Enoch’s Epitaph – P1: The Controversy
by slaveofone

ויתהלך חנוך את־האלהים ואיננו כי־לקח אתו אלהים

And Enoch walked around with Elohim and was not there because Elohim took him.

Gen 5:24

Most of us are all too familiar with this verse. Its traditional interpretation is that Enoch was righteous and that he ascended to YHWH without experiencing death. That may have been the intended meaning. In this series of posts, however, I will challenge this traditional understanding and suggest that we may have better reason, textually, to say that Enoch actually died. Though it may be unconventional to us, such a perspective has existed for a long time. The Targumim are ancient Aramaic translations of the Hebrew texts. As a general principle, it can be said that the later the Targum, the less literal, the more expansive, or the more explicative the translation. Targum Onkelos, which is probably the earliest of our Targumim of the Torah (discounting the questionable 4Q157), renders Gen 5:24 thusly:

And Enoch walked in reverence of the Lord, then he was no more, for the Lord had caused him to die.

Targum Onkelos 5:24

This translation has attempted to smooth out the obscurities of the Hebrew by explaining what it believed was the correct understanding—that walking had to do with reverence and that Enoch actually died. A later Targum reverses this clarification about Enoch’s death and includes considerable expansion.

And Hanok served in the truth before the Lord; and, behold, he was not with the sojourners of the earth; for he was withdrawn, and he ascended to the firmament by the Word before the Lord, and his name was called Metatron the Great Saphra.

Targum Psuedo-Jonathan 5

The question of Enoch’s death is taken up later in the Genesis Rabba, a Rabbinic commentary on the first scroll of Torah. Although there is a diversity of opinion, it is plain that Enoch’s death is considered orthodox and that those who argue strongly against it, those who are asking these authorities to explain why he died because they believe otherwise, are viewed as coming from a heretical position.

AND ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD, AND HE WAS NOT; FOR GOD TOOK HIM. R. Kama b. R. Hoshaya said : [AND HE WAS NOT means] that he was not inscribed in the roll of the righteous but in the roll of the wicked. R. Aibu said: Enoch was a hypocrite, acting sometimes as a righteous, sometimes as a wicked man. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, said: ‘While he is righteous I will remove him.’ R. Aibu also said: He judged [i.e. condemned] him on New Year, when he judges the whole world.

Some sectarians asked R. Abbahu: ‘We do not find that Enoch died?’ ‘How so?’ inquired he. ‘Taking is employed here, and also in connection with Elijah,’ said they. ‘If you stress the word taking,’ he answered, ‘then taking is employed here, while in Ezekiel it is said, Behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes.’ R. Tanhuma observed: He answered them well.

A matron asked R. Jose: ‘We do not find death stated of Enoch? Said he to her: ‘If it said, AND ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD, and no more, I would agree with you. Since, however, it says, AND HE WAS NOT, FOR GOD TOOK HIM, it means that he was no more in the world, [having died,] FOR GOD TOOK HIM.

Genesis Rabba 25:1, Soncino

The Hellensistic Jew, Philo, chimes in from around the time of Christ to agree that Enoch died.

Why, when Enoch died, the sacred historian adds the assertion, “He pleased God?”.

Philo, Questions and Answers on Genesis 1:85

Philo’s question about pleasing God is actually dependent upon the Greek text or its Vorlage (a Hebrew or Aramaic text from which the Greek was based). Many Dead Sea Scrolls preserve readings in Hebrew which do not exist in the Masoretic Text but do exist in the Old Greek translation (unfortunately, this particular verse is not extant in the Dead Sea Scrolls). Since Greek appears to be the usual method of reading and writing for the Hellenistic Philo, it is likely that he was quoting from the Greek itself and not its Vorlage. It should be pointed out, therefore, that he calls the Greek version sacred. This is important because a common Modern attitude before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was that the Greek text was inferior to the Hebrew represented by the Masoretic because it was a translation and because it was believed the translation expanded on a lot of things that were not in the Hebrew. Now we know, however, that the Greek many times represents older and more ancient readings than the Masoretic so that many readings which were believed to be translational expansions are not. It is also the case that many ancient Jews did not believe that just because the Greek was a translation, that this in any way made it less authoritative, less inspired, or less holy, as Philo himself attests. The Letter of Aristeas actually claims the Greek translation to be more inspired, more authoritative, and more sacred than the Hebrew.

And Henoch was well pleasing to God, and he was not found, because God transferred him.

Septuagint, Gen 5:24, NETS translation

Besides adding that Enoch pleased God, the Greek provides us with the idea that Enoch was not found in place of the Hebrew’s he was not there and that he was transferred or translated, which gives us more to play with in terms of the question about what happened to Enoch. Sirach, our oldest commentator on the Torah, appears to draw from this version of Gen 5:24 when he says in the Greek translation of his work:

Enoch pleased the Lord, and was translated, being an example of repentance to all generations.

Sirach 44:16, KJV

Elsewhere, Sirach says:

But upon the earth was no man created like Enoch; for he was taken from the earth.

Sirach 49:14, KJV

This is difficult to interpret. Sirach could have meant Enoch was taken from the earth in a sense like being raised from the grave (and thus having died), in a sense like being taken alive from an earthly realm to a non-earthly one, or in a sense like being taken from one earthly realm to another earthly realm–either having died or not.

Philo gives us a Hellenistic interpretation of what it means for Enoch to be translated, which we can be certain was never intended by the text.

What is the meaning of the expression, “He was not found because God translated him?” . . . it is here suggested, that he was translated from a visible place, perceptible by the outward senses, into an incorporeal idea, appreciable only to the intellect.

Philo, Questions and Answers on Genesis 1:86

The Epistle to the Hebrews, which may be translated from an original Hebrew or Aramaic, appears to depend either on the Greek or its Hebrew Vorlage since it refers to Enoch not being found.

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up.

Hebrews 11:5, NASB

Because this says “he should not see death,” many people believe it means Enoch never died. However, as we will see later, this may not be its intended meaning at all.

The idea that Enoch ascended to heaven without tasting death is certainly as ancient as the idea that he died. It is said to happen numerous times through various means (either in spirit, in vision, on a whirlwind, or by the assistance of the Holy Ones) throughout 1 Enoch in order for him to receive instruction and to convey messages to various human and angelic parties. If this could occur to Enoch before he finally left the world for good, it seems unreasonable to say he must die at the end in order for it to happen again. In speaking of this final ascension, the scroll of Parables says:

And after this, while he was still living, his name was raised into the presence of that son of man and into the presence of the Lord of Spirits from among those who dwell on the earth. He was raised on the chariots of the wind, and his name departed. And from that day, I was not reckoned among them.

1 Enoch 70:1-3a, George Nickelsburg translation

The scroll of Jubilees, which was influenced by 1 Enoch, speaks of Enoch’s terrestrial end thusly:

And he was taken from amongst the children of men, and we conducted him into the Garden of Eden in majesty and honor, and behold there he writes down the condemnation and judgment of the world, and all the wickedness of the children of men.

Jubilees 4:23

Josephus’ account is ambiguous. He seems to be saying that Enoch’s death was not reported because no one knew what happened to him—he simply departed or disappeared.

And then his son Enoch succeeded him, who was born when his father was one hundred and sixty-two years old. Now he, when he had lived three hundred and sixty-five years, departed and went to God; whence it is that they have not written down his death.

Antiquities 1:3:4

And indeed, as to Elijah, and as to Enoch, who was before the deluge, it is written in the sacred books that they disappeared, but so that nobody knew that they died.

Antiquities 9:2:2

The big question then is whether the text itself gives us any reason to think Enoch died. This issue will explored in P2: Death, P3: Redemption, P4: Out of Sheol, and concluded with P5: Hebrews.

• 2009/08/01
• 2051
• biblical studies
• Responed | trackback url