Illustration created for this project.
Enoch — who walked with God
A patriarch of the line of Seth, the seventh generation from Adam, and father of Methuselah. Genesis records that he 'walked with God' — a phrase used of no one else in the genealogy — and then breaks the drumbeat of 'and he died' that marks every other name in the list: 'he was not, for God took him'. Hebrews explains that he was taken so that he should not see death, and that before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. Jude quotes a prophecy attributed to him.
What we know — and how we know it
Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 1
Ancient writers — non-biblical testimony · 2
Scholarly — supported scholarly belief · 1
Family & lineage
Life, role & deeds
Unknown artistUnknown artist — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
Ancient writersA large Second Temple literature grew around Enoch, above all the composite apocalypse 1 Enoch (from the 3rd century BCE onward, with Aramaic copies found at Qumran), which the New Testament Letter of Jude quotes by name. This attests a rich reception tradition, not independent evidence that a historical Enoch existed.
1 Enoch (Ethiopic); Aramaic fragments from Qumran Cave 4 (4Q201–4Q212 = 4QEn^a–g), ed. J.T. Milik, 'The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumrân Cave 4' (Clarendon Press, 1976); quoted at Jude 14–15.
André Thévet — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
Ancient writersPhilo of Alexandria treats Enoch allegorically as a symbol of repentance and of the soul removed from the visible world, and Ben Sira lists him among the honoured ancestors. These are interpretive engagements with the Genesis figure, evidence of his standing in ancient thought rather than of his historicity.
Philo, De Abrahamo 17–19 and De praemiis et poenis 15–16; Sirach 44:16 and 49:14.
Name & titles
ScholarlyThe name Chanokh derives from the root ch-n-k, 'to dedicate, initiate, or train' (the same root behind Chanukkah). The meaning suits a figure who was 'taken' by God and became the focus of an initiatory, esoteric tradition.
Standard Hebrew lexica (BDB, HALOT) on the root ḥnk.
Where in scripture
GenesisEnoch walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him.
Genesis 5:24 — Walked with God, then was no more
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
Family
In art
