Description:
Footprints in the sand fade away across the desert. Enoch was taken up to Heaven and is no longer found among his people.
Technique: digital painting.
Dimensions: 3.508 x 4.961 px.
The Mysterious Enoch: Enoch was the first, and one of the few figures in the Bible, to be taken up alive. We read that “Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Gen 5:24, NIV). Besides him, only Elijah experienced something similar (2 Kgs 2:11). Enoch is mentioned only five times in the Bible: Gen 5:18–24; 1 Chr 1:3; Luke 3:37; Heb 11:5; Jude 1:14–15. In Jude especially, there is a direct quotation from the Book of Enoch, an ancient pseudepigraphal work that bears the patriarch’s name.
The Book of Enoch is divided into five parts: 1. Book of the Watchers — recounts the fall of the angels and the Nephilim; 2. Book of Parables — presents messianic visions and the final judgment; 3. Astronomical Book — describes calendars and celestial movements; 4. Book of Dreams — contains symbolic visions concerning the history of Israel; 5. Epistle of Enoch — brings exhortations and prophecies regarding justice and the condemnation of the wicked. Despite its influence and circulation among Jews and Christians, the Book of Enoch was not considered canonical by most of these traditions. There are exceptions, however, such as Ethiopian Christianity¹.
Extensive ages in Genesis: Although Enoch's age impresses us, it is relatively short when compared to the longevity attributed to other antediluvian patriarchs, such as Adam (930 years, Gen 5:5) and Methuselah (969 years, Gen 5:27).
There are interpretations that defend the literal meaning of these numbers. However, it is also possible to understand these ages as symbolic or literary elements when compared with other genealogical texts from the Ancient Near East. For example, a Sumerian clay prism from the 18th century B.C., known as the Sumerian King List, describes rulers regarded as historical figures who, according to the account, lived for tens of thousands of years. In this context, such descriptions may be understood as “an intentional literary hyperbole to increase the prestige of the ruler” (PRICE; HOUSE, p. 55, our translation)².
In Genesis, the progressively decreasing ages from one generation to the next may symbolically point to an Edenic vitality that was gradually corrupted by sin until the time of the Flood, when human lifespan was reduced to 120 years (Gen 6:3).
- O Livro de Enoque. 1. ed. São Paulo: Editora Berith, 2023, p. 7-8.
- PRICE, R; HOUSE, H. W. Manual de Arqueologia Bíblica Thomas Nelson. 1. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Thomas Nelson Brasil, 2020, p.54-55.
