Walking with God - 11 June 2010

Genesis 5

On the face of it this chapter is one of those long lists of names that crops up from time to time throughout the Bible.  It’s a genealogy of generations between Seth ‘the appointed one’ (Abel’s replacement) to Noah ‘the deliverer’.  They all live fantastically long lives and I’m sorry I’m not going to try and explain that one! (Oh alright then, here’s one theory: maybe the name stood for the clan not just the man?) 

More important than the number of years alive there is a repeated refrain that occurs dramatically at the end of every paragraph: ‘and he died’…’ and he died’… ‘and he died…

The point that’s being made is not about the number of years alive but about the inescapable reign of death.  Only one man would buck the trend (and yes I do think he was an individual not a clan, so bang goes the previous theory!): Enoch.

Enoch didn’t die, God took him.  He was simply ‘no more’ which isn’t a euphemism for death but an indication that he escaped death.  Why was he singled out?  Because he walked with God.

My commentator on Genesis (Kidner) said ‘here is the essence of Old Testament piety, not harsh moralism but close friendship’.  All the way through the Old Testament the story is carried forward by those that walked with God: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Job, Jeremiah.  God had been seeking a walking companion at the very start; he came to walk with Adam in the Garden of Eden.

God wants to walk with you today.  He’s not ahead of you, indifferent to your pace.  He’s not lagging behind; he wants to walk along side of you.  Will you take time to keep in step?