Two Treatises, Treatise 2 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I. TEXT OPENED
IN this Chapter we have the Geneologie from Adam to Noah: and it's obſervable, That God paſſeth all along and ſaith, Adam he lived ſo long and begat ſons; and ſo afterwards they lived and begat ſons and daughters and then died. He only mentions them briefly, till he comes to Enoch, and there God ſeems to make a ſtop: He doth not only tell you how long he lived, and begat ſons and daughters, and died; but he addeth, Enoch walked with God. The holy Ghoſt ſpends three verſes upon Enoch, He tells you how long he lived and begat Methuſelah, and Enoch walked with God. And in the 23. verſe there he ſpeaks of him again; and in the 24. verſ. Enoch walked with God again. As if the Lord ſhould ſay, Oh my ſervant Enoch I muſt not paſs by him, he was an eminent holy man in his generation, I muſt not paſs by him without ſome eſpecial teſtimony: as if God ſhould ſay, Oh he was the delight of my Soul, he walked with me: Enoch walked with God.
Enoch he was a Prophet in his time, he converſed much with God, and God revealed much of his mind to him. We find in the Epiſtle of Jude 14. there the holy Ghoſt mentions him again, Enoch alſo, the ſeventh from Adam, propheſied of theſe, ſaying, &c. Enoch propheſied, he was a Prophet: Where do we find Enoch's propheſie in all the Book of God? we have the Propheſie of Iſaiah, and Jeremiah, and other Prophets; but where the Propheſie of Enoch? Here the holy Ghoſt ſaith, That Enoch propheſied, ſaying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thouſand of his Saints, &c. Now for the propheſie that is here mentioned by the holy Ghoſt, in this Epiſtle of Jude, we have it not ſet down in words fully, but yet we have ſomewhat ſet down even in a verſe or two before my Text, of Enoch's propheſie, and that is in the very name of his ſon Methuſelah, there is that very propheſie of Enoch that the holy Ghoſt ſpeaks of in the Epiſtle of Jude, in the name (I ſay) of his ſon Methuſelah, for Methuſelah ſignifieth thus much, he dieth, and then the ſending out, that is the floud, he dieth and then comes the floud, that's the ſignification of the name Methuſelah: So that Enoch propheſied many hundred yeers before the flouds coming; and that propheſie ſeem'd to go further, for Gods dealing with people in thoſe times, were but as a type of his dealing with men in after-times. That the Lord would ſend forth a floud againſt all wicked and ungodly men in due time to deſtroy them, he dieth, and then the ſending forth of the floud, for the floud did come in the very laſt yeer of Methuſelah, and that's obſervable that this Methuſelah he liv'd longer than ever any man liv'd ſince the world began, All the daies of Methuſelah were nine hundred and ſixtie nine yeers, and then he died. Now this may be one reaſon of the lengthening out of his life, that he might fulfil the propheſie of Enoch, for Enoch propheſied that the floud ſhould come when he died, now becauſe God had work to bring about, and to defer the floud for a while after, therefore Methuſelah muſt live ſo long.
God doth lengthen out, or ſhorten mens lives according to the work he hath to do, according to the uſe he hath to make of them. But thus much for Enoch: The perſon who it was.
ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD.
Now this phraſe of walking with God, ſometimes it ſignifies ſome ſpecial miniſtration before the Lord, as in the 1 Sam. 2. 30, 35. Wherefore the Lord God of Iſrael ſaith, I ſaid indeed, That thy houſe, and the houſe of thy father ſhould walk before me for ever. And then in the 35. I will raiſe me up a faithfull Prieſt that ſhall do according to that which is in my heart, and in my mind and I will build him a ſure houſe, and he ſhall WALK before mine anointed for ever: That is, for a ſpecial and holy miniſtration, ſo it's taken ſometimes.
But here we are to underſtand it more largely, (though it's true, Enoch was a Prophet and he might be ſaid to walk with God in regard of the ſpecial miniſtration of his Prophetical Office that he had;) for walking with God, in waies of righteouſneſs and holineſs: ſo walking with God, as it's ſaid of Noah, that was his great grand-child, in the 6. of Gen. 9. Theſe are the generations of Noah, Noah was a juſt man and perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God. This his great-grand-child (no queſtion hearing of his fathers walking with God was a great argument for to move him to the like, and his walking with God is diſcribed to be in being righteous, and in being perfect with God. The 70. in their tranſlation turns this that you have in your books walk with God, by the word, he pleaſed God. And that's obſervable that the holy Ghoſt in mentioning Enoch in the new Teſtament, doth follow the tranſlation of the Septuagent in the 11. of the Heb. there you ſhall find that Enoch is mentioned among the Catalogue of the Beleevers there: By faith Enoch was tranſlated that he ſhould not ſee death, and was not found, becauſe God had tranſlated him: for before his tranſlation he had this teſtimony, that he pleaſed God. That word that you have here in Geneſis rendered, he walked with God: in the Hebrews it is that he had this teſtimony, That he pleaſed God: & indeed it comes to one, he walked in the waies that God was pleaſed and delighted in.
He pleaſed God.] The Calde tranſlates it, he walked in the fear of God; and ſo ſome Interpreters quoting the Jeruſalemie Thargum, he ſerved or labored in the truth before the Lord: and that's one thing further in the explication that it's ſaid, he walked with God after he begat Methuſelab. Some now think that Enoch was a wicked man before the time that he begat Methuſelah, in that ſixty and five yeers there's no mention of his walking with God, but Enoch lived ſixty five yeers and begat Methuſelah, and he walked with God after he begat Methuſelah: but that's no ſufficient ground to conclude, becauſe it's ſaid after: that he did not before; it might rather be to note the conſtancy of his walking with God, that he continued in the conſtant courſe of his life in his walking with God. I ſhall need to ſpeak no further of the explication of this firſt part of Enoch's walking with God. The point of Doctrine from it is this.