(כא) וַֽיְחִ֣י חֲנ֔וֹךְ חָמֵ֥שׁ וְשִׁשִּׁ֖ים שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד אֶת־מְתוּשָֽׁלַח׃ (כב) וַיִּתְהַלֵּ֨ךְ חֲנ֜וֹךְ אֶת־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֗ים אַֽחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת־מְתוּשֶׁ֔לַח שְׁלֹ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת׃ (כג) וַיְהִ֖י כׇּל־יְמֵ֣י חֲנ֑וֹךְ חָמֵ֤שׁ וְשִׁשִּׁים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּשְׁלֹ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָֽה׃ (כד) וַיִּתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ חֲנ֖וֹךְ אֶת־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֑ים וְאֵינֶ֕נּוּ כִּֽי־לָקַ֥ח אֹת֖וֹ אֱלֹהִֽים׃
(21) When Hanoch had lived 65 years, he begot Metushelach. (22) After the birth of Metushelach, Hanoch walked with God 300 years; and he begot sons and daughters. (23) All the days of Hanoch came to 365 years. (24) Hanoch walked with God; then he was no more, for God took him.
Scripture says about Hanoch, And Hanoch walked with God. The meaning of this is the same as the meaning of After the Lord your God you shall walk (Deut. 13:5). The same thing is stated concerning Noah, namely, Noah walked with God (Gen. 6:9). Others say that Noah walked with God means he trained himself to walk with God.
ויתהלך חנוך He was a righteous man, but his mind was easily induced to turn from his righteous ways and to become wicked. The Holy One, blessed be He, therefore took him away quickly and made him die before his full time. This is why Scripture uses a different expression when referring to his death by writing ואיננו “and he was not”, meaning, he was not in the world to complete the number of his years.
ואיננו כי לקח אתו אלקים. תרגם אונקלוס: ואיתוהי ארי לא אמית יתיה. פי׳ והנה הוא עומד וקים שהרי לא המית אותו הקב״ה ועתיד לבא עם אליהו בעת הגאולה.
ולפי תרגום ירושלמי צריך לומר לקח אתו לשון מיתה כמו ״קח נא את נפשי ״, ״אך אלקים יפדה נפשי״, ״מיד שאול כי יקחני סלה״, והוא דרך כבוד שהרי צדיק היה.
ואיננו כי לקח אותו אלוקים, “he had disappeared as G-d had taken him.” Onkelos translates the word איננו here as meaning: “he still exists,” meaning that seeing that God had not let him die, he will return at the time before Mashiach comes, with Eliyahu.
According to the Zohar, Chanoch died a natural death, God removing him from the temptation to fall victim to the wicked ways of his contemporaries. The prophet Jonah had asked G-d to be treated thus. (Jonah 4,3) Compare also Psalms: 49,16.
ויתהלך, similar to Genesis 48,15 ויתהלכו אבותי לפניו, “before Whom my forefathers walked.” The wording means that Chanoch channeled all his love and desire into fulfilling the will of G’d, and he acquired a deep understanding of the ways of his Creator already at the age of 65. For the remaining 300 years of his life on earth he walked with G’d. In spite of this, he did not neglect his duties of producing offspring.
As a result of his ever more profound study of theological matters he came to despise his body, so that when he no longer performed the commandment of being fruitful and multiplying, G’d decided that he had served his purpose on earth, and He removed him from the earth even though he had lived only less than half a normal lifespan.
ואיננו כי לקח אותו אלוקים, the word ואיננו is meant to convey that he did not die from sickness, nor did he suffer pains before he died. His contemporaries had not considered his impending death as even a remote possibility, so that they were totally unprepared for it. They did not notice his absence until he had actually died.
When the Torah employs the unusual phrase כי לקח אותו אלוקים, this is an allusion to the fact that G’d removed his soul to the heavenly regions.
People who have led blameless lives do not experience death throes, but die without experiencing such painful afflictions. By contrast, the popular understanding of the departure from earth of both Chanoch and the prophet Elijah, is that G’d transferred them to their afterlife, Gan Eden, complete with their bodies. Though a widespread popular perception, it is shared by some of our sages. These people imagine both Chanoch and Elijah as leading the kind of idyllic life in Gan Eden that Adam had enjoyed briefly before he sinned. They are presumed to continue in this fashion until the arrival of the Messiah.