Did Enoch and Elijah not die?
It is recorded in Hebrews 9:27 that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Are Enoch and Elijah an exception to this rule? Do the Scriptures teach that they did not physically die but were taken up alive to where God dwells in the heavenly realm? Many Christians believe this to be the case based on what is written about Enoch in Genesis 5 and Hebrews 11 and what is written about Elijah in 2nd Kings 2 and Hebrews 11.
In this essay we will examine this issue in depth and determine whether what is commonly believed about Enoch and Elijah not dying is supported by the Scriptures. Let’s begin by looking at Enoch.
Genesis 5:24: Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away (NIV).
Enoch walked with God, and then he disappeared because God took him away (NET).
Hebrews 11:5: By faith Enoch was taken (Greek: μετετέθη (metetethē) from this life, so that he did not experience death (Greek: θάνατον (thanaton); he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken (Greek: μετέθηκεν (metethēken), he was commended as one who pleased God (NIV).
By faith Enoch was translated (μετετέθη (metetethē) that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation (μετέθηκεν (metethēken) he had this testimony, that he pleased God (KJV).
By faith Enoch was taken up (μετετέθη (metetethē) so that he did not see death, and he was not to be found because God took him up. For before his removal (μετέθηκεν (metethēken) he had been commended as having pleased God (NET).
By faith Enoch was taken up (μετετέθη (metetethē) so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken (μετέθηκεν (metethēken) he was commended as having pleased God (ESV).
The NIV rendering of Hebrews 11:5 portrays God as removing Enoch “from this life, so that he did not experience death.” This rendering is more of an interpretation than a translation as the word “life” is not in the Greek text of this passage. As seen above, most translations render the Greek in such manner as to simply show God taking up Enoch so that he would not see death and that he (Enoch) could not be found.
Genesis 5:24 and Hebrews 11:5 are often seen as saying that Enoch did not physically die but was taken alive by God to heaven. However, neither passage says Enoch was taken to heaven. The Genesis passage says Enoch was not found because God took him. The Hebrews passage says Enoch would not see death because God took him. Neither passage tells us to where it was Enoch was taken.
In Hebrews 11:4-12, Able, Noah and Abraham are shown as living by faith in that they acted on what God told them to do. Able is shown as offering the kind of sacrifice that God required of him. Noah is shown as believing God when told of the coming flood and building an ark as instructed by God. Abraham is seen as not questioning God when told to move to a different location but simple going to the new location. Abraham is also seen as believing God when told he would have a son in his old age. Abraham and Sarah did what couples do and Sarah had a son. How is Enoch shown as living by faith?
Enoch’s faith is not seen as demonstrated by a particular response to something God told him to do as is the case with Able, Noah and Abraham. Enoch’s faith appears to be demonstrated by believing God would protect him from seeing death at a particular place and time in his life. The death Enoch was protected from does not appear to be the appointed death that is meant for all humans (Hebrews 9:27). It is instructive that Enoch is included with Able, Noah and Abraham as still living by faith when they died.
Hebrews 11:13: All these people (Able, Noah, Abraham and Enoch, [Hebrews 11:4-12]) were still living by faith when they died (Greek: ἀπέθανον (apethanon). They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
What was it that was promised that they didn’t receive? Scriptures show what was promised was eternal life (Titus 1:1-2). Enoch is included in the group seen as dying and not yet having received the things promised. The writer goes on to list a dozen or more other individuals who lived by faith and says “yet none of them received what had been promised” (verse 39).
The Greek words μετετέθη (metetethē) and μετέθηκεν (metethēken), rendered “translated” or “taken up” in Hebrews 11:5 have the basic meaning of “to transpose” (change) or “to transfer” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon).
θάνατον (thanaton), rendered “death” in Hebrews 11:5 in its various tenses appears 120 times in the New Testament (NT). According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon this word simply means death of the physical body and is often seen by context in the NT to mean exactly that.
ἀπέθανον (apethanon) rendered “died” in Hebrews 11:13 in its various tenses appears 112 times in the NT. According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon this word means to physically die and is seen by context throughout the NT to mean physical death but is sometimes used in a figurative manner to signify separation from God.
The writer to the Hebrews interprets Genesis 5:24 saying Enoch was taken and seen no more as Enoch not seeing death. However, this same writer indicates Enoch died (Hebrews 11:13). This is the same writer who said “it is appointed unto men once to die” (Hebrews 9:27).
Therefore, we have to ask what kind of death it was that Enoch did not experience. In order to have congruency with Hebrews 11:13 and 9:10, it would not appear that it was the normal biological death we are all appointed to experience. The likely explanation is that God removed him from a threatened death at the hands of his enemies and not that God prevented his ultimate biological death.
Enoch lived before the flood and during a period of time when extreme wickedness was becoming widespread throughout the earth. Enoch is seen as a righteous man and also a prophet of God (Jude 1:14). Enoch may have been speaking out against the unrighteous behavior of his contemporaries and maybe his life was being threatened and God rescued him from being killed by his enemies.
God took him up (transferred) him to a location where his enemies couldn’t find him. The accounts of this event in both Genesis 5 and Hebrews 11 state that Enoch could not be found. The implication is that he was being looked for. As seen above, the NET translation of Genesis 5:24 is as follows:
Enoch walked with God, and then he disappeared because God took him away (NET).
In a footnote to this verse in the NET translation, it is recorded that the Hebrew construction of this verse has the negative particle אֵין (’en, “there is not,” “there was not”) with a pronominal suffix, “he was not.” Instead of saying that Enoch died, the text says he no longer was present.
Why was he no longer present? As discussed above, Able, Noah and Abraham are shown as living by faith in that they acted on what God told them to do. Enoch living by faith appears to be shown by Enoch trusting God to deliver him from death at the hands of his enemies and not that God was going to save him from ultimate biological death, a death we all are appointed to experience. Let’s look more closely at the Genesis account of this event.
Genesis 5:21: When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away (NIV).
It is to be noted that we are not told at what point during the life of Enoch that God took him away. It is often assumed it was after Enoch walked with God 300 years after fathering Methuselah. However, that is not what the Genesis account of this event says. The Genesis account simply says that “Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years.” The account than says “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” These are two separate statements.
God taking Enoch could very well have occurred at some point before Enoch finished his 300 year walk with God and not at the end of the 300 year period as is commonly believed. It is certainly conceivable that Enoch was removed by God at some point before his 300 year walk was up. In other words, the death that Hebrews 11:5 says he should not see was a premature death at a particular time and place in his life and not that he would not see death at the end of his life on planet earth. The writer of Hebrews clearly says "All these people (Able, Noah, Abraham and Enoch, [Hebrews 11:4-12]) were still living by faith when they died. The "they" that died included Enoch.
The foregoing explanation provides congruence between Genesis 5:21/Hebrews 11:5 and Hebrews 11:13/9:27. If indeed Enoch did not die a normal and natural biological death, we have an apparent contradiction between Hebrews 11:5 where it is said Enoch should not see death and Hebrews 11:13 where the indication is that he did see death. I also want to reiterate that nothing is said in Genesis 5 or Hebrews 11 about Enoch being taken to the heavenly realm where God dwells as is commonly believed. The accounts in Genesis 5 and Hebrews 11 do not tell us to where Enoch was taken by God.
Did Elijah not die?
The one other Biblical person that is thought by many to not have physically died is the prophet Elijah. While there is no Scripture that says Enoch was taken up to heaven, Scripture does say that Elijah was taken up to heaven.
2nd Kings 2:1, 9-11: When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven (Hebrew: shamayim) in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.
2: 9-11: When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?" "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied. "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours--otherwise not." As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven (Hebrew: shamayim) in a whirlwind.
To what heaven was Elijah taken up to? Genesis 1:1 says “In the beginning God created the heavens (shamayim) and the earth." The Hebrew word shamayim, in its various tenses, appears 421 times in the OT and is often seen by context to refer to the visible sky where the planets and stars are. It is seen in Genesis 1:8 to identify the heavens immediately above the earth in the creation account and is used in this manner many times in the OT narrative. This word is also used to identify where God dwells.
1st Kings 8:1 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven (shamayim), your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
To what heaven was Elijah taken up to? Hebrews 4:14 speaks of Jesus passing through the heavens (plural). Deuteronomy 10:14 indicates there is more than one heaven in saying that “the heavens, even the highest heavens” belong to the Lord God."
The Scriptures appear to identify three different heavens. There is the heaven we readily see where there is an atmosphere of air that can be manipulated by the laws of nature to create weather. Genesis 7:11 speaks of the floodgates of the heavens being opened during the great flood. Deuteronomy 27:28 speaks of the dew of heaven. Deuteronomy 28:12 speaks of the LORD opening the heavens to send rain on the land. James 5:18 speaks of the heavens giving rain.
Then there is a second heaven where is located our solar system and the stars and planets that make up the galaxies. This is the heaven that David appears to have in mind when he wrote “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place" (Psalm 8:3). Deuteronomy 4:19 speaks of the sun, moon and stars as the “heavenly array.” This is the heavens that the creation account appears to describe.
Genesis 1:14-18: And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
A third heaven is where God lives and were the governing authority for the universe is located. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah asked “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand” (2nd Chronicles 20:6). Solomon refers to heaven as God’s dwelling place (1 Kings 8:43, 49). The psalmist refers to the LORD as being on His heavenly throne (Psalm 11:4) and of heaven being His dwelling place from which He looks down and sees all mankind (Psalm 33:13-14).
There are numerous OT passages that speak of the “God of Heaven.” This appears to be the heaven Paul spoke of in 2nd Corinthians 12 which he sees as the third heaven.
2nd Corinthians 12:2-4: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God knows. And I know that this man--whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows-- was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell (NIV).
There is no Greek word for paradise in this passage and most translations do not include the phrase “was caught up to paradise.” However Paul speaks of a man being caught up to the third heaven. The Greek word rendered “third” in this passage is τρίτου (tritou) and means third.
The Greek word rendered “heaven” is οὐρανοῦ (ouranou). This word in its various tenses appears 278 times in the NT and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon gives its basic meaning as to be “the heights above, the upper regions.” Context must be considered in determining which heaven is being referred to in any particular passage of Scripture. Since Paul identifies a third heaven, there must be a first and second heaven as well. Which of these three heavens was it that Elijah was taken up to?
It is written that Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. The Hebrew word rendered whirlwind” is סָ֫עַר (ca'ar) and is defined as tempest or storm (see Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon). It is this word that is used to describe the storm that battered the ship Jonah was on when he tried to escape from doing the will of God.
Jonah 1:4: Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm (סָ֫עַר (ca'ar) arose that the ship threatened to break up.
Returning to the account of Elijah being taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, it is written that “As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.” The Hebrew words rendered “chariot,” “fire” and “horses” mean exactly what they are rendered as in English. It would appear that the use of the phrase “chariot of fire and horses of fire” is a metaphoric/hyperbolic description of the whirlwind? In Isaiah 66:15 we see fire and chariots seen as being like a whirlwind.
Isaiah 66:15: See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Regardless of what is meant by “chariot of fire and horses of fire” in association with the whirlwind that took Elijah up into heaven, it remains that a whirlwind is a wind that occurs in the first heaven that has an atmosphere of air that can be turned into a whirlwind like the tornados we are all familiar with. Therefore, it is apparent that the heaven Elijah was taken up into was the first heaven where a weather phenomenon called a whirlwind can occur.
It is to be noted that unlike the account of Enoch’s disappearance, nothing is said about Elijah not seeing death. All that is said of Elijah is that he went up to heaven in a whirlwind. As discussed above, it is apparent that the heaven the whirlwind took Elijah up to was the atmospheric first heaven.
It is instructive that after Elijah was taken up by the whirlwind a search party went out looking for him. It apparently was believed by some associates of Elijah that he had been moved by God to a different location and they wanted to find where that location was. This tells us that they did not believe Elijah had been taken to the heaven where God resides but taken up into the first heaven and then transported to a location on planet earth.
2nd Kings 2:16-17: "Look," they said, "we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley." "No," Elisha replied, "do not send them." But they persisted until he was too ashamed to refuse. So he said, "Send them." And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him.
The letter from Elijah:
In 2nd Kings Chapter 2 is recorded the taking of Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven. In 2nd Kings Chapter 3 we find Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, looking to speak to a prophet of God about a problem that he (Jehoshaphat), the king of Israel (Joram) and the king of Edom were facing at the time. Here is what he says:
2nd Kings 3:11: "Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD through him?" An officer of the king of Israel answered, "Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah." Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the LORD is with him." So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
A reading of 1st Kings Chapters 17-21 indicates Elijah was the lead prophet during the reign of Ahab over the nation of Israel. After Ahab’s death His son Ahaziah became king of Israel (1st Kings 22:40) and Elijah continued to be the lead prophet of God. Ahaziah ruled wickedly and Elijah prophesied his death. After his death Joram, another son of Ahab, became king as Ahaziah had no son to succeed him. Joram is seen as becoming king of Israel in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat’s kingship over Judah. It is recorded that Joram reigned twelve years.
In 2nd Chronicles 21 it is recorded that Jehoshaphat died and his son Jehoram became king of Judah. It is recorded that he did evil in the eyes of the LORD. In 2nd Chronicles 21:12-15 we see a letter sent from Elijah to Jehoram.
2nd Chronicles 21: 12-15: Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said: "This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: `You have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah. But you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your father's house, men who were better than you. So now the LORD is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.'"
It is instructive that it is not Elijah but Elisha who is consulted by the three kings (2nd Kings 3:11) and Elisha is seen as having poured water on the hands of Elijah in the past. This indicates Elijah had already departed sometime during the reign of Jehoshaphat and was no longer the lead prophet. In 2nd Kings 2 where the departure of Elijah is recorded we see that Elisha received the cloak of Elijah which appears to have conferred upon Elisha the power Elijah had. It should be noted that during the reign of Ahab, Elisha had been anointed by Elijah to succeed him as prophet (1st Kings 19:16).
In 2nd Chronicles 21 we see Jehoshaphat dying and his son Jehoram becoming king and because of doing evil in the sight of God, Jehoran receives a letter from Elijah condemning him for the evil and pronouncing judgment upon him, his family and the people of Judah. This letter appears to have been sent by Elijah a number of years after his reported departure in the whirlwind. This tells us Elijah was still alive on planet earth years after the whirlwind event. The fact he sends a letter instead of appearing in person tells us he was no longer present in the area comprising the nations of Israel and Judah.
It is apparent God removed Elijah to an undisclosed location for an undisclosed reason and that location was on planet earth where Elijah still functioned as a prophet of God and used by God in certain circumstances. After this account of Elijah sending the letter, nothing more is said of Elijah in the Hebrew Scriptures other than some references to his prophecies against the family of Ahab. We can only assume he died a normal biological death. It should be noted that in Hebrews 11:32 the prophets are included in a list of those who are seen as not receiving the promises (Hebrews 11:39). As discussed above, the promises relate to eternal life.
Conclusion:
It should be evident from the above discussion that neither Enoch nor Elijah was taken to be with God in the third heaven where God dwells. God took Elijah up into the first heaven to transport him to another place on planet earth. It appears Enoch died a normal death (Hebrews 11:13) along with all the other persons of faith listed in Hebrews 11.