Walking with God

Genesis 5

This chapter moves the narrative from Adam to Noah and sets the scene for the next huge event in world history (the Flood). The chapter is a "Linear genealogy" which  "focuses on one person in each generation" and connects "one individual to one specific ancestor in a previous generation" (Faithlife Study Bible). The great ages recorded for these people, between 700 and a 1000 years, are similar to an ancient list of Sumerian kings who also predated a huge flood. It is not clear whether these ages are meant to be taken literally and they may have symbolic significances. For example the 365 years of Enoch (v23) "corresponds to the number of days in a solar year, so Enoch became a central figure in later Jewish calendrical mysticism" " (Faithlife Study Bible).

There are two exceptions to the formulaic description of each generation, Enoch and Noah.
We will see more of Noah tomorrow, as we consider this "one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands" (v29). 

Let's think for a moment about Enoch. Genesis 5:22 and 24 (ESV) say that, "Enoch walked with God"; then verse 24 says "and he was not, for God took him." The usual formulaic ending, "and he died", is omitted.


Here is a believer in God, who lived his whole life by faith, in close communion with God, and then was taken to dwell with God in heaven. It is possible that the meaning here is that Enoch went home to God without passing through the experience of physical death. (See Hebrews 11:5). The prophet Elijah is another who went home without dying (See See 2 Kings 2:1,5.9,10). The Apostle Paul says that believers on earth at the time of Christ's return will be changed into their resurrection bodies instantly and without dying (1 Corinthians 15:51-55). Wouldn't that be great!

The letter the the Hebrews draws an important lesson from the life of Enoch, saying:

[5] … Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. [6] And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:5-6 ESV)

That Enoch 'pleased God' is the Septuagint version of "walked with God".

And what a challenge for us to walk our entire lives with God by faith, meaning that we not only "believe that he exists" but that we also "seek him" and "draw near to God".