Genesis 5:24

(86) What is the meaning of the expression, "He was not found because God translated him?" (#Ge 5:24). In the first place, the end of virtuous and holy men is not death but a translation and migration, and an approach to some other place of abode. In the second place, in this instance something marvellous did take place; for he was supposed to be carried off in such a way as to be invisible, for then he was not found: and a proof of this is, that he was sought for as being invisible, not only as having been carried away from their sight, since translation into another place is nothing else than a placing of a person in another situation; but 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. This mercy also was bestowed on the great prophet, for his sepulchre also was known to no one. And besides these two there was another, Elijah, who ascended from the things of earth into heaven, according to the divine appearance which was then presented to him, and who thus followed higher things, or, to speak with more exact propriety, was raised up to heaven.

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 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. [Genesis 5:24] But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Let us steadfastly contemplate those who have perfectly ministered to his excellent glory. Let us take (for instance) Enoch, who, being found righteous in obedience, was translated, and death was never known to happen to him.

Enoch and Elijah were transported hence without suffering death, which was only postponed. The day will come when they will actually die that they may extinguish Antichrist with their blood. There was a legend that St. John the Evangelist was to live till the second coming, but he died.

We also find that Enoch, who pleased God, was transported, as divine Scripture testifies in Genesis and says, “And Enoch pleased God and was not seen later because God took him.” This was pleasing in the sight of God—that Enoch merited being transported from the contagion of this world. But the Holy Spirit teaches also through Solomon that those who please God are taken from here earlier and more quickly set free, lest while they are tarrying too long in this world they be corrupted by familiarity with the world.

Some say that while Adam was looking [at Enoch] God transported him to paradise lest Adam think that Enoch was killed as was Abel and so be grieved. This was so that Adam might also be comforted by this just son of his and that he might know that for all who were like this one, whether before death or after the resurrection, paradise would be their meeting place.

Enoch “hoped to invoke the Lord.” His accomplishment consisted not in hoping for knowledge, mark you, but rather in hoping for invocation of the Lord. Enoch was “transferred”—yes, but it is quite unclear whether this was a consequence or a precondition of his comprehending God’s nature.

But Enos, who assumed and hoped to invoke God; and therefore, it is believed that he was translated. Therefore, it does not seem that a man exists unless he hopes in God. But whoever hopes in God does not live on earth, but rather, as if carried away, clings to God, signifying a clear interpretation of truth.

The Holy Spirit also came down and filled the whole house, where very many were sitting, and there appeared parted tongues as of fire. Good wings of charity, true wings that flew through the mouths of the apostles, and wings of fire that spoke in a purified speech. With these wings, Enoch flew up to heaven when he was taken up.

Well, then, do not say, “I am impeded by the flesh, so I cannot win out or take on myself efforts to acquire virtue.” Do not thus accuse your Creator. For if the flesh makes it impossible to possess virtue, the fault is not ours. However, the company of the saints has shown that in reality it does not make this impossible. The nature of the flesh did not prevent Paul, for instance, from becoming such a saint as he became or Peter from receiving the keys of heaven. Further, Enoch, though possessed of the flesh, was taken by God and seen no more.

Then the Scripture states that after some time had elapsed, there was a man named Enoch, whose justice merited a singular privilege: that he should not experience present death but should be transported to immortality from the midst of mortals. This incident shows that one just man is dearer to God than many sinners.

The mind is so caught up in this way that the hearing no longer takes in the voices outside and images of the passerby no longer come to sight and the eye no longer sees the mounds confronting it or the gigantic objects rising up against it. No one will possess the truth and the power of all this unless he has direct experience to teach him. The Lord will have turned the eyes of his heart away from everything of the here and now, and he will think of these as not transitory so much as already gone, smoke scattered into nothing. He walks with God, like Enoch. He is gone from a human way of life, from human concerns. He is no longer to be found amid the vanity of this present world. The text of Genesis relates that this actually happened to Enoch in the body: “Enoch walked with God and was not to be found because God had taken him away.” The apostle says, “Because of his faith, Enoch was taken up so that he did not have to encounter death.”

Adam lived for one hundred and thirty years, and he begot a son in his own likeness and image, and he named him Seth. Adam indeed was created in the likeness and image of God, because he was made immortal in both soul and body. However, after he corrupted the image and likeness of God in himself by sinning, he begot a son in his own likeness and image, that is, mortal, corruptible, capable of reason, bound by the guilt of his transgression, and to be freed only by the grace of his Creator. It should be noted that where our Codices, translated from the Hebrew source, say Adam lived for one hundred and thirty years and begot Seth, the ancient translation has, instead of one hundred and thirty, two hundred and thirty; where our Codices continue, "And the days of Adam after he begot Seth were eight hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters," that one has seven hundred instead of eight hundred. And where it concludes, "And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died," it places the same total, and such a distinction of numbers is preserved in all generations up to the flood between the two editions, so that before the birth of a son each one in the Septuagint is said to have had one hundred years more, and after the birth one hundred years less than in the Hebrew truth. But in the conclusion, both editions place an equal number; except only in the sixth generation; where in both Codices, Jared is found to have begotten Enoch at one hundred and sixty-two years, and after his birth to have lived eight hundred years: and in the ninth, where, according to the Hebrew truth, Lamech begot Noah when he was one hundred and eighty years old, and after he was born, he is found to have survived for five hundred and ninety-five years. However, in the Septuagint, the years before Noah was born are found to be one hundred and eighty-eight, and after he was born, five hundred sixty-five; thus it happens that Lamech is found to have lived twenty-four years longer in Hebrew than in the Septuagint Codices: by which difference of interpretations, it is made that the lifetime of Methuselah seems to extend fourteen years beyond the flood, and so the years before the flood according to the Hebrews are one thousand five hundred and fifty-six; according to the Septuagint, which the chronographers follow, two thousand two hundred and forty-two: although the most learned Augustine professes that even in the Septuagint translation, Methuselah is found in fewer but more accurate Codices to have died six years before the flood: who, when he most diligently investigated the cause of the aforementioned discord in interpretations, and did not wish to derogate from the faith of the Septuagint translators, whom the apostles and evangelists are proven to have followed in many places; and he himself believed they used more a prophetic gift than the office of interpretation in translating the Scriptures; he concluded in this way, saying: "Therefore it is more credible for someone to say that when these first began to be copied from the library of Ptolemy; at that time, something like this could have happened in one Codex, but first copied from there, from which it spread more widely, where indeed the error of the scribe could have happened. However, it is not absurd to suspect this in that question about the life of Methuselah." And after some: "I would not doubt at all that it is rightly done, he says, when something different is found in both Codices, since both cannot be according to the faith of the transactions, that the truth be believed rather to the language from which it is translated into another by interpreters." Therefore, according to Hebrew truth, Adam lived one hundred and thirty years and begot Seth. Seth lived one hundred and five years and begot Enos. Enos lived ninety years and begot Cainan. Cainan lived eighty years and begot Mahalalel. Mahalalel lived sixty-five years and begot Jared. Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years and begot Enoch.

And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years, and he walked with God, and he was not, because God took him. It is said most beautifully, that he who had walked with God in this life by obeying His commandments, walked afterwards with Him by passing from this life into another, where he would live in the greatest peace and happiness of flesh and spirit: whom however the faith of the universal Church holds to return before the day of judgment, that is, at the imminent advent of the Antichrist, with Elijah for the conversion of this age, so that by the authority and doctrine of such great men, the hearts of men might be instructed and strengthened to endure and overcome the persecution of that son of perdition; and then, having completed their martyrdom, to consent to the joys of immortal life, according to what the Lord says in the Apocalypse to John: And I will give to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth (Rev. 11:3), that is, for three and a half years living in great continence and struggle. And shortly after: And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the abyss will make war against them, and will conquer them, and kill them (Ibid., 7). We have said previously, by anticipation, that just as Lamech in the seventh generation from Adam, who was cursed, signifies the destruction of the reprobate, which they find in the future age where they ought to have hoped for rest, so Enoch, who was translated in the seventh generation from the world, demonstrates the true rest of the elect, which they receive without end after the labors of this life, which pass through six ages. Hence it is rightly read that Lamech took two wives against the decree of Him who said: "The two shall be one flesh," and from them begot offspring dedicated to worldly deeds and allurements, and thus, by committing murder, was cursed by the sentence of his own mouth. Furthermore, it is stated that Enoch walked with God. What greater praise could there be for a man? None, since he is an inseparable companion, following in all deeds the footsteps of the divine command: if Adam had done this, he would not have turned his foot away from the company of the Creator to hear the serpent's speech, and would still be in paradise with his entire race. The fact that all the days of Enoch are said to be three hundred and sixty-five years, the number of days in a solar year, mystically signifies that throughout the whole of this world's time, those who serve the Lord faithfully and strive towards eternal rest will never fall short. Nor is it by chance that three hundred years are specially mentioned, in which Enoch is particularly reported to have walked with God. For this number among the Greeks is usually marked by the letter T. The letter T indeed holds the figure of the cross; and if it had received the single point missing in the middle, it would no longer be merely the figure of the cross but would be depicted as the clear sign of the cross itself. Enoch therefore walked with God, who is called Dedication, for three hundred years; for he certainly expressed, rather he himself enacted, the life and behavior of those who, in faith of the Lord's passion, look forward to the joy of eternal salvation, denying themselves, taking up their cross daily, and following the Lord: which is to say in other words, walking with God, and aiming for the entrance of paradise. It is to be noted, however, that while Scripture extends the progeny of Seth up to Noah, and then to Abraham with such distinction, it describes the lineage of Cain up to Lamech and his children without any mention of ages, as if tacitly intimating to us the saying of the Psalmist: For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish (Psalm 1:6).