John Calvin Commentary Genesis 5:24

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

And he was not, for God took him. He must be shamelessly contentious who will not acknowledge that something extraordinary is indicated here. All are, indeed, taken out of the world by death; but Moses plainly declares that Enoch was taken out of the world by an unusual method, and was received by the Lord in a miraculous manner.

For לקה (lakah) among the Hebrews signifies 'to take to oneself,' as well as simply 'to take.' But, without insisting on the word, it is sufficient to hold firmly to the matter itself; namely, that Enoch, in the middle period of life, suddenly, and in an unexampled method, vanished from the sight of men, because the Lord took him away, as we read was also done with respect to Elijah.

Since, in the translation of Enoch, an example of immortality was exhibited, there is no doubt that God designed to elevate the minds of His saints with certain faith before their death, and to lessen, by this consolation, the dread they might have of death, because they would know that a better life was elsewhere laid up for them.

It is, however, remarkable that Adam himself was deprived of this support of faith and comfort. For since that terrible judgment of God, Thou shalt die the death, was constantly sounding in his ears, he greatly needed some solace, so that in death he might have something else to reflect upon than curse and destruction.

But it was not until about one hundred and fifty years after his death that the translation of Enoch took place, which was to be as a visible representation of a blessed resurrection; by which, if Adam had been enlightened, he might have girded himself with equanimity for his own departure.

Yet, since the Lord, in inflicting punishment, had moderated its rigor, and since Adam himself had heard from His own mouth what was sufficient to afford him no slight alleviation, contented with this kind of remedy, it became his duty patiently to bear both the continual cross in this world and also the bitter and sorrowful termination of his life.

But whereas others were not taught in the same manner by a manifest oracle to hope for victory over the serpent, there was, in the translation of Enoch, an instruction for all the godly that they should not confine their hope within the boundaries of this mortal life. For Moses shows that this translation was a proof of the Divine love towards Enoch, by connecting it immediately with his pious and upright life.

Nevertheless, to be deprived of life is not in itself desirable. It follows, therefore, that he was taken to a better abode, and that even when he was a sojourner in the world, he was received into a heavenly country, as the Apostle, in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 11:5), plainly teaches.

Moreover, if it is asked why Enoch was translated and what his present condition is, I answer that his transition was by a special privilege, such as other men would have experienced if they had remained in their original state. For although it was necessary for him to put off what was corruptible, yet he was exempt from that violent separation from which nature shrinks. In short, his translation was a placid and joyful departure from the world.

Yet he was not received into celestial glory but was only freed from the miseries of the present life, until Christ should come, the first-fruits of those who will rise again. And since he was one of the members of the Church, it was necessary for him to wait until they all go forth together to meet Christ, so that the whole body may be united to its Head. If anyone should raise as an objection the saying of the Apostle:

It is appointed unto all men once to die, (Hebrews 9:27)

The solution is easy: namely, that death is not always the separation of the soul from the body; but they are said to die who put off their corruptible nature, and such will be the death of those who will be found surviving at the last day.