Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

THE MAN WHO WALKED WITH GOD

This entry was posted on 01-22-2010 and is filed under STUDIES IN GENESIS.

"And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years; And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Gen. 5:21-24 KJV).

These four verses are packed with all kinds of goodies. First of all, Enoch (to be distinguished from Enos, v. 6-11) means "dedicated, or disciplined and well-regulated." Names mean something. Enoch lived up to his name in a time when morals and discipline were slipping. Second, he was 65 when he became a father. I will be 65 this year and I do not believe I want to go through fatherhood again! But Enoch did. Third, Enoch was the father of Methuselah ~ the oldest man in the Bible (969, see v. 27). Longevity does not necessarily mean you are good or bad. Methuselah died the year of the great flood! If he died before the flood came, he may have been died a righteous man. But if he died after the flood came . . . well, we know he was not inside the ark! Fourth, Enoch walked with God. I have underlined those words in both v. 22 and v. 24. When God repeats something in His Word we must sit up and take notice. God walked in Eden but Adam and Eve hid from His presence (see Gen. 3:8). Here, for the first time, we find man walking with God! Sweet fellowship was theirs to enjoy. God wants us to walk with Him today. Do we want to walk and talk with Him? Psalm 16:8 says, "I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Fifth, Enoch "walked with God" after he became a father. In my Bible, given to me by my father in 1965, I circled the word after. There is something about becoming a parent that makes us want to be a better person. We now have a child that we are responsible for. Parenting is serious business. God has entrusted us with an eternal soul! So Enoch began a relationship with God after he became a father. Sixth, God blessed Enoch and his wife (who is unnamed in the text) with additional sons and some daughters as well (see v. 22). The Bible says that children are a heritage from the Lord (Psa. 127:3). Seventh, Enoch ended the long march of death. All of the people mentioned in the "death march" chapter of the Bible have a three word postscript after their names: "and he died." But not so with Enoch for the Bible says, "and he was not." The NIV says, "then he was no more." But that does not mean he died. Hebrews 11:5 gives us more light. "By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God." Enoch was a believer ("by faith"). He was "translated" so that he would not experience death. Evidently his mysterious disappearance cause a search among his family and friends because "he could not be found." And before his translation he received a commendation ~ from God Himself! "You please me, Enoch!" Wow! What a man! Eighth, he was not because God took him. Herbert Lockyer writes, "One day, while taking his long, accustomed walk with God it seemed as if the two were loathe to part, and so God said to His companion in whom He had pleasure, 'Enoch, why not go home? Come all the way home with Me,' and the two went to the Father's home, to continue without a break in their companionship for ever hereafter."

Prayer: Dear Lord, help us to walk with You and please You as did our friend and Your friend Enoch! Grant us his dedication and discipline we pray through Christ our Lord.