Enoch Is Taken Away

Chapter 70

1 After that, his name was exalted to the Son of Man and to the Lord of Spirits among those who live on the earth during his lifetime. 2 He was lifted up on the chariots of the spirit,⁠ and his name disappeared among them. 3 From that day, I was no longer counted among them; he placed me between the North and the West winds, where the angels measured a place for the chosen and the righteous.⁠ 4 There, I saw the earliest ancestors and the righteous who have lived in that place since the beginning.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 5:24 and 1 Enoch 70:2

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

Summary

Genesis 5 says that God took Enoch away, with no means, destination, or reason. 1 Enoch expands this into a full narrative with his ascent on chariots of the wind, carrying Enoch to the heavenly Garden of Eden where the earliest righteous already live.

Passages

Genesis 5:24

Hebrew Bible

22 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 The entire lifetime of Enoch was 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and then he disappeared because God took him away. 25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 26 Methuselah lived 782 years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters.

750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

1 Enoch 70:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

1 After that, his name was exalted to the Son of Man and to the Lord of Spirits among those who live on the earth during his lifetime. 2 He was lifted up on the chariots of the spirit, and his name disappeared among them. 3 From that day, I was no longer counted among them; he placed me between the North and the West winds, where the angels measured a place for the chosen and the righteous. 4 There, I saw the earliest ancestors and the righteous who have lived in that place since the beginning.

300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

“... 1 Enoch 70.1-2 is also a midrash of Genesis 5.24, “And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him,” because there is the suggestion in what follows in the Book of Parables that this is Enoch’s final ascent to heaven. After Enoch was raised on the chariots of the wind “and his name departed from among them” (1 Enoch 70.2), the following verse states it plainly: “And from that day, I was not reckoned among them” (1 Enoch 70.3). All of the Book of Parables may be read as a midrash on Genesis 5.24. Enoch’s entire earthly existence, summarized by the phrase in Genesis 5:24a, “Enoch walked with God,” is midrashed in 1 Enoch 37–69. The following phrase, “and he was not,” is midrashed by 1 Enoch 70.3-4: “And from that day, I was not reckoned among them.” ...”

James A. Waddell, “The Messiah in the Parables of Enoch and the Letters of Paul: A Comparative Analysis” (PhD diss., University of Michigan, 2010), 59–60.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Enoch Is Taken Away

1 Enoch108 chapters

Compare Genesis 5:24 and 1 Enoch 70:2

Summary

Passages

Genesis 5:24

1 Enoch 70:2

References

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