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21. Methuselah] Possibly = “the man of Shelah”; and, if so, Shelah may indicate the name of a deity; cf. Methushael (Genesis 4:18) = “the man of God.”

22. walked with God] The phrase here, as in Genesis 5:24, used of Enoch, has passed into common use to express intimacy of communion with God. It denotes more than either standing in His presence, or walking before Him (Genesis 6:9, Genesis 17:1), or following after Him. It combines the ideas of fellowship and progress. It is the picture of one who has God with him in all the various scenes of life.

The audacity of the metaphor caused the LXX to render it by a paraphrase; εὐηρέστησε δὲ Ἐνὼχ τῷ θεῷ = “and Enoch was well pleasing unto God,” which is quoted in Hebrews 11:5. For other paraphrases, see Targ. Onkelos, “walked in the fear of God”; Targ. Palestine, “served in the truth before the Lord.”

23. and all the days, &c.] Concerning Enoch the following points deserve attention: (1) He is the seventh in the genealogy, cf. Jdg 1:14; (2) by comparison with the lives of his fathers and descendants, the length of his life is immensely curtailed; (3) the number of his years agrees with the number of days in the solar year; (4) owing to the closeness of his walk with God he was believed to have been “translated” into Heaven. With this summary must be compared the account of the seventh king in the antediluvian Babylonian Dynasty, Enmeduranki by name, who received revelations from the Sun-god Samas, and was the builder of the town of Sippar, which was dedicated to the Sun-god.

24. and he was not] For this expression used to denote an unaccountable disappearance, cf. Genesis 42:13; Genesis 42:36; 1 Kings 20:40. In order to make it quite clear that the words did not imply death, LXX renders οὐχ εὑρίσκετο; Vulg. “non apparuit.”

The shortness of his life as compared with the other patriarchs might have been regarded as a proof of Divine displeasure, if the next sentence had not been added to explain the circumstance.

for God took him] “Took,” or “received,” him, i.e. into His own abode, without death: cf. “he shall receive me” (Psalm 49:15). Sam. “the Angel took him”; LXX μετέθηκε = “translated”; Lat. tulit; Targ. Onkelos, “for the Lord had made him to die.” Our word “translated” has passed into general use from this passage and from the allusion to it in Hebrews 11:5, “By faith Enoch was translated (Lat. translatus est) that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God translated him.” For the only other instance in the O.T. of a Saint’s “translation,” see the story of Elijah (2 Kings 2). In the early Babylonian traditions, Xisuthros, the hero of the Babylonian Deluge story, is “translated” after the Deluge, that he may dwell among the gods.

Late Jewish tradition was very busy with the story of Enoch. Enoch was supposed to have received Divine revelation concerning “all mysteries,” and to have recorded them in writing in apocalyptic books. This current belief concerning Enoch, as the repository and the recorder of the mysteries of the universe, gave rise to the writing of the extant apocalyptic work, “The Book of Enoch,” composed in the second century b.c.

The devout Israelite was able to believe that they who walked with God would somehow be taken by God; cf. Psalm 73:24, “Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward take me to glory.” In an age which had no conception of a general resurrection there was faith in God’s power and a trust in fellowship with Him.

25. Methuselah] According to the Hebrew text and the Samaritan version, Methuselah lived the longest of all the patriarchs, and, according to their figures, his death at the age of 969 years occurred in the year of the Flood.

29. saying, This same shall comfort us, &c.] It is generally supposed that this verse, containing a poetical couplet which is intended to explain the name of Noah, has been inserted from the same source of tradition (J) as Genesis 4:25-26. Certainly, (a) the saying interrupts the bare list of names and years; (b) it contains a reference to the curse pronounced upon the soil, Genesis 3:17; (c) it recurs to the use of the sacred name “Jehovah” (“Jahveh”), whereas “God” (“Elohim”) has been used in Genesis 5:1; Genesis 5:22; Genesis 5:24.

comfort] Heb. naḥem, “to comfort,” “relieve.” The name “Noah,” however, is not derived from naḥem, but there is a play on the general similarity of sound. The LXX renders “gives us rest.”

for our work] The word “for” is in the Heb. “from,” and the meaning is that Noah will comfort his fellow-creatures and give them relief and refreshment “from” their toil.

because of the ground] Better, as R.V. marg., “which cometh from the ground.” This clause is in prose, following two metrical clauses.

In what way did the tradition connect the name of Noah with “comfort” as regards work upon the ground? According to the Hebrew figures in this chapter, Lamech, Noah’s father, must have died either before or in the Flood. It is conceivable that the saying recorded in this verse is taken from a group of Israelite traditions which contained no account of the Flood, and only associated the name of Noah with the work of an husbandman and with the first planting of a vineyard (Genesis 9:20).

31. and all the days of Lamech] Lamech’s life of 770 years was shorter than Methuselah’s by 192 years. His death occurred five years before the Flood. In the Samaritan text the date of his death coincided with the year of the Flood.

32. And Noah was, &c.] Noah is thus represented as much older, when he begets his children, than were the other patriarchs, when children were born to them. A hundred years is the interval of time between the birth of Noah’s sons and the Deluge (Genesis 7:6).

Compare the mention of three sons born to Lamech, the last name in the Cainite genealogy (Genesis 4:20-24).