Hebrews 11:5 → Genesis 5:24

Genesis 5 repeats "and then he died" (5:5, 8) down the line from Adam, and breaks the refrain once: "Enoch walked with God, and then he was no more, because God had taken him away" (Genesis 5:24). Hebrews 11:5 quotes the LXX of that verse, "He could not be found, because God had taken him away," and from the LXX's rendering of "walked with God" as pleasing God (εὐαρεστέω, G2100) draws its point: "he was commended as one who pleased God." The tie is strong, an unmarked quotation. Hebrews then says what pleasing God requires: "without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him" (11:6). Enoch's walk was an approach to God sustained by trust. Hebrews has already shown how that approach is opened to all: Jesus "is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him" (7:25), so "let us draw near" (10:22), the same verb (προσέρχομαι, G4334) as 11:6. Enoch's taking was a rare mercy in an old genealogy of death; the walk with God he lived by faith is now offered to everyone who comes through the Son.