Enoch Waka with God

Two friends dey waka side by side for one road. Dem don dey waka together for very long time. And one day, one of dem just no dey there again. No be because e die. Na because God take am.

Genesis chapter five na family tree. E start from Adam reach Noah, and e get one rhythm, like drum wey dey beat. One man live so so years. E get son. E live more years again, and e get other sons and daughters. And then di drum land: and e die. Adam, and e die. Seth, and e die. Enosh. Kenan. Mahalalel. Jared. And e die. And e die. E be steady reminder of wetin people lose when dem comot from di garden. And then we reach one man wey dem dey call Enoch, and di drum beat break.

Enoch na di seventh generation from Adam. When e be sixty-five years, e born one son wey dem name Methuselah. And then Genesis talk something wey e never talk about anybody before am. After dem born Methuselah, Enoch waka with God for three hundred years, and e born other sons and daughters. Notice dat one. Enoch no waka with God by leaving normal life behind. E be papa. E get household, children to raise, work to do, food to share. And through all of am, for three whole centuries, e waka with God.

Wetin e mean to waka with God? Genesis no give us list of di good tins wey Enoch do, or record of im prayers. But think about to waka with friend. Una go dey waka di same speed. Una dey face di same direction. Una dey talk as una dey go, and sometimes una go just quiet together. You no fit waka with person and keep dey run go di other side. To waka with God mean life wey dey go where God dey go, step after step, day after day. No be one big moment, but thousands of ordinary moments. For dis early chapters, Genesis use di same words for only one more person: Noah, di great-grandson of Enoch, wey also waka with God.

Then di end of Enoch part of di family tree reach. All di days of Enoch na three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch waka with God, and e no dey again, because God take am. Listen for wetin no dey there. No, and e die. Di drum stop. Enoch dey there, and then e no dey again, because God take am. Genesis no explain how. Centuries after, di letter to di Hebrews put am like dis. By faith dem carry Enoch comot from dis life, so dat e no see death. Nobody fit find am, because God don take am. And before dem take am, people know am as person wey please God.

Na very short story. Just four verses. But e don give hope to readers for thousands of years. For one family tree wey full with endings, see one man wey im friendship with God no end. And e good to notice how ordinary im road be. Enoch no build ark, e no lead one nation comot from slavery, e no fight giant. E waka with God. Faithfully. For very long time. Then di drum start again. Methuselah live nine hundred and sixty-nine years, pass anybody for di Bible, and then, and e die. Di family line continue, reach Noah.

Enoch catch di interest of ancient readers well well. For di centuries before Jesus, Jewish writers produce one collection of writings wey we dey call First Enoch now, wey describe visions and journeys wey dem say na Enoch get dem. E no dey inside most Bibles, but di Ethiopian Orthodox Church put am inside dia scriptures. Dem find pieces of am, wey dem write for Aramaic, among di Dead Sea Scrolls for Qumran. And di short New Testament letter of Jude quote one prophecy of Enoch with words wey match one passage for dat book closely.

Enoch Waka with God. You go find im story for Genesis chapter five, verse twenty-one to twenty-four, and Hebrews chapter eleven, verse five remember am again. Im life no famous for one big moment. E dey faithful, one step at a time. So see one question wey you go carry dey go. How e go be for you to waka with God tomorrow, for di ordinary tins?