Wasn't Enoch taken to Heaven alive?
From EJ Hill & Friends
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Introduction
"And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." (Gen. 5v24, AKJV, p.3)
"By faith Enoch was translated {G3346 metatithemi} that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." (Heb. 11v5, AKJV, p.534)
Two things are generally assumed, from the above. First, that Enoch was taken to heaven. (assumed from Gen. 5v24) And second, that he did "not see death" [1]. (assumed from Heb. 11v5)
However, nowhere does our text say Enoch went to heaven. "It says he was not found, for God took him." [2] "But the verse does not say where God took him!" [2] To assume God took him to Heaven, would not only be tantamount to adding to Scripture; but also in direct contradiction to John chapter 3 verse 13.
Regarding Enoch's "Translation"
Some have suggested that the word "translated" signified his being "made immortal". However, their assumption fails them. The Greek word translated as "translated" is "metatithemi" meaning "to transfer, transport, or carry over". According to "Vine's Dictionary of New Testament Words", this word means "to transfer to another place". [2]
The same Greek word "metatithemi" are rendered as "removed" in Gal. 1v6; and "carried over" in Acts 7v16, where we read that after Jacob's death his body was moved, translated, or removed, to Sychem to be laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought.
God took Enoch. He removed him - so that he was not found. Nobody knew where he was! The LAMSA translation of Genesis chapter 5 verse 24, reads:
"And Enoch found favor in the presence of God, and disappeared; for God took him away."
In Deut. 34v6 we read of a similar situation, where God took Moses from among the people, after which he died and was buried of God "in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day" (AKJV, p.106) Like Enoch, Moses was removed by God, never to be found again.
The LAMSA translation of Hebrews chapter 11 verse 5, reads:
"By faith Enoch departed and did not taste death, and was not found, because God took him; but before He took him away, there was a testimonial about him, that he pleased God."
Regarding Enoch's "Death"
It has also been assumed; that since it is said that Enoch "did not taste death" (Heb. 11v5), he never experienced physical death. But this is not what Paul conveyed. If this was the case, he'd be contradicting himself in verse 13, when after speaking of a number of faithful people of God (including Enoch), he writes:
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." (Heb. 11v13, AKJV, p.534)
And as if to emphasize his point, in verse 39:
"And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:" (Heb. 11v39, AKJV, p.535)
What promise? The promise of Eternal Life.
"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;" (Tit. 1v2, AKJV, p.)
Enoch did not - has not, as yet - received the promise of eternal life. Why? Paul answers that question in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 40:
"God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." (Heb. 11v40, AKJV, p.535)
And when will we join them? When do we all come to perfection? At the resurrection. (1 Th. 4v13-18; 1 Cor. 15v49-54)
Genesis chapter 5 verse 24 and Hebrews chapter 11 verse 5 should now be much easier to understand.
Enoch was a man of God, walking in obedience. He was a man of whom the world wasn't worthy. (Heb. 11v38) Evil and sin was all around him, yet he had faith. It was close to the time when the wickedness of man became so great that only Noah and his family were found worthy to escape annihilation. Enoch would have had many enemies - enemies that would see him dead.
After only 365 years (a relatively short period of time compared to the lifespan of the ancients) God took Enoch - removing him from his enemies, and in so doing probably saved his life. None could find him. Like Moses was removed from Israel to die sometime after (known only to God), so too Enoch was removed by God to live in safety and eventually die at some time and place known only to God.
Enoch, therefore; physically died like any other; yet, he did not pass out of existence altogether.
Bibliography
1. Josephus; Antiquities of the Jews, 9, 5:2.
2. Keith Hunt; Are Enoch, Moses, Elijah, in Heaven? (Restitution of All Things, 1981) (30/03/2008) http://www.keithhunt.com/Enochhea.html Hunt confuses the "third heaven" with the "new heaven".
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