Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 5:24

"and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." — Genesis 5:24 (ASV)

Enoch walked with God. —This is translated in the Septuagint as “Enoch pleased God,” from which comes the “testimony” quoted in Hebrews 11:5. In reality, it gives the cause, of which the Greek phrase is the effect, for it denotes a steady continuance in well-doing and a life spent in the immediate presence of, and in constant communion with, God. (See Note on Genesis 4:18.)

God took him. —Instead of the mournful refrain and he died, coming like a surprise at the end of each of these protracted lives, we have here an early removal into another world, suggesting already that long life was not the highest form of blessing; and this removal is without pain, decay, or death into the immediate presence of God. Thus one of Adam’s posterity after the fall succeeded in doing—though, doubtless, not without special help and blessing from the Almighty—that in which Adam in Paradise had failed. We learn, too, from Jude 1:14-15, that Enoch’s was a removal from prevailing evil to happiness secured.

Already, probably, the intermarriages between the Cainites and Sethites had begun, and with this, the corruption of mankind. Philippson, while regarding the phrase “God took him” as a euphemism for an early death, yet finds in it an indication that there is another life besides this one on earth. We may further add that Enoch’s translation took place about the middle of the antediluvian period, and that his age was 365, the number of the days of the year. As, however, the Hebrew year consisted of only 354 days, and the Chaldean of 360, the conclusion that Enoch was a solar deity has no solid foundation. But see Note on Genesis 8:14.