What is the significance of Genesis 5 and what the Bible teaches about Enoch?
(Adapted from Richard Hess, “Enoch (Person),” Anchor Bible Dictionary (Doubleday, 1992))
Genesis 5:18-24 relates the account of Enoch (NIV):
18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. 19 After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died. 21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. 22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
The subject of Enoch has been of great interest since before the time of Christ. The name matches Enoch in the line of Cain who appears in Genesis 4:17-18. There he is the son of Cain and the father of Iran. He may have been the builder of the city which he named after his son, Irad.
In chapter 5, Enoch is the son of Jared, born when Jared was 162 years old (Gen 5:18), and at 65 years, father of Methuselah (Gen 5:21). Enoch lived 365 years, “walked with God” (cf. also Noah in Gen 6:9), and was taken by God (Gen 5:22–24).
The name Enoch may be derived from the West Semitic root ḥnk, “to introduce, initiate” (Reif 1972). See HANUKKAH, which shares the same root. It has been suggested that the name Enoch means “founder,” on the basis of its association with the founding of the first city in Gen 4:17 (Westermann 1984: 327), or “initiate,” on the basis of the non-canonical traditions about Enoch’s introduction into the mysteries of the world (see VanderKam 1984).
As the first biblical character to forgo death, Enoch had a unique relationship with God. This direct and continuous relationship may be the meaning of the phrase “walked with hāʾĕlōhîm,” though others have found here a reference to Enoch’s association with angels. As the seventh in the line from Adam (Sasson 1978), Enoch’s life of piety is a contrast with the seventh in the line of Cain, whose life is one of bloodshed (Gen 4:23–24). Further, the tradition of acquisition of heavenly wisdom, which lies behind the prophecies of 1 Enoch and of Jude 24, contrasts with the earthly wisdom of Lamech (cf. Reiner 1961), seventh in the line of Cain.
Enoch’s life of 365 years is unusually brief for the members of the Sethite genealogy. It may suggest associations with the solar year (i.e., 365 days); in this regard, Enoch has been compared with Enmeduranki, a figure taught divinatory rites by the sun god and usually listed as seventh on Mesopotamian antediluvian king lists (VanderKam 1984: 33–52; Lambert 1967). However, a closer comparison exists with Enmeduranki’s adviser Utuabzu (seventh and last in the bit mēserī list of antediluvian sages), of whom it is also said that he ascended to heaven (Borger 1974: 192–93).
In the New Testament, Enoch is portrayed as an individual who possessed faith and pleased God, so that he did not die (Heb 11:5–6); his prophecy in Jude 14–15 is a quotation from 1 Enoch 1:9. The quotations of Genesis 6 that are found in the book of 1 Enoch argue against Milik’s hypothesis that the Genesis 6 material is dependent upon 1 Enoch (1976: 30–31; cf. Black 1985: 24–25; 1987). Parallel themes in Mesopotamian myths may suggest other sources for the pseudepigraphic traditions (Grelot 1958: 24–25).
Bibliography
Black, M. 1985. The Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch. Leiden.
_______. 1987. The Strange Visions of Enoch. BRev 3/2: 20–23, 38–42.
Borger, R. 1974. Die Beschwörungsserie Bīt Mēseri und die Himmelfahrt Henochs. JNES 33: 183–96.
Cassuto, U. 1961. A Commentary on the Book of Genesis. Part I. From Adam to Noah. Trans. I. Abrahams. Jerusalem.
Grelot, P. 1958. Le légende d’Hénoch dans les apocryphes et dans la Bible: son origine et signification. RSR 46: 5–26, 181–210.
Lambert, W. G. 1967. Enmeduranki and Related Matters. JCS 21: 126–38.
Milik, J. T., ed. 1976. The Books of Enoch. Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4. Oxford.
Miller, P. D., Jr. 1985. Eridu, Dunnu, and Babel: A Study in Comparative Mythology. HAR 9: 227–51.
Reif, S. C. 1972. Dedicated to hnk. VT 22: 495–501.
Reiner, E. 1961. The Etiological Myth of the “Seven Sages.” Or n.s. 30: 1–11.
Sasson, J. M. 1978. A Genealogical “Convention” in Biblical Chronography? ZAW 90: 171–85.
Sawyer, J. F. A. 1986. Cain and Hephaestus. Possible Relics of Metalworking Traditions in Genesis 4. AbrNah 24: 155–66.
VanderKam, J. C. 1984. Enoch and the Growth of an Apocalyptic Tradition. CBQMS 16. Washington, DC.
Westermann, C. 1984. Genesis 1–11: A Commentary. Minneapolis.
