Have you ever thought about what legacy you would like to leave your family, or the world for that matter? My parents left my sister and I a cottage on beautiful Elk Lake. Being a writer, I always wanted my legacy to be the next great American novel. Haha, I gotta laugh. Even though this might be a great goal, it really isn’t that important. What legacy should we be leaving our children and grandchildren? Enoch left an amazing legacy for his children.
Enoch, you say? Yes, Enoch. My interest in Enoch started one day with Noah. I was really wondering how Noah and his family could stay faithful to God when everyone else in the world didn’t give God a second thought, or even a thought. They were busy indulging in every wicked thing possible. So I started looking into Noah’s background. Did you know that Enoch is Noah’s great-grandfather? In Genesis 5, there is written the genealogy from Adam to Noah. In verses 21-29, the genealogy of Enoch to Noah is mentioned, and that’s right, Enoch was Noah’s great-grandfather.
So what’s the bid deal with Enoch? Take a look at verses 21-24:
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
Best Friends
Look, Enoch walked faithfully with God for 300 years. They were best friends. Can you imagine having God as your best friend? You know, like texting Him and saying, “just was thinking about you. I know that things have been rough for you lately, what can I do to help?” That’s right, Enoch saying that to God.
Or how about the two just walking along the desert road talking. God teaching Enoch and Enoch listening intently. Or maybe God needed Enoch to be a sounding board. After all, in just the next chapter, it talks about how the angels were procreating with humans, and how wicked the hearts of men had become. Now, we know God is always in control, He has the ultimate power, but He also allows free will. Maybe the angels were getting a little crazy here and God was talking to Enoch about the situation. Maybe they were fallen angels, but either way, it was not an act that God condoned. And what about the wickedness growing in men’s hearts? God could have been talking to Enoch about such things.
I know we don’t talk too much about God’s emotions. It specifically says in the New Testament that God is love, but we also see God cry through Jesus when Lazarus died. In the Old Testament, we see more of God’s anger against injustice. I don’t think it is too far a leap to think that God might have talked to Enoch about what was on His mind.
You don’t just walk faithfully with someone for 300 years without a give and take relationship and really getting to know them. Enoch and God’s friendship was special. So special, that God took Enoch with Him to Heaven without Enoch having to die. That’s what is meant in verse 24 when it says, “and then he [Enoch] was no more because God took him away.”
I’m really not convinced that this was a sudden taking away. Enoch did not just have the one son, Methuselah, but he also had other sons and daughters. Maybe on their walks, God and Enoch decided that Enoch belonged in Heaven and not on earth so they made a plan. Since Enoch walked faithfully with God, we can assume that he had many of the characteristics of God as well. That would include taking good care of his own family. Who’s to say, that Methuselah wasn’t in on this conversation as well since he would be in charge of the family, being the first-born son, after Enoch would go to Heaven. He was 300 years old when his Dad went to be with God continually, so Methuselah could very well have had a chair at the table during this conversation.
Family Stories
We have just finished up the holiday season not too long ago. Many of us spent sometime during the holidays with our families. When spending time with your families, did you pull out the old photo albums, and switch phones to look at photos and talk about family members? How many of your families shared stories about your loved ones? Did you talk about great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers, how they met, how they were important to your family? Have you ever wondered where certain family traditions come from?
I heard a story once, about how a mom was teaching her daughter how to cook a beef roast. She unwrapped the roast, cut about 1 ½ inches off the end, put that part back in the refrigerator for another meal, and then proceeded in preparing the roast for cooking. She showed her daughter how to make a rub of salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary to rub all over the roast. Next she showed her daughter how to sear the roast on all sides before putting it in the dutch oven with all the vegetable to cook.
After they put the roast in the oven, the mom turned to her daughter and asked if she had any questions. The daughter said she only had one question. “Mom, why did you cut off the end of the roast before you cooked it?” The mom replied, “That’s the way my mother did it.” “Well, why did grandma do it that way?” asked the daughter. The mom said, “I don’t know, I’ll have to ask her the next time I talk to her.”
A couple days went by and the mother called her mother to just check in and make sure everything was going well. She was about to end the conversation when her daughter walked in. “Are you talking to grandma?” asked the daughter. The mom nodded yes. “Ask her why she cuts the end off the beef roast before she cooks it.” The mother turned back to the conversation with her own mother and asked, “Mom, the other day, I was teaching your grand-daughter how to cook a beef roast, and she asked me why we cut the end off the beef roast before we cook it. Why do you do that?” The grandma chuckled and answered, “Because at the time, I only had a small pan and I had to cut off the end of the beef roast so it would fit in the pan.”
I don’t know if that story was true, or just made up as an illustration, but it works well here. We all have family stories, even if we don’t know where they started or why. Can you imagine the family stories told around the campfire of Lamech’s (Noah’s father) family? Can you just hear Lamech tell Noah and his brothers and sisters about how their great-grandfather Enoch was God’s best friend? Can you hear Lamech tell his children how Enoch didn’t die, but went to live in Heaven with God?
Can you hear Lamech teach Noah as they worked together each day about God who was the creator of the world and what He told his grandfather, Enoch? And how Enoch’s best friend, God, created man and how much He loved each person He created. Can you imagine all the stories of how God protected their family and gave them all they needed?
Enoch’s legacy to his family was his friendship with God. This is the same legacy each of us should pass down to our families – our friendship with God.
