EHP Day 12-Walking Closely With God
Genesis 5:21-24
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years, and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not (found), for God took him.
A human being’s average lifespan in the early centuries of humanity, according to the Hebrew Scriptures (cf. Genesis 5), was 907½ years; twelve times longer than the present lifespan. Moses’ records are purposefully crafted. Men had their first sons at a certain age (noted) only to, after that age, father more sons and daughter. Moses’ account almost always records this minimal data. Except in one case.
Enoch too had his first son, Methuselah (who would become the world’s oldest living man) at age 65. But suddenly, an extra description is added. After his first son was born, Enoch walked with God. Arguably, the only man among tens of thousands (or more) identified as so doing. Marcus Dods observes:
“Enoch walked with God because he was God’s friend and liked God’s company…because he was going in the same direction as God, and had no desire for anything but what lay in God’s path.”
Why Enoch started to walk with God is unstated. Perhaps it was fathering his first child. This should get every man’s attention, though for so many, a sin-dimmed outlook can devalue even this incredible opportunity. Perhaps when God spoke to him about His holiness and coming judgment (cf. Jude vss. 14-15), Enoch’s heart uniquely quartered good soil. The word implanted produced fruit.
It seems that each and every day Enoch walked with God. So closely that his own lifespan fell short by 542.7 years. Why? So close to God, one day God just said, “No need to die. Just come on home…”
Journal Notes