doctrine, and who had done so many
illustrious deeds in the course of his life. While these patriarchs
were mourning and bewailing the misfortune of the holy man, behold!
consolation was at hand, and it was revealed to them that the Lord had
"translated" Enoch! Such an expression we have not concerning any
other man than Enoch, except Elijah. God willed, therefore, to testify
by an object lesson, that he has prepared for his saints another life
after this life, in which they shall live forever with God.

56. The Hebrew verb _lakak_ does not signify "translated" according to
the impression conveyed by our use of the word, but "received to
himself." These words are, accordingly, words of life, revealed by God
through some angel to the patriarch Enoch, and to the whole of that
generation of saints, that they might have the consolation and promise
of eternal life, not only through a word, but also through an act, as
before in the case of Abel. How delightful must have been to them this
proclamation, when they heard that Enoch was not dead, nor slain by
wicked men, nor taken away from them by the fraud or snares of Satan,
but translated; that is, "received to himself" by the living and
omnipotent God.

57. This is that bright gem which Moses sought to display in the
present chapter--that the omnipotent God did not take unto himself
geese, or cows, or blocks of wood, or stones, but a man, even Enoch,
to teach there was reserved for men another and better life than this
present one, so filled with evils and calamities of every kind.
Although Enoch was a sinner, yet the manner of his departure from this
life proved that God had prepared for him and brought him to another
and eternal life; for he entered upon the life with God, and God took
him to himself.

58. Accordingly, Enoch's walking with God signifies that he was in
this life a faithful witness of eternal life to be gained after this
life through the promised seed. This is what living with God means,
not the mere animal life subject to corruption. Inasmuch as Enoch
constantly preached this doctrine, God verified and fulfilled this
preaching in the patriarch himself, that we might fully and surely
believe it; in that Enoch, a man like unto ourselves, born of flesh
and blood, as we also are, of the seed of Adam, was taken up into
heaven by God, and now lives the life of God, that is, an eternal
life.

59. Before the generation of patriarchs knew the facts in the case,