For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Did Enoch die?
Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:
Yes
“All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.’” (Hebrews 11:13)
No
“Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24)
“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” (Hebrews 11:5)
(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)
Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:
- When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction. A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time. To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
- One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible. See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions. Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do. But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
- We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity. The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible. In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview. Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”
- The skeptic tries to pit Hebrews 11:13 as affirming the claim “Enoch died” against both Genesis 5:24 and Hebrews 11:5 as affirming “Enoch did not die.” Of course the claim “Enoch died” and “Enoch did not die” are logically contradictory with one another since they both cannot be true at the same time in the same sense. The next question would be if the the skeptic’s claims were accurately extrapolated from the verses cited.
- Both Genesis 5:24 and Hebrews 11:5 do affirm “Enoch did not die.”
- Hebrews 11:5 explicitly said of Enoch that “he would not see death.“
- When Genesis 5:24 said “and he was not, for God took him” we must understand that in relations to the rest of the chapter of how various characters mentioned had an end towards the end summarizing his life with a mention of how many years that individual lived for, and that he died. You see this pattern with Adam (v.5), Seth (v.8), Enosh (v.11), etc. So when Genesis 5:24 in talking about Enoch state that “he was not” it was saying he did not die. The clause “God took him” indicate what happened to Enoch if he did not die. This interpretation of Genesis 5:24 that he did not die is reinforced by Hebrews 11:5 direct statement that Enoch did not die which the author of Hebrews got the idea from Genesis 5:24.
- The skeptic is not right to say Hebrews 11:13 affirm the claim “Enoch died.”
- We ask the question who those “these” in “All these died” refer to in Hebrews 11:13. I think in the context it is not referring to Enoch but Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. Verse 13 and 14 refer to “country” that hasn’t been received yet for Israel. This was something promised to Abraham and not to Enoch.
- Before verse 13 we see in verses 8-10 refer to Abraham in reference to “land” “dwelling” and “city.” And then later in verse 11 onward it refer to Sarah. So Sarah is also with Abraham as part of “these” in verse 13.
- Since Hebrews 11:13 does not affirm the claim “Enoch died there is therefore no contradiction between this verse and both Genesis 5:24 and Hebrews 11:5 which affirm “Enoch did not die.”
[…] Did Enoch die? […]
I was just thinking of you! Have you ever written a post refuting the contradiction of what was in (or not inside) the Ark of the Covenant (1 Kings 8:9 with ref to Ex and Num vs Heb 9:4)? Thanks for your amazing work on refuting these contradictions!
Wow I’ll have to look at that sometime! Just FYI I’m pretty slow on getting these posts cranked out as I take a long time for each looking at it and looking at it again and even then people comment and still wonderfully point things out I miss. Those comments are delightful but more importantly I don’t want to post something that turn out to be wrong! So give me some time yeah? Unless you have written on it which I would love to read about! How was your Lord’s Day?
Hey, Jim! I have to confess, Nathan brought it to my attention this morning when we were reading 1 Kings 8. He wanted to know why only the two tablets were mentioned in the ark? I thought maybe the skeptic may have written on that and sure enough it was written in his book with a side note to Heb 9. I wouldn’t have thought of it. At some point Aaron’s staff and the manna were or in the Ark but were not so by the time Solomon dedicated the Temple. Anyway, I believe they take a while to write! I can understand not wanting to refute the skeptic haphazardly! I had a rough Lord’s Day, how was yours?!
Thank you, Jim, for addressing this contradiction and clarifying that Hebrews 11:13 referred to Ambraham and Sarah and their descendants and not Enoch. Enoch lived by faith in GOD and may we be pleasing to Him whom will call us up when He comes again! If it will occur in our lifetime.
You are welcome! Obviously we don’t know for sure but do you think He will come in our life time?
Chances are it won’t be in this lifetime but I’m glad and preparing for JESUS’ 2nd coming.
Thanks for making me think and search God’s Word on this. As God says, His Word “will not return” to Him void (Isaiah 55:11).
In response to the “Hebrews 11” piece, since I only study the Bible and have no training in languages of the Bible, I have two questions:
1. Does this Greek text use euphemisms for the concept of death? Could this euphemism be stretched to include Enoch’s transition from Earth to God’s presence?
2. Is it just that the writer assumed that the audience would be familiar with all of the stories of Abel, Enoch, Abraham, and Isaac so that they could know that the point was that they reached the end of their journey by faith? It seems that a strong portion of Biblical tales expect the listener to know of the background tales associated with the central tale.
The Euphemisms I know of is “sleep” and “lay” and I haven’t seen them used in reference to Enoch. I think your point number 2 is the point of The early portion of Hebrews 11, something the skeptic totally miss altogether. Hope you are getting some recovery rest today? Brother and I appreciate you coming by to read and comment on this post Mark.
If I may jump in here to answer. Your questions intrigued me, so I figured I’d do a quick investigation.
In Hebrews 11, the word for “death” is either the noun thanatos (v. 5 only) or its verbal equivalent “died” (the intensified version with apo- prefix, common in the NT) apothnēskō (vv. 4, 13, 21, 37). The verb applied to Enoch’s ‘translocating’ (twice in v. 5) is metatithēmi, and this same exact verb in its exact form (second usage in 11:5) is found in the LXX (Greek translation of Hebrew) of Gen 5:24. Not only that, but the phrase is identical in both verses: metethēken auton ho theos ~ ‘taken up’ him [the] God =̃ God took him up. Thus, because the phrasing is identical, first century Greek readers would readily understand the writer of Hebrews reference to Gen 5:24.
As for the English translation of the verb for Enoch’s being ‘taken up’, I prefer assume, as akin to assuming another’s obligations. In other words this assumption is the active taking. This is the sense for Enoch’s ‘translocating’, but, of course, he is being assumed up into the heavens.
My interest in all this is due to the following: there’s a body of Jewish apocryphal (and largely apocalyptic) literature circa 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD called the pseudepigrapha (falsely attributed works). This includes not only the commonly known first book of Enoch (there are three books of Enoch!), but the Testament of Moses, which appears to be revision of (or vice versa) the Assumption of Moses. The latter is apparently referenced in Jude 1:9. Of course there’s also Elijah’s ‘assumption’. Tangentially, I’m sure most are aware of the RCC doctrine of ‘the assumption of Mary’.
Now, circling back, the noun form metathesis (translation/translocation, change, transformation) is used for Enoch in the latter part of 11:5. Thus, the words describing Enoch’s ‘assumption’ are not at all euphemisms for death, and the words for the others are clearly unmistakable as referring to death.
As for how Hebrews 11 would relate to Abraham (and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, etc.) in the OT (Tanakh), the text is describing the terms of the Abrahamic Covenant. First century readers would be well aware of it.
How long did it took you to research and write this comment? I found it highly informative.
Shoda,
Thanks for your comment! I’m glad you got something out of my response.
Most of the info I was aware of, but I had to look up the specific Greek words in my software (Accordance/Oak Tree). I didn’t take long to gather the data, though it took a bit of time to put it all together into a somewhat coherent comment.
The pseudepigrapha is available in a 2-volume work by James H. Charlesworth. There’s a separate, and very handy, index, which I reviewed a while back. Makes a great cross-reference!
The bit about Jude 1:9 is in my 1984 NIV Study Bible. I referenced that in a different blog article I wrote years ago on Jude 1:5, so it was close to top of mind.
This was quite a lot of work. Thanks.
Sure thing, Mark. As some of us say here where I live, de nada. It really didn’t take all that long.
Thanks for thoroughly refuting another one of Steve/Stephen Wells’ cherry picking contradictions. Yes, it’s clear from the context provided by vv. 8-16 that v. 13 is referring to Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. Wells’ has no shame.
Thanks for reading this Tom. Wells has no shame. It’s crazy the spectrum of those who twists Scripture range from atheists like Steve Wells to RC apologists and cultists. What they have in common is lack of contextual considerations when they interpret the Scripture. Of course we Christians can interpret Scripture wrongly too and we need God’s help, prayer, care and each other amen? I like doing these and how others share further insights. How’s your day?
I appreciate the work you faithfully put into answering these alleged contradictions. Yeah, these unbelieving Bible “experts” – religious and atheists – pull passages out of context while simultaneously accusing us of doing the same.
RE: we Christians can interpret Scripture wrongly too and we need God’s help, prayer, care and each other
Amen!
My day’s going well, thanks! We had a pretty good wind storm yesterday and I spent a chunk of the day collecting all of the fallen leaves and branches. My heavy duty gas leaf blower made the job much easier. How’s your “day off” starting out?
Excellent! I note that this issue, curiously, is not addressed in Geisler & Howe Making Sense of Bible Difficulties.
How is that book by Geisler?
It’s fairly good, but for your purposes, there’s a more expansive version–over twice the page count– titled The Big Book of Bible Difficulties. I don’t have the latter, but I’d guess it would include Hebrews 11. Might be worth checking out.
Point 5 killed the skeptics’s case.
Thanks for the great research and insight. I’m sure these aren’t easy to write.
My simple conclusion about Skeptic Annotated Bible is that he just makes stuff up. I appreciate you diligence in refuting them. A great resource for us all.
Good answers.
Thank you Pastor Jim for all the work you refitting these non contradictions.
You’re welcome Crissy! I find some of these contradictions rather ridiculous, and the one that top them all was last week. I just prayed for your upcoming evangelism; also for your kids!
Ridiculous is a good word to describe the mindless contradictions they came up with.
I am so grateful for your prayers pastor Jim.
Excellent. ‘Those’ do not specify Enoch as do the other verses.
You’re correct. It seems these skeptics have bad reading comprehension. Let God’s Word be true and every skeptic a liar amen?
And Amen.
I doubt many skeptics would spend time to read through all of this superb reply. But believers will.
[…] 2.) Bible Contradiction? Did Enoch die? […]
Carnal minded men cannot receive spiritual revelation for a Spirit filled believer. They scratch the surface do not dig deep. We have that in us that makes us curious yet careful archeologists of God’s word. We are careful not to ruin a relic when we extract elements from under the surface. The world looks at things in scripture as fragmented. God followers see them as pieces of a perfect puzzle. Flesh out intellect is no match for the infinite knowledge of YHVH. Blessings sir and thanks for digging deep and causing us to do likewise.
I meant to say fleshed out intellect (in its best form) is no match for the infinite knowledge of YHVH. He is Omniscient.
Amen we must not forget that and seeing these Bible contradictions get resolved reminds us He is so much wiser than any critics
[…] 2.) Bible Contradiction? Did Enoch die? […]
[…] Did Enoch die? […]
I love the Presuppositonal critique in point 3
[…] Did Enoch die? […]
I love the way you compiled these response to alleged contradictions! I saved this one to my discernment file.
👍😎👍