Hebrews 11:5

By faith. See on verses 1, 3.

Enoch. See on Genesis 5:22.

Translated. The writer does not mean that Enoch had faith that God would translate him, but that he was translated as a result of his faith and his faithfulness — “he pleased God.” Inspiration speaks only of Enoch and Elijah being translated to heaven without seeing death.

The Hebrew text of the Genesis 5 genealogy, if complete, puts Enoch’s translation a relatively few years after Adam’s death (see Vol. I, p. 185). The loss of Adam must have cast a shadow over the faithful, for despite his repentant, godly life he had died, even as every sinner dies.

If so, perhaps it is not unreasonable to conjecture that, in order to give his godly descendants the assurance that a life of faith will be rewarded, God translated Enoch, the seventh from Adam. As with Adam, God demonstrated that “the wages of sin is death,” so with Enoch He demonstrated that “the gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23). The translation of Enoch proved that although sin separates man from God, a way has been provided by which that separation may be terminated and man may return to God. That way is the way of faith.

Enoch is a type of those who are to be translated from the last generation, from among the living. Enoch became a friend of God, walked with Him, and at last went home with Him. All may therefore take courage. Whoever serves God with a heart full of faith and walks with Him day by day in the changing experiences of life will have an abundant entrance into the paradise of God.

Not see death. That is, not experience death.

Not found. These words imply an attempt to find Enoch after his disappearance. Such an attempt was later made following the translation of Elijah (see 2 Kings 2:16-18).

Before his translation. Enoch’s godly way of life was well known to his contemporaries.

He had this testimony. Literally, “he was testified to.” Through Enoch, God had provided the world with a demonstration of the kind of character that will meet with His approval. There was no possibility that men would ask, after the translation of so pious a saint, “How can God accept a man like that?”

Pleased God. Enoch’s faith in God and his faithfulness to God met with divine approval. His life and character were a demonstration of what God would have all men be.