Walking with God

Genesis 5:21–24 (NASB95) 

21Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. 22Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. 23So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

As I mentioned yesterday, the genealogy sometimes pauses to tell us more. Enoch is one of those pauses, even if it's a small one. 

Among the generations descended from Adam, the account of Enoch stands out as a luminous exception. Instead of the familiar refrain that so-and-so lived and then died, Enoch is remembered for something extraordinary: he “walked with God.” This phrase is more than a description of upright conduct; it draws us back to the intimacy Adam and Eve enjoyed with God in Eden before the fall. To “walk with God” is to live in close communion, sharing in His presence and fellowship—the very experience lost through sin and exile. Enoch’s life, marked by this remarkable closeness, serves as a reminder that the presence of God is the only antidote to human mortality. Where Adam was barred from the garden and Cain was driven further away, Enoch experiences the fullness of God’s presence and, as a result, does not taste death. God “took” him—the same Hebrew term used for Elijah’s translation—signifying a mysterious but unmistakable escape from the universal sentence of death that reigns over Adam’s other descendants. 

This unique outcome for Enoch is not simply a personal reward but a signal of God’s broader plan for salvation. Enoch’s story confirms that death is not the final word for those who walk with God. His life, though shorter than other antediluvian patriarchs, is full and complete—not by years but by intimacy with the Creator. Enoch becomes a model of faith and righteousness, later celebrated in Jewish and Christian writings as one who pleased God and was taken up without seeing death. His story points forward to the hope that God’s merciful promises cannot be thwarted by the curse and that His plan of life and blessing will ultimately prevail through those who seek His face. 

Are you walking with God? This should be our priority above all else.