Enoch & Elijah

[darinhouston]

Yet Hebrews also says:
Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

It seems like a case of Enoch (and maybe Elijah) being an exception to the rule.

I had forgotten about that verse, but I have seen an interpretation which seem to explain it ok -- that the death he didn't taste was a temporal death, and the translation was physical -- he was removed (translated/relocated to another place on earth) after his work was done and as a result of his faith so that no one would find him and he wouldn't die at that moment.

I favor the first as it seems reaonable and allows other scripture.

[darinhouston]

The term translated "taken up" is metatithēmi, having the following meanings none of which would seem to imply a heavenly "taking up".

1) to transpose (two things, one of which is put in place of the other)
a) to transfer
b) to change
c) to transfer one's self or suffer one's self to be transferred
i ) to go or pass over
ii) to fall away or desert from one person or thing to another

Also, at the end of the "Hall of Faith," we see 11:13 suggesting that all these men did in fact "die" in faith (ultimately).

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of [them], and embraced [them], and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Though it's a little ambiguous what actually happened to Enoch, I see more reason to suspect he shared the same end as the other OT saints as it pertains to his physical body. I tend to think his faith was honored by either taking his life peaceably to prevent him from "experiencing" the same sort of death we might face (maybe in his sleep or something) or that these references somehow relate to something supernatural that was done to protect him from enemies or that it pertains in some way to a spiritual reality for Enoch akin to a NT spiritual renewal/rebirth. I see little to commend a glorification sort of resurrection.