January 1 - Enoch

January 1 - Enoch

What do we know about Enoch?  If you do a quick search, you will find that Adam’s son, Cain, had a son named Enoch (Genesis 4:17) and Cain then named a city after that son.

But, the Enoch who seems a bit more interesting is the ‘seventh’ from Adam, a descendant of Adam’s son, Seth. According to Genesis 5, we find that this line is Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalel, Jared, Enoch.  His son, Methuselah, is recorded as the longest living man at 969 years.  In Luke 3:37, we discover that this is the also line from which Jesus was born.

The name ‘Enoch’ means dedicated and this is confirmed in Genesis.

“When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.  Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” (Genesis 5:22-24)

Genesis 5 gives a synopsis of the lives of the men between Adam and Noah.  Each man lived, fathered a significant son, lived longer and then died.  Enoch’s historical synopsis in Genesis 5 tells us that he lived, fathered Methuselah, had other children, lived a bit longer and then the story veers away from the pattern.  Enoch walked with God, then God took him away.

We have no other information regarding this man, but his relationship with God was important enough that his life was recorded a bit differently than any other life in that history lesson.

Hebrews 11:5-6 tells us that Enoch pleased God and without faith it is impossible to please God because ‘anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’

Enoch pleased God.

The last bit of information we uncover from Scripture is found in Jude 14 where we are told that Enoch was a prophet who prophesied regarding godless men in the last days when thousands upon thousands of God’s holy ones would come to judge everyone and to convict all the ungodly.

While there isn’t a lot of information regarding this man, we begin this series by looking at a man who pleased God, who walked with God, and who knew God well enough to know that He would send judgment upon the godless and who didn’t die, but was taken into heaven by God.

Enoch walked with God.