Enoch
Enoch (/ˈiːnək/ ⓘ) is a biblical figure and patriarch prior to Noah's flood, and the son of Jared and father of Methuselah. He was of the Antediluvian period in the Hebrew Bible.
Enoch the Patriarch | |
|---|---|
God took Enoch, as in Genesis 5:24: "And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him". illustration from the 1728 Figures de la Bible; illustrated by Gerard Hoet | |
| Antediluvian Patriarch | |
| Born | 622 AM Babylon |
| Died | 987 AM ("taken up by God" as per traditions) |
| Venerated in | Christianity Islam Judaism New religious movements |
| Feast | Sunday before the Nativity of Christ in the Eastern Orthodox Church 22 January in the Coptic Church 19 July (his assumption in the Coptic Church) 3 January (Bollandists) |
The text of the Book of Genesis says Enoch lived 365 years before he was taken by God. The text reads that Enoch "walked with God: and he was no more; for God took him" (Gen 5:21–24), which is interpreted as Enoch entering heaven alive in some Jewish and Christian traditions, and interpreted differently in others.
Enoch is the subject of many Jewish and Christian traditions. He was considered the author of the Book of Enoch and also called the scribe of judgment. In the New Testament, Enoch is referenced in the Gospel of Luke, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and in the Epistle of Jude, the last of which also quotes from it. In the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Oriental Orthodoxy, he is venerated as a Saint. Some Muslims identify Enoch with Idris and consider him a prophet due to the Quran's recognition of Idris as a prophet.
The name of Enoch (Hebrew: חֲנוֹךְ Ḥănōḵ) derives from the Hebrew root חנך (ḥ-n-ḵ), meaning to train, initiate, dedicate, inaugurate, with חֲנוֹךְ/חֲנֹךְ (Ḥănōḵ) being the imperative form of the verb.