Meaning of the Name Enoch
From the Hebrew name Hanokh (Enoch), explained as 'dedicated' or 'trained', an explanation that is widely accepted. It comes from the root h-n-k, which carries the ideas of dedicating, training and initiating; the name of Hanukkah, the festival recalling the rededication of the temple, comes from the same root. Hanok is the Turkish form of the name.
Origin
The name Enoch is of Hebrew origin.
Who is Enoch in the Bible?
The best-known bearer of the name Enoch is the man of the seventh generation from Adam, who is said to have walked with God and to have been taken by God without seeing death. He is the father of Methuselah and the great-grandfather of Noah. The same name is also given to a son of Cain and to the city named after him.
The story of Enoch in the Bible
The long genealogy of Genesis moves through the generations with the same pattern: someone lived so many years, had sons and daughters, and died. When it reaches Enoch the pattern suddenly breaks. Enoch, the son of Jared, walks with God after the birth of his son Methuselah, living in close fellowship with God. After three hundred sixty-five years he is no more, for God took him. The narrative does not mention his death, and this brief, mysterious note has fascinated readers for centuries. In Jewish tradition books were written in Enoch's name; most biblical canons do not include them, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church being an exception, but they show how great the interest in Enoch was. In the New Testament the letter to the Hebrews says that by faith Enoch was taken so that he did not see death, and that before he was taken he was commended as one who pleased God. The letter of Jude calls him the seventh from Adam and links to him a prophecy that the Lord will come with his holy ones in judgment. Enoch thus becomes one of Scripture's simplest and most striking pictures of walking with God.
Is Enoch mentioned in the Quran?
The name Enoch does not appear in the Quran. Many in Islamic tradition and commentary identify the prophet Idris, who is named in the Quran, with Enoch; this is an identification, however, and the Quran does not state it explicitly. In the Bible, Enoch is remembered as the man who walked with God and was taken by him.
Verses where Enoch appears
- Genesis 5:24 —
Enoch walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him.
- Hebrews 11:5 —
By faith, Enoch was taken away, so that he wouldn’t see death, and he was not found, because God translated him. For he has had testimony given to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing to God.
- Jude 1:14 —
About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones,