Genesis 5:24,  “And Enoch walked with God: and he [was] not; for God took him.”

Hebrews 11:5,  “By faith Enoch was translated 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.”

Jude 1:14,  “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,”

We really do not know too much about this man who had an amazing experience, which was to be translated or taken to heaven without seeing death.  Paul, in the book of Hebrews gives more background on Enoch than the Old Testament.  Paul says that Enoch was translated. Actually in the Greek the word is metetheken which simply means to be taken away. It does not really have the idea of being transformed into something else as I had been taught by preachers when I was a child. The English word translated gives that impression.  The Aramaic word used is chanavak which comes from a Semitic root chanake which has the idea of being consecrated, dedicated and carried away.   It is a word you use when you dedicate a new church building to God. The idea is that it is given wholly and completely to God, He is the total owner of every brick and stone of that building.  So too Enoch was given over so completely to God that God possessed every fiber of his being, he was so totally at one with God that God was able to take him to heaven in a physical body.  This word also has the idea of being carried away.  It is used by a bridegroom who goes to the house of the father of the bride and picks up his bride and carries her away to his father’s house so that she becomes totally one with him and his family.

Now Paul is talking about this experience in his study on faith.  The Aramaic word used here for faith ishayemanath which comes from a root word yaman which is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew word amenwhich means a steadfastness and a sense of surety. However, yaman creates a more beautiful picture as it is rooted in the Semitic word for one’s right hand.  The right hand was always symbolic of power, but is also in the Semitic culture as a symbol favor. It was a reference to one who was allowed to sit on the right hand of the king. Such an individual  had the ultimate favor of the king.  That is why the Queen always was seated to the right side of the king or on the king’s right hand because she is the most favored of the king in all his kingdom.

I do believe the book of Hebrews was written in Greek but I also believe Paul thought as a Semitic person and that he thought in terms of the Aramaic or the Semitic language and culture and thus I believe yaman is the word he had in mind when he wrote this.  Enoch, being on the right of God was then consecrated to God, his entire being and thought processes, everything was given over to God that he literally became the Kings bride. Of course the King would want His bride to be with Him and so He took Him.

Oh, but you say, where do you come up with this bride business?  I find it in Genesis 5:24. You see the sages and orthodox rabbis can do things with the Hebrew that we cannot do with the English.  The Hebrew is a relationship language. Unlike English in Hebrew you search for relationships between words.  Sometimes you use its numerical value called the Gematria, sometimes you associate words that sound alike, sometimes you rearrange the three letters of the root word to discover another word that is related to the word you are studying and this new word that you develop by rearranging the letters will give you some insight into that word that you are studying.

For instance, we find that Enoch walked with God and as a result God took him away.  Now what does that mean to walk with God.  The word for walk is halak.  Ok, it simply means to walk.  Check it out in your Bible dictionary or lexicon and it will tell you it simply means to walk.  But a word’s meaning is enhanced from its context. Thus you have the NIV saying he walked faithfully with God.  The ISV says that he communed with God.  These are supposed  to be translations not paraphrases, yet the word commune and faithful are not found in the Hebrew but is simply the translator, paraphrasing. He is paraphrasing but doing it from a contextual standpoint. Hence, linguistically the NIV and ISV would be far more accurate than the translations which simply render the word halak as walk. Among the Jews the word Halakah comes from the word halak but they associatehalak as a righteous and pure walk.

You see what they do is examine this word halak in a way that we do not examine our English words as our language does not lend itself to the practice of rearranging the letters to get a deeper understanding of a word.  If you take the word for walk halak and reverse the order of letters you get the word kalah which is the word for abride.  A bride is considered pure and righteous before her groom, she is meant to be a virgin when she becomes a bride.  So too when Enoch walked with God he was pure and righteous, he was literally a virgin to God as he never gave himself over to idolatry or served others gods.  Thus, one day he was so in tune with God, so given over lock, stock and barrel to God that he just passed from this earthly existence into the very presence of God while still in a physical body.  He was translated or totally consecrated to God that there was not anything earthly left of him.  He was so literally so heavenly minded that there was really that there was no earthly good left in him.

I really cringe when people say mockingly that someone is so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good. For one thing, what is so wrong with that?  Do you honestly believe that God cannot accomplish His purposes because someone is just too overly devoted to Him?  But more than that, if such a thing were possible they would be like Enoch and just taken to be with the Jesus they love.  The only reason we live on this earth is to bring God pleasure and sometimes there are people who can bring Him more pleasure by just being in His presence in a permanent way.

We learn one thing more about Enoch and that is found in the book of Jude, Enoch prophesied. I talked about that in my study yesterday.  Enoch was as hollow pipe so that everything that flowed or gushed forth from him was of God.  While on earth Enoch just poured out the loving kindness of God  until he just became of no earthly good anymore and so God just took his bride to be with him forever.

I read and watch how the news media reporting on Princess Kate of England.  She is really a commoner but is the bride of Prince William, royalty and future king of Britain. She will one day sit on the right hand of Prince Williamwhen he becomes king of Britain.  Just an average everyday woman, mother and wife, but to the future king of England she is the most favored of all women.

Enoch walk halak with God and as a result he was His bride kalah and one day God just decided he was going to have his kalah all to Himself so he took him or chanake carried him away just as one day God is going to call you and I to have us all to Himself and like the bridegroom coming for His bride He will pick us up and carry us to His father’s house.