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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Seven — Cain and Abel

QUESTION I. Whether Enoch is dead, or even now lives on earth

LatineEnglish

QUESTION I. Whether Enoch is dead, or even now lives on earth.1

QUAESTIO I. Utrum Henoch sit mortuus, an etiam nunc in terris vivat.

Ante omnia verò quaerere oportet utrum Henoch sit mortuus an vivat etiam nunc, victurúsque sit usque ad consummationem saeculi. Aven-Esra cum quibusdam aliis Hebraeis fuisse mortuum Henoch censet, et confirmat tribus argumentis. Primò, quia Moses de illo scripsit capite 5 Geneseos, Et facti sunt omnes dies Henoch trecenti sexaginta quinque anni; non igitur amplius vixit, ergo mortuus est: si enim adhuc viveret, dies eius fuissent non tantùm trecenti sexaginta quinque anni, sed essent ultra quinque millia annorum. Deinde illud quod Hebraice de ipso dicitur hoc loco, Et non ipse, secundum phrasim Scripturae significat excessisse ipsum ex hac vita, sicut videre licet ex Psalmo 36 in iis verbis quae paulò suprà memoravimus, et ex capite 42 libri Geneseos ubi Iacob, loquens de filio suo Ioseph quem mortuum credebat, Ioseph, inquit, non est, Simeon tenetur in vinculis, etc. Postremò idem argumentatur ex illo, Quia tulit eum Deus:
Before all else it must be asked whether Enoch is dead, or lives even now and will live until the consummation of the age. Aven-Esra (Ibn Ezra), with certain other Jews, holds that Enoch died, and he confirms it with three arguments. First, because Moses wrote of him in Genesis chapter 5, 'And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years'; therefore he lived no longer, and so is dead: for if he were still alive, his days would be not merely three hundred sixty-five years but would be beyond five thousand. Next, the phrase said of him here in the Hebrew, 'And he was not' (Et non ipse), according to the idiom of Scripture signifies that he departed this life -- as may be seen from Psalm 36 in the words we recalled a little above, and from chapter 42 of Genesis, where Jacob, speaking of his son Joseph whom he believed dead, says, 'Joseph is not, Simeon is held in chains,' and so on. Lastly he argues the same from that phrase, 'Because God took him':2
tulit eum Deus; nam secundùm locutionem Scripturae, Tollere aliquem vel Tollere animam alicuius idem est atque tollere eum ex vita. Nam et Elias et Ionas optantes mortem orabant Deum dicentes, Tolle animam meam; et Iob, Nescio, inquit, quamdiu subsistam, et si post modicum tollat me Factor meus; et Iudaei coram Pilato clamabant adversus Christum, Tolle, crucifige eum. Atque huius verbi ambigua significatione abutens Poeta, festivè lusit illud in Neronem: Quis neget Aeneae clara de stirpe Neronem? Sustulit hic matrem, sustulit ille patrem.
'God took him'; for according to the idiom of Scripture, 'to take away' someone, or 'to take away someone's soul,' is the same as to remove him from life. For both Elijah and Jonah, longing for death, prayed to God saying, 'Take away my soul'; and Job, 'I know not how long I shall subsist, and whether after a little my Maker may take me away'; and the Jews before Pilate cried out against Christ, 'Away with him, crucify him.' And playing on the ambiguous meaning of this verb, the Poet wittily jested it upon Nero: 'Who would deny Nero of Aeneas's illustrious stock? The one bore off (sustulit) his father, the other made away with (sustulit) his mother.'3
At enimverò non esse mortuum Henoch -- praeter antiquissimam fidéque dignissimam Ecclesiae traditionem, praeter Christianorum omnium persuasionem adeò animis et sensibus eorum infixam ut ea de re, quemadmodum scribit Augustinus libro 2 de Gratia Christi contra Pelagium et Celestium capite 23, dubitare fas non sit, denique praeter concordem Patrum et Theologorum sententiam -- facit omnino certum et extra controversiam omnem auctoritas Beati Pauli, apertissimis verbis id capite 11 Epistolae ad Hebraeos affirmantis. Fide, inquit, Henoch translatus est, ut non videret mortem, et non inveniebatur, quia transtulit eum Deus. Miror igitur Hieronymum Oleastrum non esse veritum dicere in Commentario huius loci Geneseos, licet Hebraei dicant Henoch esse mortuum, sibi tamen videri probabilius non esse mortuum: itáne probabilius tantùm, an non potiùs omnino verum certúmque atque indubitatum? praesertim cùm ipsemet subiiciat mox verba Pauli quae suprà memoravimus, perspicuè et affirmatè tradentis Henoch non fuisse mortuum.
But that Enoch is not dead -- besides the most ancient and most faith-worthy tradition of the Church, besides the persuasion of all Christians so fixed in their minds and senses that, as Augustine writes in book 2 of On the Grace of Christ against Pelagius and Caelestius, chapter 23, it is not lawful to doubt of it, and finally besides the concordant judgment of the Fathers and theologians -- is made entirely certain and beyond all controversy by the authority of blessed Paul, affirming it in the plainest words in chapter 11 of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 'By faith,' he says, 'Enoch was translated, that he should not see death, and was not found, because God translated him.' I wonder, therefore, that Jerome de Oleaster was not afraid to say, in his Commentary on this passage of Genesis, that although the Hebrews say Enoch is dead, yet to himself it seems more probable that he is not dead: only 'more probable,' then, and not rather wholly true, certain, and beyond doubt? -- especially since he himself at once subjoins the words of Paul we recalled above, plainly and affirmatively handing down that Enoch was not dead.4
Multi ad hoc ipsum probandum asserunt verba illa quae sunt in capite 44 libri Ecclesiastici: Henoch placuit Deo, et translatus est in Paradisum, ut det gentibus poenitentiam; quibus verbis planissimè ostenditur Henoch non esse mortuum, sed translatum esse in Paradisum, et novissimis mundi temporibus praedicaturum gentibus ab Antichristo seductis poenitentiam. At enim Graecè nec est illud, In Paradisum; et pro illo, Ut det gentibus poenitentiam, sic est, Exemplum poenitentiae generationibus. Ut haec videatur esse lectionis Graecae sententia: Deum idcirco transtulisse Henoch virum sanctissimum, ut eo intelligeretur viros innocentes et pios cordi et curae esse Deo, et improbi tam mirabili exemplo permoverentur ad poenitentiam agendam. Vel significatur Henoch esse translatum, quia, dum viveret, omnibus erat eximium poenitentiae exemplum, scilicet vitae sanctitate et morum innocentia homines sui saeculi ad poenitentiam scelerum revocandum Deique cultum et obsequium provocans et incitans. Voluit autem Deus ex consortio hominum subducere Henoch, quia tunc corruptela naturae humanae ex Adami peccato nata magnas vires et robur acceperat: nec tantùm posteros Cain, sed etiam impii Seth nepotes religionis et pietatis cultores, impunitas vitae, improbitas morum, denique libido vivendi et faciendi ut cuique libitum erat, penitus infecerat atque depravaverat. Quamobrem
Many, to prove this same point, allege those words in chapter 44 of the book of Ecclesiasticus: 'Enoch pleased God, and was translated into Paradise, that he may give the nations penitence'; by which words it is most plainly shown that Enoch is not dead, but was translated into Paradise, and in the last times of the world will preach penitence to the nations seduced by Antichrist. But indeed in the Greek there is not that phrase 'into Paradise'; and for 'that he may give the nations penitence' it runs thus: 'an example of penitence to the generations.' So that this seems to be the sense of the Greek reading: that God translated Enoch, a most holy man, so that thereby it might be understood that the innocent and pious are in God's heart and care, and that the wicked might be moved by so wonderful an example to do penance. Or it is signified that Enoch was translated because, while he lived, he was to all an outstanding example of penitence -- namely, by the holiness of his life and the innocence of his conduct provoking and inciting the men of his age to penitence for their crimes and to the worship and service of God. Now God willed to withdraw Enoch from human fellowship because at that time the corruption of human nature, born of Adam's sin, had taken on great force and strength: it had utterly infected and depraved not only the posterity of Cain, but even the descendants of the impious among Seth's line -- impunity of life, wickedness of conduct, and finally the lust of living and doing as each pleased. Wherefore5
Quamobrem Deus sanctum Henoch ex illa scelerum colluvione maturè subduxit, scilicet raptus est, ut in libro Sapientiae capite 4 scriptum est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum eius, aut ne fictio deciperet animam illius. Translatus est autem Henoch propè mille annis ab exordio mundi exactis, et sexcentis sexaginta novem ante diluvium. Mosis porrò narratio etiam non obscurè indicat Henoch non esse mortuum. Cum enim de omnibus et singulis qui eum antecesserunt quique subsecuti sunt usque ad diluvium Moses illam clausulam ponat, Et mortuus est, de solo Henoch id non scripsit: at si mortuus fuisset, ut de aliis omnibus, sic de ipso id dixisset.
Wherefore God withdrew holy Enoch early from that flood of crimes -- that is, he was caught away, as it is written in the book of Wisdom chapter 4, 'lest malice should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.' Now Enoch was translated nearly a thousand years after the beginning of the world, and six hundred sixty-nine years before the flood. Moses' narrative, moreover, indicates not obscurely that Enoch is not dead. For whereas of all and each who preceded him and who followed to the flood Moses sets down that clause, 'And he died,' of Enoch alone he did not write it: but if he had died, he would have said it of him as of all the others.6
Quod autem contra hanc sententiam suprà obiiciebatur, Mosem dixisse omnes dies Henoch fuisse trecentos sexaginta quinque annos, non concludit Henoch fuisse mortuum, sed demonstrat tempus quo Henoch in societate et conversatione hominum versatus est, vitam in terris cum aliis hominibus degens. Subtractus autem ex conversatione hominum, quia planè nescitur ubinam sit, quid agat, quomodo vivat, similiter sese habet quantum ad notitiam hominum atque si mortuus fuisset: quocirca tempus omne post eius translationem silentio involvitur. Illud autem quod Hebraicè legitur, Et non ipse [Hebr. ואיננו כי לקח אתו אלהים, Veennenu chi lacah otho Elohim], et illud, Quia tulit eum Deus, non ut Hebraei interpretantur, sed ut LXX interpretes et Latinus noster interpres declaraverunt et expresserunt, translationem eius non autem mortem significantes, intelligenda sunt.
As for what was objected above against this view -- that Moses said all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years -- this does not conclude that Enoch died, but shows the time during which Enoch dwelt in the society and company of men, passing his life on earth with other men. Withdrawn from human company, since it is quite unknown where he is, what he does, how he lives, he stands, as regards men's knowledge, just as if he had died: and so all the time after his translation is wrapped in silence. And that which is read in Hebrew, 'And he was not' [Hebr. ואיננו כי לקח אתו אלהים, Veennenu chi lacah otho Elohim], and the phrase 'Because God took him,' are to be understood not as the Hebrews interpret them, but as the Seventy translators and our Latin translator declared and expressed them -- signifying his translation and not his death.7

Translator’s notes

  1. First quaestio of the disputation on Enoch. ↩
  2. Ibn Ezra (Aven-Esra) and some Jews hold Enoch died, with three arguments: (1) 'all his days were 365 years' -- else they would exceed 5000; (2) the Hebrew 'and he was not' is a Scriptural idiom for departing life (cf. Ps 36[37]; Gen 42:36, Jacob of the presumed-dead Joseph); (3) 'because God took him.' Argument continues on the next page (catchword 'tulit'). ↩
  3. Completes Ibn Ezra's third argument: 'to take away' (tollere) in Scripture means to remove from life (1 Kings 19:4 Elijah; Jonah 4:3; Job; John 19:15 'Tolle, crucifige eum'). Pererius caps it with the epigram on Nero punning on 'sustulit' (raised up / did away with): Aeneas bore off (rescued) his father Anchises, Nero made away with (murdered) his mother Agrippina. ↩
  4. Marginal gloss: 'Jerome de Oleaster is faulted.' Pererius refutes Ibn Ezra: Enoch is not dead -- proven by Church tradition, all Christians' persuasion (Augustine, De gratia Christi contra Pelagium et Caelestium II.23: not lawful to doubt it), the Fathers and theologians, and decisively by Paul, Hebrews 11:5. He faults Jerome de Oleaster for calling it merely 'more probable.' ↩
  5. Marginal gloss: 'The passage of Ecclesiasticus ch. 44 explained.' Ecclesiasticus 44:16 -- Enoch translated to Paradise 'to give the nations penitence' (the tradition that he will preach penitence to those seduced by Antichrist in the last days). Pererius notes the Greek lacks 'into Paradise' and reads 'an example of penitence to the generations.' God withdrew Enoch as the corruption from Adam's sin had by then deeply infected not only Cain's posterity but even the line of Seth. Continues on the next page (catchword 'Quamobrem'). ↩
  6. Wisdom 4:11 ('he was caught away lest malice should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul'). Enoch was translated nearly 1000 years from the world's beginning (year 987) and 669 years before the flood. Moses' silence confirms it: he appends 'and he died' to every other patriarch but not to Enoch. ↩
  7. Marginal gloss: 'Resolution of the contrary arguments.' Pererius answers Ibn Ezra: '365 years' marks only the span Enoch lived among men; withdrawn from human company he is, as to men's knowledge, as if dead, so all time after his translation is silent. 'And he was not' / 'because God took him' are to be understood as the LXX and Vulgate render them -- of translation, not death. Hebrew glyph (given in full in the margin): ואיננו כי לקח אתו אלהים (ve'ennennu ki laqah otho Elohim, 'and he was not, for God took him,' Gen 5:24b), transliterated by Pererius 'Veennenu chi lacah otho Elohim'; magnified and verified from the page. Marginal Latin note: 'Hebraea, si cui placent, haec sunt' ('The Hebrew, if anyone likes it, is this'). ↩