Where Are You, Enoch? Why Can’t I Find You? Genesis 5:21–24 Reconsidered

Abstract

In this article, the Enoch passage in Genesis 5:21–24 is examined both within the immediate context of Gen 5 as well as within its ancient Near Eastern context. Taking both synchronic and diachronic aspects into account, it is argued, in contrast to many other studies, that the passage is not ambiguous about Enoch’s fate. Readers in biblical times would have understood that Enoch did not die but was translocated by God to a mythological or, “supernatural” location on earth; a location like the garden in Eden.