Abstract
AbstractThis chapter brings together a number of textual traditions about the ultimate fate of the figure of Enoch, a theme that the Bible already complicates when it notes that he suddenly disappears from human society “because God took him” (Genesis 5:24). Did Enoch escape the common human destiny of death? If so, where was he taken? Some texts imagine Enoch as now living in a special place somewhere at the ends of the earth, whereas other texts posit his permanent ascension from the terrestrial worlds into the heavenly realm where he now performs certain tasks in God’s throne-room, such as administering certain celestial treasuries or serving as a scribe who records divine decisions or even assuming a position as leader of the angelic hosts. Particular heavenly levels—the fourth, sixth, or seventh—are popularly specified as his new home. Since most of these traditions assume he never experienced death, there are also some intriguing texts which portray Enoch as making a return to earth (together with Elijah) at the end of days as part of the eschatological consummation of the present age.
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