There are 10 generations listed in the genealogy of Genesis 5, going from Adam to Noah inclusive. The list features long lifespans, indicating blessing from God. The effects of sin are also evident, since the description of each step ends with the words "and he died."
Except in the case of Enoch, who "walked with God". Here the text mentions that all his days were 365 years, and that after time "he was not, for God took him'' (v 24).
Enoch is counted as one of the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. Verse 5 says, "By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him" (ESV).
One usual interpretation is the one given in the NLT, which in verse 5 says, "It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying."
However, there is some apparent tension here with verse 13, which says, "All these people died still believing what God had promised them" (NLT).
In discussing this issue, adventist Christians also bring in John 3:13: "No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man."
One way to resolve this tension is to remember that "all" in the Bible is often not a "mathematical all", meaning "every single one." In general the heroes of faith died, and in general people do not ascend to heaven, but perhaps Enoch was a rare exception. It's also possible that verse 13 only refers to the patriarchs and matriarchs in verses 8-12 and not to Abel, Enoch, and Noah in verses 5-7.
Some Adventist Christians have a different way of explaining the question. Perhaps Enoch was "taken" or "translated" (KJV) in the figurative sense described in Colossians 1:13, where Paul says that God "hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." In this reading, Hebrews 11:5a is saying that Enoch was translated into God's kingdom so that he wouldn't see the second death.
In that case, though, why did Enoch experience the "first death" at the comparatively early age of 365? One possibility is that he was a martyr. Perhaps he was the "young man" that Lamech boasted about killing in Genesis 4:23.
We still have to explain Heb 11:5b, which says that Enoch "was not found, because God had taken him." The Greek word for "taken," metatithemi, is used 6 times in the New Testament. One of those is in Acts 7:16, which speaks of Jacob's body being moved to a grave near Shechem. So Hebrews 11:5b may be referring to God moving Enoch's body to an undisclosed location, as he later did with the body of Moses (Dt 34:6).
Whatever happened to Enoch after 365 years, he was a man of faith, a bright spot in the early history of humanity.
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