Enoch was the bright particular star of the patriarchal epoch. His
record is short, but eloquent. It is crowded into a few words, but
every word, when placed under examination, expands indefinitely. Every
virtue may be read into them; every eulogium possible to a human
character shines from them. He was a devout man, a fearless preacher
of righteousness, an intimate friend of God, and the only man of his
dispensation who did not see death. He sheds a lustre on the
antediluvian age, and he shines still as an example to all generations
of steady and lofty piety.
It is difficult to realise the exact environment of the early
patriarchs. Human society was then in its making. There were giants
in those days, both physically and intellectually. They lived long,
and unfolded a vigorous manhood, by which civilisation was developed in
every direction. Some of them, also, were tenderly responsive to
supernatural influences, and thus rose to a spiritual stature which
enables them to bulk largely in sacred history.
The guiding lines of Enoch's biography are clear though few. "_He
walked with God_"; "_he pleased God_"; "_he was translated that he
should not see death_." These are the pregnant remnants of his history,
from which we may construct a character and career of striking eminence.