died very suddenly, and his jester ran to the other servants, and having told them that their master was dead, he, with much gravity, said, “And where is he gone?” The servants replied, “Why, to heaven, to be sure!” “No,” said the jester, “he is not gone to heaven, I am certain.” The servants with much warmth asked him how he knew that his master was not gone to heaven? The jester then replied, “Because heaven is a great way off, and I never knew my master take a long journey in his life but he always talked of it some time beforehand, and also made preparations for it; but I never heard him talk about heaven, nor ever saw him making preparations for death, and therefore I am sure he is not gone to heaven.” (H. G. Salter.)

Enoch’s translation
This moment Enoch is surrounded by antediluvian sinners, transformed by evil passions into demons; the next, he is in the society of angels, of the general assembly of the firstborn, of God Himself: this moment he is in a humble tent; the next, he is in the city and palace of the King: this moment he is in imminent danger; the next, his is quietness and assurance forever: this moment he is in earth--an earth reeling with wickedness, and ripening fast for ruin; the next, he “summers high in bliss upon the hills of God”: this moment he is almost a solitary protester against evil; the next, he has outsoared the shadow of sin, and is one of a holy company that no man can number, standing before the throne: this moment his body is frail and corrupt, a body of death, even as others; the next, his body has become a glorious body, winged, radiant, immortal: this moment he is like all men, subject to, and in danger of, death; the next, he has evaded the grim king of terrors, escaped not only the feeling, but the sight, of death. (G. Gilfillan.)

A singular saint is a precious saint
As the morning star in the midst of the clouds, and as the moon when it is at full; as the flower of the roses in the spring of the year, and as the lilies by the springs of waters; as the branches of the frankincense in the time of summer, and as a vessel of massy gold, set with all manner of precious stones, and as the fat that is taken from the peace offering;--so is one Enoch, that walketh with God when others walk from Him; one Rahab, in Jericho; one Elias, that boweth not his knee to Baal; one David, in Mesech; one Esther, in Shushan; one Judith, in Bethulia; one Joseph, in the Sanhedrim of the Jews; one Gamaliel, in the council of the Pharisees; one innocent and righteous man, in the midst of a crooked and froward generation. (J. Spencer.)

Genesis 5:25 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech.

Ge 4:18-24
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Related Passages:

Genesis 4:18-24 (THE FIRST LAMECH AN EVIL MAN) Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. 23 Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, Listen to my voice, You wives of Lamech, Give heed to my speech, For I have killed a man for wounding me; And a boy for striking me; 24If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

THE SECOND LAMECH
IN GENESIS

Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech - This is not the Lamech who descended from Cain. That Methuselah could father a child at this age clearly shows that the corrupting effects of sin had not yet become prominent.

QUESTION - Who was Lamech in the Bible?

Answer - The Bible mentions two different men by the name of Lamech, both in the book of Genesis. The first Lamech was the son of Methushael, and the second Lamech was the son of Methuselah. Although the men shared a name and had fathers with names that sound very much alike, that is where their similarities end.

The first Lamech was a wicked descendant of Cain. After Adam and Eve were forced out of the Garden of Eden as a punishment for their sin, they had children. Two of their sons were Cain and Abel. The Bible tells us that both men offered God a sacrifice, and God accepted Abel’s sacrifice but rejected Cain’s (Genesis 4:3–5). Out of jealousy, Cain murdered Abel in cold blood. God punished Cain by cursing him and sending him away to live as a fugitive (Ge 4:11–12). When Cain complained about the severity of the punishment, God marked Cain and promised that anyone who harmed him would receive punishment sevenfold (Ge 4:15).

Cain settled in the land of Nod and eventually begat children (Genesis 4:16–18) who continued the trend of sin. Lamech son of Methushael was Cain’s great-great-great grandson, and he followed Cain’s disobedient and murderous ways. Lamech married two wives—the Bible’s first mention of polygamy—and he committed murder. Another man struck and wounded Lamech in some way, and Lamech killed him for this seemingly small offense. Afterward, he boasted of his sin to his two wives and exulted in that he suffered no consequences: “If Cain is avenged seven times, / then Lamech seventy-seven times” (Ge 4:24). This Lamech was the father of Tubal-Cain (verse 22).

The other Lamech was a descendant of Seth. After Cain’s banishment Eve bore another son and named him Seth. In contrast to Cain’s sinful line, Seth’s descendants were known for righteousness. Enoch, Seth’s great-great-great grandson, walked so closely with God that God took him directly to heaven when Enoch was 365 years old (Genesis 5:22–24). Enoch’s son Methusaleh (the oldest man recorded in the Bible) continued the righteous line and fathered Lamech (verse 25).

When Lamech was 182 years old, he fathered his own son and named him Noah, a name that sounds like the Hebrew word for “comfort.” Lamech said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed” (Genesis 5:29). Lamech looked forward to the day when the curse on the ground would be ended by God’s promised Savior (cf. Genesis 3:15). After Lamech died, his son Noah was known as a righteous man in a world filled with great sin and perversion (Genesis 6:90). Noah and his family were saved from the flood God sent to judge the earth and thus were able to continue the line of promise. Thousands of years later, Jesus Christ would be born into the line of Seth through Lamech (Luke 3:37). Lamech’s godly hope that the curse would end was realized in Jesus, whose death and resurrection abolished the reign of sin and death. GotQuestions.org

Genesis 5:26 Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters.

he became the father of Lamech - Ge 5:4
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THE OLDEST MAN
IN SCRIPTURE

Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters - We always think of Methuselah as the oldest man in the Bible, but there is one who is actually older, albeit admittedly He is the God-Man, Jesus Christ, Who is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Eternal God Who became a Man.

Genesis 5:27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.

died - Ge 5:5
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So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.

QUESTION - Who was the oldest man in the Bible?

ANSWER - Genesis chapter 5 lists nine men who had very long lives. How and why they lived such long lives is not specifically said. Adam lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5). Seth lived 912 years (Genesis 5:8). Enosh lived 905 years (Genesis 5:11). Kenan lived 910 years (Genesis 5:14). Mahalalel lived 895 years (Genesis 5:17). Jared lived 962 years (Genesis 5:20). Enoch lived 365 years before God took him (Genesis 5:22–24). Lamech lived 777 years (Genesis 5:31). Genesis 9:29 records that Noah lived 950 years.

But the oldest man in the Bible, outliving all the rest, is a man named Methuselah, who lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27). There may have been someone in the antediluvian days who outlived Methuselah, but the Bible has no record of anyone older. Very little is said about Methuselah other than he was the grandfather of Noah. There are two possible meanings of Methuselah’s name: “man of the spear” and “his death shall bring.” There is a tradition outside of the Bible that Enoch, Methuselah’s father, was given a revelation from God that the Flood would not come until his son died. If this is true, Methuselah’s name would essentially mean “his death shall bring the Flood.”

The biblical math backs this up, as Methuselah died the same year the Flood occurred. Methuselah fathered Lamech when he was 187 years old (Genesis 5:25). Lamech fathered Noah when he was 182 years old (Genesis 5:28). The Flood occurred when Noah was 600 years old (Genesis 7:6). 187 + 182 + 600 = 969, which is the age Methuselah was when he died. So it appears there may be an interesting story behind the oldest man in the Bible, Methuselah, and why he lived 969 years.

In the 2014 movie Noah, Methuselah is portrayed as sort of an eccentric witch doctor. While the Bible says nothing about Methuselah to confirm or deny this portrayal, it seems highly unlikely, considering the family line from Adam to Noah recorded in Genesis 5 is the “righteous” line who obeyed the Lord God.

There is very little we can know for sure about Methuselah, the oldest man in the Bible. He lived 969 years and apparently died the same year the Flood occurred. He was the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Adam and the grandfather of Noah. He was likely a godly man to have been blessed by God with such a long lifespan.GotQuestions.org

Genesis 5:28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son.

Ge 5:28
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Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son.

Ray Pritchard - What a contrast with the “other” Lamech of Cain’s line. That Lamech was a boastful, arrogant, violent man who acted like an ancient Mafia don, bragging about a man he had killed. But the Lamech of Seth’s line was a man of faith who believed that through his son would come some deliverance from the curse God put on the ground in Genesis 3. As a godly father, he looked into the future and saw that somehow his son would be used to comfort people and bring deliverance. He got what he hoped for—both more and less. He could not have foreseen the great flood that covered the world and wiped out everyone except his son’s family. And he could not have imagined the promise God would give Noah in Genesis 9. That covenant was a promise of a great salvation that would be ultimately fulfilled in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth.

Genesis 5:29 Now he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed."

he called - Ge 6:8,9 7:23 9:24 Isa 54:9 Eze 14:14,20 Mt 24:37 Lu 3:36 Lu 17:26,27 Heb 11:7 1Pe 3:20 2Pe 2:5
This one will give us rest - Ge 3:17-19 4:11,12
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A SON NAMED
REST/COMFORT

Now he called his name Noah - It is notable that many times in Scripture, we see personal names have meanings that relate to the character of the people who bore them. The greatest is Jesus in Mt 1:21+ “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” It is interesting that Noah's name is the only name in Genesis 5 which is coupled with an explanation.

Saying, "This one will give us rest (naham/nacham) from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed (arar) - Give us rest (naham/nacham) is translated in the Septuagint with the verb dianapauo (see root anapauo) mean to allow rest for a while from.

GotQuestions.org When Lamech was 182 years old, he fathered his own son and named him Noah, a name that sounds like the Hebrew word for “comfort.” Lamech said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed” (Genesis 5:29). Lamech looked forward to the day when the curse on the ground would be ended by God’s promised Savior (cf. Genesis 3:15). After Lamech died, his son Noah was known as a righteous man in a world filled with great sin and perversion (Genesis 6:90). Noah and his family were saved from the flood God sent to judge the earth and thus were able to continue the line of promise. Thousands of years later, Jesus Christ would be born into the line of Seth through Lamech (Luke 3:37). Lamech’s godly hope that the curse would end was realized in Jesus, whose death and resurrection abolished the reign of sin and death.

Noah - 46x/39v - Gen. 5:29; Gen. 5:30; Gen. 5:32; Gen. 6:8; Gen. 6:9; Gen. 6:10; Gen. 6:13; Gen. 6:22; Gen. 7:1; Gen. 7:5; Gen. 7:6; Gen. 7:7; Gen. 7:9; Gen. 7:11; Gen. 7:13; Gen. 7:15; Gen. 7:23; Gen. 8:1; Gen. 8:6; Gen. 8:11; Gen. 8:13; Gen. 8:15; Gen. 8:18; Gen. 8:20; Gen. 9:1; Gen. 9:8; Gen. 9:17; Gen. 9:18; Gen. 9:19; Gen. 9:20; Gen. 9:24; Gen. 9:28; Gen. 9:29; Gen. 10:1; Gen. 10:32; 1 Chr. 1:4; Isa. 54:9; Ezek. 14:14; Ezek. 14:20

Give rest (give comfort) (05162) naham/nacham is a verb which means to be sorry, to pity, to console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted, to get revenge for oneself (Ge 27:42, Ezek 5:13). According to the TWOT nacham reflects the idea of "breathing deeply" and hence refers to the physical display of one's feelings, such as sorrow, or in this case compassion or comfort.

Nacham in Genesis - Gen. 5:29; Gen. 6:6; Gen. 6:7; Gen. 24:67; Gen. 27:42; Gen. 37:35; Gen. 38:12; Gen. 50:21

QUESTION - Who was Noah in the Bible?

ANSWER - We first hear about Noah in Genesis 5, which begins with “this is the book of the generations of Adam.” This is a recurring phrase in Genesis, and chapter 5 details the godly line of Seth as opposed to the worldly line of Cain (Genesis 4:17-24). Assuming no generational breaks, Noah represents the tenth generation from Adam. The genealogical account of Noah reads, “When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said, ‘He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed’” (Genesis 5:28-29).

Right from the start, we see that Noah is going to be special as he is the only member of this genealogy whose name is explained. His father, Lamech, states that his son, Noah, will bring relief (“Noah” sounds like the Hebrew word for “rest or relief”). We learn quickly what Noah was to relieve them from in Genesis 6:1-8, where we see the unfettered results of the fall as unrighteousness increases throughout the world. God indicts mankind with these words: “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). God determined to "wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them" (Genesis 6:7). Yet, even in this situation, there is hope: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8). Despite the rampant wickedness that was increasing exponentially upon the earth, there is one man who stands out—a man whose life was characterized by the hand of God’s grace upon him. Noah found favor with the Lord. God was about to send judgment upon the world for its wickedness, but He extends His saving grace to Noah and his family.

Genesis 6:9 marks the beginning of the flood narrative, and it is here that we learn the most about Noah’s life. We learn that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, and that he walked with God. One can almost see a progression of spirituality in this description of Noah’s life. By saying Noah was righteous, we know that he was obedient to God’s commands (as best as he was able and understood them at that time). He was blameless in his generation, standing out among the people of his day. While they were engaging in debauchery, Noah was living an exemplary life. Finally, Noah walked with God, which puts him in the same class as his great grandfather, Enoch (Genesis 5:24); this implies not only an obedient life, but one that has a vibrant and intimate relationship with God.

We see Noah’s obedient life demonstrated in his willingness to obey without question the Lord’s commands regarding the ark (Genesis 6:22; 7:5, 9; 8:18). Consider that Noah and his generation more than likely had never seen rain before, yet God tells Noah to build a large seagoing vessel nowhere near a body of water. Noah’s trust in God was such that he promptly obeyed. Noah’s blameless life is made manifest as he obeys the Lord in light of the approaching day of wrath. The apostle Peter tells us that Noah was a “herald of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), and the author of Hebrews says that he “condemned the world” (Hebrews 11:7) through his righteous actions. Throughout the long delay of the coming judgment, Noah continued to faithfully obey the Lord. As evidence of his walk with God, after the flood, Noah built an altar and offered sacrifices to God (Genesis 8:20). Worship was a central part of Noah’s life.

Aside from the flood narrative and the vignette of his drunkenness recorded in Genesis 9:20-27, we don’t know much about Noah’s life. Surely, the drunkenness wasn’t the only instance of impropriety in Noah’s life. Like all of us, Noah was born with a sin nature. The episode of his drunkenness was included in the narrative, more than likely, to explain the animosity between the Canaanites and the Israelites. Despite this incident, we do see that Noah was revered as one of the few exceptionally righteous men in the history of God’s people. Twice in Ezekiel 14, God says through the prophet that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were present in the land, God would not spare the people from judgment. That’s some righteous company to be in (Daniel and Job). We also know that Noah is included as an example of faith in Hebrews 11, another indication that Noah was considered a model of faithfulness and that he had the kind of faith that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).

With all that said, Who was Noah in the Bible? Practically speaking, Noah is an example of a life of faith. Hebrews 11:7 says of Noah, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” Noah didn’t need to “test” God before going into action; God commanded, and he obeyed. This was typical of Noah’s life. Noah was part of the godly line of Seth, of whom it was said, “At that time men began to call upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26). Noah was the result of generational obedience and faithfulness toward God. If we were to model our lives after Noah, there is no better rule to follow that to be “righteous, blameless in our generation, and to walk with God.” In other words, be right with God, be right with others, and have a reverent and worshipful relationship with God. You can almost hear the words of Jesus echoing here when He responds to the lawyer’s question regarding the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-39).

Theologically speaking, we can also draw some lessons from Noah’s life. First and foremost, Noah’s life shows us the eternal truth that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Noah wasn’t an exemplary individual because he was somehow able to bypass the fallen sin nature we all possess. God’s grace was upon him, aside from which Noah would have perished with all of the other wicked sinners in the flood. Noah is also a prime example that God saves His elect. We see that God was patient concerning the coming judgment while Noah built the ark (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5). The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. This truth is explicitly stated in 2 Peter 3:8-9, as we learn that the Lord will postpone final judgment until all of the elect reach repentance.

Finally, Noah’s life serves as a reminder that judgment on sin will come. The Day of the Lord will come (2 Peter 3:10). Jesus uses the life of Noah as a foreshadowing of what it will be like when the Son of Man returns in final judgment (Matthew 24:37-38; Luke 17:26-27). As such, we need to follow Noah’s example and be a “herald of righteousness” and heed the words of Paul: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Like Noah, we are Christ’s ambassadors in these last days. God’s judgment is coming, but He offers reconciliation through Jesus Christ. We must take this message of reconciliation to others.GotQuestions.org

QUESTION - Why did Lamech think Noah would bring comfort (Genesis 5:29)?

ANSWER - Many times in Scripture, we see that personal names have meanings that relate to the character of the people who bore them or to the times in which they lived. Noah’s name means “rest” or “consolation” and is related to a Hebrew word meaning “comfort.” Genesis 5:28–29 says, “When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said, ‘He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.’”

So, Lamech named his son Noah. Genesis 5:29 provides the basic idea regarding Lamech’s thought process. He specifically mentions that the ground had been cursed as part of God’s judgment (cf. Genesis 3:17–19). The birth of Noah when Lamech was 182 years old would have provided “comfort” or “rest” from some of the work of subsistence farming. A son would one day be able to join in the labors of farming, giving Lamech some relief from his many years of manual labor.

But Noah would provide more than physical rest. It appears that Noah’s name is also an inspired prediction regarding his life. The word Noah is taken from the Hebrew word for “rest,” nuakh (see 2 Samuel 14:17). Lamech lived in an evil time, before the Flood (Genesis 6:1). Noah’s father predicted that, in contrast to the world’s evil, Noah would represent righteousness and bring rest and peace in the midst of God’s judgment.

Later in Genesis, Noah was indeed used as God’s agent of peace. He was called by God to build an ark that would save himself, seven of his family members, and enough land animals and birds to keep the species alive. The dove used by Noah to help determine if the flood waters had receded would later become known as a symbol of peace. In Genesis 9:12–15 God promised that the earth would never again be covered by water, and the sign of this covenant of peace was a rainbow.

The New Testament affirms Noah’s role as one who brought comfort. Second Peter 2:5 calls Noah a preacher of righteousness. No others are mentioned as believing his message, and no one joined Noah’s family in the ark, but Noah had peace with God. He lived according to God’s ways and obeyed His commands in preparing for the Flood. If anyone had heeded Noah’s preaching, he or she could have found “rest” in the ark along with Noah, the man of rest.

In both a literal and prophetic sense, Noah lived up to his name as one who would bring comfort. To this day, Noah is seen as a man of peace who led people and animals through a time of judgment and into a new world.

Noah’s life was used as an illustration by Jesus in the Gospels: “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man” (Luke 17:26). There is coming a time that will be like Noah’s time when God’s judgment will come upon the earth. The proper response is to be like Noah and obey the Lord’s call for salvation now, while time remains (2 Corinthians 6:2; John 3:16; Acts 4:12).GotQuestions.org

Robert Hawker on Genesis 5:29 - I still think, and believe that I always shall think, that holy men of old possess great superiority of faith to New Testament believers, in the attention they paid to the choice of names given to their children. Our choice, for the most part, is from caprice, or respect to our relations or earthly connections: they had an eye to heaven. Thus, in the instance before us, Lamech evidently called his son Noah, which signifies rest, in reference to “the rest which remaineth for the people of God!” and, as such, had an eye to Christ, the promised seed, in whom alone that rest was to be found. I do not presume to suppose that Lamech thought this child to be himself the promised seed, as our first mother Eve did at the birth of Cain, when she said, “I have gotten a man,” or, as it might be read, “the man, from the Lord.” (Gen. 4:1.) No doubt, she considered this her first-born son to be the very man, the Ishi, promised: and hence, when her second son was born she called him Abel, which means vanity, thereby intimating, what is indeed true, that every other man but the God-man is but vanity. Poor woman! how sadly mistaken she found herself! But though Lamech had not such high views of his son, as to suppose him the very Christ, yet in calling him Noah, it should seem probable, that he desired, in the remembrance of this child, to keep up an eye to Christ in him as a rest, and his son as a type of Christ, which Noah eminently was. And indeed the latter part of Lamech’s observation seems to confirm it: “This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.” It would be a strange, not to say an unnatural thought, in a tender parent, to take comfort in the prospect of a son’s arriving to manhood, to take off all toil and labour from his parents, that they might enjoy ease; which would be the case had Lamech meant nothing more than the rest of this mortal life. In this sense, indeed, what is the curse here spoken of, and how could the labour of Noah take it away? But on the supposition that Lamech was so well taught of God, as to be looking forward to the day of Christ afar off, and under the believing expectation of Christ’s coming in the fulness of time, who would take away the curse, by being made both sin and a curse for his redeemed, he called his son Noah, that he might, as often as he should look upon the child, remember Christ. There is somewhat very sweet and striking in this circumstance, which may serve to explain why the Holy Ghost hath thus caused it to be so particularly recorded. My soul! gather a sweet improvement from this scripture, and do not fail to observe how graciously God the Holy Ghost dealt with the patriarchs, in causing, by so many ways, the one glorious event of Jesus and his salvation to be kept alive, in ages so remote from the accomplishment of redemption. And what hast thou to comfort thyself with, concerning thy work, and the toil of thine hands? What is thy rest, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed? Hast thou thy Noah, thy Jesus, who is thy hope, thy rest, thy righteousness? Precious, precious Noah! I would look up to thee, my Lord Jesus, and say, Thou hast comforted me, thou dost comfort me, under all the toil and sweat of brow in which I eat my daily bread! Thou hast taken away the curse of the ground, and art indeed thyself the whole blessing of it. Thou, blessed Jesus! art the rest “wherewith the Lord causeth the weary to rest; and thou art the refreshing!” (Isaiah 28:12.) “Return then to thy rest,” thy Noah, “my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.” (Psalm 116:7.)

Genesis 5:30 Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters.

begat sons - Ge 5:4
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Then Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other sons and daughters

Genesis 5:31 So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.

he died - Ge 5:5
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So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.

Genesis 5:32 Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth

Shem - Ge 6:10 7:13 9:18,19,22-27 10:1,21,32 1Ch 1:4-28 Lu 3:36
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Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth

Ray Pritchard - Living Lessons From an Ancient List Let’s wrap up our study by drawing three lessons from this ancient genealogy.

A. People Matter to God.

That’s obvious, isn’t it? Kenan and Mahalalel are otherwise unknown to us. We can’t say anything definite about what they did. Their personal details are completely hidden to us. But this much we know. They were in the godly line that stretches from Adam and Noah and they were both vital links in the chain. Even though Adam and Noah are much better known to us, without Kenan and Mahalalel the line would be broken and Noah would not be born. And Mahalalel was the grandfather of Enoch who walked with God. These names that are just words on paper to us represent men who once walked on the earth a long time ago. They lived for God in an ungodly age and they believed in God when others scoffed at them. They are true heroes and deserve to be remembered and even honored. And they remind us that no one is ever forgotten or overlooked by the Lord. Those who today stand strong in their faith will one day shine as the brightest stars in the firmament. God is not so unjust as to forget those who labor in obscurity for him. People matter. Names matter. Kenan matters. His name is in the book.

B. Death Still Reigns Today.

This list is like a monotonous drumbeat of death:

Adam lived … and he died.
Seth lived … and he died.
Enosh lived … and he died.
Kenan lived … and he died.

And so on across the generations, the only exception being Enoch who was taken directly to heaven without seeing death. But all the rest lived hundreds of years and then they died. Death reigned in the earliest generations of world history. And death still reigns today. Just open any newspaper and look at the obituary section. This morning I checked the Chicago Tribune and found more than 150 obituaries. Tomorrow there will be more. And more the day after that. Every day a brand-new list, names never repeated. Why? Because death reigns in Chicago. But death also reigns for you and for me. If there is one thing about which we may be perfectly certain it is this: Unless the Lord returns in your lifetime, you are going to die someday. We say nothing is as certain as death and taxes, but death is far more certain.

How certain is the fact of your death? So certain that there is an entire industry built about the expectation of your death. It’s called the life insurance industry. The only reason you buy life insurance is because someday you are going to die. If you lived forever, you’d never need life insurance. But you buy life insurance precisely because you know the fact of your death, you just don’t know the time of your death. You pay the money, but in order to get the insurance benefit, you have to die. If you live and don’t die, you’ve spent the money and you lose. But when you die, someone else gets the money. You lose either way. Don’t miss the point: Life insurance is based on one great theological truth—Death reigns.

When you die, the coroner will fill out a death certificate for you. There’s a space on that certificate that says “Cause of Death.” If we understand the Bible, the answer is always the same: “Sin.” Not sickness, not cancer, not an accident, not old age. Those are merely symptoms of the one great cause of death: Sin.

C. God Honors Those Who Live By Faith.

The Christian life is not a marathon or a sprint. It’s a relay race where one person runs and then hands the baton of faith to the next runner who runs and hands it to the next runner. The most critical moment in any relay race is the few seconds when the runner who is finishing hands the baton to the runner who is starting. Timing is critical and so is the positioning of the hands. The tiniest mistake can cause the baton to be bobbled or to be dropped. Relay races often are won or lost at exactly that moment. (ED: See study Make Disciples)

Here is the story of Genesis 5. Adam ran the race of faith and handed the baton to Seth who ran hard and handed it to his son Enosh who also ran hard. Before he died, he passed it along to his son Kenan who passed it to Mahalalel who passed it to Jared who passed it on to Enoch. As Enoch was rising to the sky, he tossed it to his son Methuselah who caught it and started running. Eventually he passed the baton of faith to Lamech who made sure that Noah got it. Ten generations, ten men who lived by faith, ten fathers who made sure their sons caught the faith and then passed it along to the next generation.

That’s the whole life of faith in a nutshell. What we have been given, we pass along to our friends and neighbors. We pass it along to our co-workers and to our classmates. We tell it to our family and we labor in prayer to make sure that our children and our grandchildren pick up the baton and start running with it.

Nothing matters more than this. If we are rich and successful, if we are famous and blessed with worldly acclaim, if we are regarded as the best and the brightest, if we are quoted and feted and praised by all men, it will all count for nothing if we fail to pass the baton of faith along to the next generation. What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and yet lose his own family? And if we go to our grave knowing that our children and grandchildren believe in Jesus, we can die happy, knowing that our time on earth was not spent in vain.

Last Monday I presided at the funeral service for Eunice Blum. Harry and Eunice came to Calvary about the time I came as pastor in 1989. They were very faithful members of the congregation and loyal members of the Friendship Class and the Golden Heirs Club. They loved to work in the kitchen in preparation for the Wednesday night suppers. About a year ago Eunice was diagnosed with a debilitating lung disease that eventually took her life. For the last few months she was unable to leave her home at all. After the funeral service, Harry and Eunice’s daughter Eileen wrote me a letter telling me about her mother’s Sunday morning routine during the last months of her life. Eileen would go to her parents’ home so Harry could come to church. She and Eunice would have breakfast together and then listen to the Moody Church radio broadcast on WMBI. But always her heart was at Calvary:

“Frequently Mom would ask what time it was and where was Dad now—Were they still in church or had Sunday School started? Was the choir singing? What were they singing that morning—what hymns? We would pray before eating and Mom would devote most of her prayer time to you, Pastor Ray, to those at church that morning, that the message would be clear and that hearts would be touched by God’s grace.”

The last several months were quite difficult for Eunice as the disease progressed, making breathing and speaking quite difficult. But mother and daughter continued to pray together each Sunday morning.

“We would pray and it was hard for Mom to put sentences together—and sometimes I really didn’t understand what she was trying to say—but she always mentioned your name, Pastor Ray. Her heart was at Calvary.”

Now she is gone and the family feels the loss of such a good, godly, kind and gracious presence in the home.

“We as a family are rejoicing that she is home with her heavenly Father—yet we grieve but we grieve with hope. Mom longed for heaven—many times I told her that her mansion wasn’t ready. Well, on July 12 it was.”

God bless Eunice Blum. Though she is dead, she still speaks today. And she is alive in the presence of the Lord. Like Enoch of old, she left behind a witness that she walked with God to the very end. When her time on earth was done, God took her home to heaven. She passed the baton of faith along to the next generation. What more can a person do than that? She lived and died by faith and now she is with the Lord.

If the list in Genesis 5 were extended, would your name be on the list? If you will walk with God, you can come to the end of life with full assurance that the best is yet to come. May God help us to run the race with endurance so that we can pass the baton of faith along to those who come after us.

Eternal Father, teach us to live in light of eternity. Help us to walk with you, wherever you lead, with nothing held back, so that those who follow us will really be following you. Amen.

QUESTION - When was Noah’s flood?

ANSWER - Genesis 6—9 records the events of Noah’s flood, also called the Great Flood. If the genealogy provided in Genesis 5 is intended to be comprehensive, we can determine the dates of various events by simply adding up the time spans between fathers and sons, given in Genesis 5:

Adam to Seth — 130 years
Seth to Enosh — 105 years
Enosh to Kenan — 90 years
Kenan to Mahalalel — 70 years
Mahalalel to Jared — 65 years
Jared to Enoch — 162 years
Enoch to Methuselah — 65 years
Methuselah to Lamech —187 years
Lamech to Noah —182 years

According to this method, the time from Adam to Noah was approximately 1,056 years. These are approximate times because we don’t know if the years are counted from conception or birth; also, it is obvious that the years are given in whole numbers but no doubt included (or excluded) partial years. (For instance, Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born, give or take a certain number of months and days.)

So we have Noah’s birth, which occurred about 1,056 years after the creation of Adam. Then, in Genesis 7:11, we are told that the flood came in the 600th year of Noah’s life, so that would mean the Great Flood came approximately 1,656 years after Adam was created in Eden. Using a similar method places the creation of Adam and Eve at around 4004 BC. So, doing the math, Noah’s flood occurred in approximately 2348 BC.

Similar genealogies are found throughout the Old Testament. Using the same method places Abraham’s calling at 228 years after Noah’s flood or about 1,884 years after the dawn of humanity. We can also use the genealogies to count backward from other dates that we know, such as the fall of Jerusalem. Using this method, Abraham was born about 2166 BC, and the exodus during Moses’ time would have happened about 1446 BC.

Some scholars believe that the genealogies are not intended, and were never understood by the original audience, to be exhaustive. It could be that generations were skipped, as we know happened in the genealogy of Jesus recorded in Matthew. If this is the case in the Genesis 5 genealogy, and there are years unaccounted for, then we really have no idea when the Great Flood took place.

The actual year of the flood is less important than the meaning of the flood, which is that God punishes sin but also provides a way of salvation. GotQuestions.org

Walter Kaiser - Genesis 5:3–5 How Could Adam Live 930 Years? (Go to page 71 of Hard Sayings)

Everyone who reads the list of the ten antediluvians in Genesis 5 and the list of ten postdiluvians in Genesis 11 is immediately struck by the longevity of these patriarchs. How is it possible that these people were able to live so long?

Moreover, we are awed by the ages at which they were still able to father children. Noah became a proud father at a mere 500 years (Gen 5:32)!

The question of the possible reconciliation of the results of scientific inquiry and the claims of Scripture could not be more challenging. The claims for the long lives and the ages at which these men were able to sire children is enough to lead to a distrust of the Scriptures almost from the very first chapters of the Bible.

In fact, so notoriously difficult are the problems presented by the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 that they have been paraded for centuries as prime examples of chronological impossibilities in the Bible. A resolution for the kinds of issues raised here are found, however, in an understanding of the writer’s method.

In April 1890, William Henry Green of the Princeton faculty wrote an article in Bibliotheca Sacra pointing to some clear principles used by the writers of Scripture in the construction of genealogies. Those principles include the following:

1. Abridgment is the general rule because the sacred writers did not want to encumber their pages with more names than necessary.
2. Omissions in genealogies are fairly routine. For example, Matthew 1:8 omits three names between Joram and Ozias (Uzziah); namely, Ahaziah (2 Kings 8:25), Joash (2 Kings 12:1) and Amaziah (2 Kings 14:1). In verse 11, Matthew omits Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:34). In fact, in Matthew 1:1 the whole of two millennia are summed up in two giant steps: “Jesus Christ, the son of David [about 1000 B.C.], the son of Abraham [about 2000 B.C.].”
3. The span of a biblical “generation” is more than our twenty to thirty years. In Syriac it equals eighty years. Often in the Exodus account a generation is 100 to 120 years.
4. The meanings of begat, son of, father of and even bore a son often have special nuances, as the context often indicates. To beget often means no more than “to become the ancestor of.” To be the father of often means being a grandfather or great-grandfather. The point is that the next key person was descended from that male named “father” in the text.

The most instructive lesson of all can be gleaned from Kohath’s descent into Egypt (Gen 46:6–11) some 430 years (Ex 12:40) before the exodus. Now if Moses (one in the Kohath line) was 80 years old at the time of the exodus (Ex 7:7), and no gaps (such as are suggested by the above-mentioned principles) are understood (as we believe the evidence above now forces us to concede), then the “grandfather” of Moses had in Moses’ lifetime 8,600 descendants. Amazing as that might seem, here is the real shocker: 2,750 of those 8,600 descendants were males between the ages of 30 and 50 (Num 3:19, 27–28, 34; 4:36)! It is difficult to believe that the writers of Scripture were that naive.

The form that Genesis 5 and 11 use, with few exceptions, is a stereotypic formula giving the age of the patriarch at the birth of his son, the number of years that he lived after the birth of that son, and then the total number of years that he lived until he died. It is the question of the function of these numbers that attracts our attention here.

Since Zilpah is credited with “bearing” (yālaḏ̄) her grandchildren (Gen 46:18) and Bilhah is said to “bear” (yālaḏ) her grandchildren as well (Gen 46:25), it is clear that a legitimate usage of these numbers in the genealogies might well mean that B was a distant relative of A. In this case, the age of A is the age at the birth of that (unnamed) child from whom B (eventually) descended.

The ages given for the “father” when the “son” was born must be actual years, as we shall presently see. The conflation takes place not at the point of supplying the actual years at which the father had a child; it is instead at the point where the name of the next noteworthy descendant is given instead of the immediate son. The ages given function as an indicator of the fact that the effects of the Fall into sin had not yet affected human generative powers as seriously as they have more recently. The same point, of course, is to be made with regard to human longevity. The fact that the record wishes to stress is the sad mortality of men and women as a result of the sin in the Garden of Eden. The repeated litany “and he died” echoes from the pages like the solemn toll of a funeral bell.

Attempts to make the numbers more palatable have been crushed by the internal weight of their own argumentation or from a failure to care for all the data in a single theory. One abortive attempt was to treat the names as names of tribes rather than as names of individuals. This would seem to work until we meet up with Enoch, who was taken to heaven. It hardly seems fair to imply that the whole Enoch tribe was taken to heaven, so we are left with the idea that these really are meant to represent individuals.

Another, equally unsuccessful, rationalization was that the “years” here represented a system of counting months, or something of that sort. In this view, the years would be reduced by a factor of 10 or 12. Accordingly, Adam’s total of 930 years could be reduced to the more manageable and believable 93 or 77 years. This theory runs into trouble when Nahor becomes the father of Terah at 29 years of age in Genesis 11:24. This would mean that he actually had a child when he was 2.9 or 2.4 years old! In that case we jump from the pan into the fire. Unfortunately for this theory, there are no known biblical examples of the word year meaning anything less than the solar year we are accustomed to in general speech.

One final warning might be in order: do not add up the years of these patriarchs in Genesis 5 and 11 and expect to come up with the Bible’s date for the birth of the human race. The reason for this warning is clear: the Bible never adds up these numbers. It is not as though the Bible never gives us sums of years—there are the 430 years of Egyptian bondage in Exodus 12:40 and the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1. But in Genesis 5 and 11 the writer does not employ his numbers for this purpose; neither should we.

Some who have violated this simple observation have seriously argued that the human race was created on October 24, 4004 B.C., at 9:30 a.m., 45th Meridian time. Being careful scholars from Cambridge, the cynic William Brewster quipped, they did not dare say with any more precision when humankind was born!

The earliest definite date we can fix for any biblical person is around 2100 B.C. for the birth of Abram. The Julian calendar dates for anything before that are impossible to set with the present sets of data at our disposal.

The creation of the universe is dated in Genesis 1:1 as being “in the beginning.” Of that we can be as certain as we are of revelation itself. The creation of Adam came six “days” later, but one must be warned that right there in the first chapters of Genesis the Bible uses the word day with three different meanings: (1) daylight (Gen 1:5), (2) a twenty-four-hour day (Gen 1:14) and (3) an epoch or era, as we use the word in speaking of the “day” of the horse and buggy or Abraham Lincoln’s “day” (Gen 2:4; compare the RSV’s “In the day” with the NIV’s “When”). I would opt for the day-age theory, given all that must take place on the sixth “day” according to the Genesis record. Incidentally, this day-age view has been the majority view of the church since the fourth century, mainly through the influence of Saint Augustine.

So Adam did live a real 930 years. The sons attributed to him may have been his direct sons or they may have been from two to six generations away, but in the same line.

See also articles on “Why Don’t Bible Genealogies Always Match Up?” (Go to page 30 of Hard Sayings) and “Aren’t Many Old Testament Numbers Wrong?” (Go to page 32 of Hard Sayings)

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