Enoch and Elijah: Ascent to Heaven?

The Bible knows of two mortals who may have ascended to Heaven — Enoch and Elijah. Enoch is said to have been taken by God (Gen. 5:24). Elijah ascended in a whirlwind to the sky (II Kgs. 2:11). In fact, the words death or dying are not mentioned in their stories. Their death was not witnessed and there was no corpse or grave. However, according to the biblical belief when a person dies, he descends to Sheol. It has gates and bolts, so there is no return from it (Isa. 38:10; Job 10:21; 17:13-16). The underworld is a void; the dead cannot praise the Lord and do not know anything about the living (Isa. 38:18, Ps. 6:5). Death is the end of human life, as first mentioned, when God punished Adam for “dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19). In this paper we examine whether these two accounts of Enoch and Elijah refer to an ascent to Heaven, or they describe a mysterious departure from the world. We will show that initially the stories referred to the death of Enoch and Elijah. Their enigmatic disappearance led to the creation of legends in the Jewish and Christian traditions.

Enoch

Enoch is the name of the seventh progenitor of humans that appears in the record of Adam’s line. In the biblical genealogies the number seven is often specially favored. He was the son of Jared and the father of Methuselah (Gen. 5:18, 21). His life span on earth was the shortest in Genesis 5 and he had a son who lived the longest on earth. A special reference is made about him: “After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years” (Gen. 5:22). Instead of the regular formula “he lived” the narrator replaced it by a description how he lived. This expression is used later with Noah who “walked with God” (6:9); the phrase is restricted to two primeval figures. The idiom connotes religious closeness with God — it is a direct and immediate relationship with God. According to Skinner “such an expression signifies intimate companionship and here denotes a fellowship with God morally and religiously perfect.”¹ This intimacy with God is a reminder of man’s residence in the Garden of Eden, more so, the Lord God walked in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:8). In the book of Malachi, we read that the priests were expected to walk with God (Mal. 2:6), and Micah describes this as God’s requirement of all persons (6:8).

The expression “walk with God” may be compared to “walk before God” which refers to the service of a loyal servant who follows God’s laws and commandments.² Indeed, we read of the patriarchs who served God (Gen. 17:1; 24:40; 48:15); and the kings of Israel (I Kgs. 2:4; 3:6; 8:23, 25; 9:4; II Kgs. 20:3). The sages of the Talmud in Sotah 14a raised the question “Is it possible, then to walk before God?” the answer they gave is that it means to serve Him, to follow His ways. While Targum Jonathan renders “He served God in truth.” Notable, that “Enoch walked with God” is repeated in v. 24. This redundancy is suspicious. In the Hebrew Bible the repetition has a didactic purpose — it comes to stress a point, therefore more than likely, it came to stress Enoch’s devotion to God.

Following the description that Enoch walked with God, Genesis reports that “then he was no more, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). A straightforward reading of the verse takes this as referring to Enoch’s death, rather than his ascension to heaven. The word einennu, “he was no more,” is a metaphor or euphemism for death.³ It is used elsewhere in the Bible to avoid explicit mention of death, as in: “For soon I shall lie down in the dust; when You seek me, I shall be gone” (we-einenni) (Job 7:21); “before I pass away and am gone” (we-einenni) (Ps. 39:14); “Overturn the wicked and they are gone” (we-einem) (Prov. 12:7).⁴ The verb “to take,” lqẖ, employed in this verse, is another biblical euphemism for death, as in: “I am about to take away the delight of your eyes from you through pestilence . . . In the evening my wife died” (Ezek. 24:16, 18); “the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, ‘Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?’” (II Kgs. 2:3; also vv. 5, 9, 10).

Rashi explains that lqẖ refers to an untimely death while Ibn Ezra says that it is a usage of respect. Clearly, then, the traditional commentators understood the verse to be referring to Enoch’s death. Rashi writes that Enoch was a righteous man who was on the verge of falling into sin; to save him from this, the Lord hastened his end.

This idea can be traced to the midrash (Gen. Rab. 25:1) that Enoch was a righteous man whom God “took” — a natural death, not a miraculous ascension into heaven — so that he would not remain in the company of the wicked and be tempted into sin:

R. Hama b. R. Hoshaiah said: “It means that he [Enoch] was not written in the roll of the just but in the roll of the wicked.” R. Aibu said: “Enoch was two-faced, sometimes acting justly, sometimes wickedly.” Therefore, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: “I will take him away at a time when he is acting justly.” Some skeptics said to R. Abbahu: “We do not find that Enoch died.” R. Abbahu asked “Why not?” They said: “The word take is used here and it is also used of Elijah.” He replied: “If you rely on the word take, then in Ezekiel it is written, ‘… behold I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes.’” R. Tanẖuma said, “he answered them well” (Genesis Rabbah 25:1).

We further read in Genesis Rabbah 25:1 that Enoch died: “A matron asked R. Jose: ‘We do not find death stated of Enoch?’ Said he to her: ‘If it said, “And Enoch walked with God,” and no more, I would agree with you. Since, however, it says, “And he was not, for God took him,” it means that he was no more in the world, [having died,] for God took him.’“

Contrary to the view that Enoch died, in the story of Elijah it appears to be clear that he ascended to Heaven in a whirlwind and did not die. This seems to have spawned the popular legend that Enoch, too, was taken to heaven by God. The description of Genesis 5:24 resembles that used in II Kings 2:11, a fiery chariot with fiery horses suddenly appeared and separated one from the other; and Elijah went up to heaven in whirlwind. It is noteworthy that in Psalms the verb lqẖ refers to translation to the eternal world of souls: “God will redeem my life from the clutches of Sheol, for He will take me” (Ps. 49:16 [15]); and “afterward You will take me” (or receive me: tiqqaẖeni) (Ps. 73:24). In the Targumim we find an ambivalent view towards the question of death and ascension of Enoch. The usage of the Hebrew word einennu instead of “he died” provoked Jewish exegesis. It was believed that Enoch did not die, and God took him to heaven. This kind of understanding is found in the Westminster Genizah fragment of Onkelos and in other later sources of this targum.⁵ Similarly, some scholars believe that the story of Enoch does refer to an ascent to Heaven.⁶ They note that the verse states twice that Enoch walked with God — the first time referring to his life on earth, the second to being with God after being taken by Him. Accordingly, the verb lqẖ is a technical term for bodily ascension.⁷ The LXX of Genesis reads, “And Enoch pleased God, and he was not found because God translated him.” The words “and he was not found” of the LXX replace the MT “and he was not,” which is vague. In the New Testament in Hebrews 11:5,6 Enoch is one of the three saints who preceded the patriarch, Abraham. The version that appears in Heb. 11:5 is closer to the LXX than to the MT. The words “so that he should not see death” are added to the text of Heb. 11:5. This addition stresses the belief that Enoch was taken to heaven, a view that was prevalent in intertestamental Judaism. He was removed from humans and was taken into a higher world. There he was introduced to the mysteries of heaven where he had intimate contact with God and angels. Allegedly he described his knowledge in the Book of Enoch and other writings that were attributed to him.

Mesopotamian Background

The Enoch tradition has parallels in Mesopotamian mythology, in the figure of Enmeduranki, the seventh king before the flood.⁸ His capital city was a center of the sun god of Sipar.⁹ This king was dear to the gods Anu, Bel, and Ea, and was received into the fellowship of Shamash and Ramman. The gods welcomed him into their midst, revealed their secrets to him, seated him on a golden throne, and initiated him in the practice of divination. The Mesopotamian myth links this king to the sun god, who presides over the 365-day solar year, just as Enoch’s biblical lifespan is 365 years. The Babylonian king was the seventh in the antediluvian line, just as Enoch is the seventh generation from Adam.¹⁰ The king is intimate with the gods, just as Enoch “walked with God,” while being god’s favorite.

As Enmeduranki received knowledge from the gods, later Jewish traditions attribute to Enoch knowledge that he received from God. He was introduced to the mysteries of heaven, learning the secrets of the past and the future and had intimate contact with God and angels. Allegedly he described his knowledge in the Book of Enoch and other writings that were attributed to him. Evidently, the ancient tradition of Enoch was lost and was revived in later Judaism. The book of Enoch exerted a major influence on both Jewish and Christian apocalypse. It is the earliest known work that describes a tour of Paradise and Hell, the places where souls are rewarded and punished. Of the three books of Enoch, 1 Enoch held major influence on Jews from the fourth to the first centuries B.C.E. Similarly, the Christian community was aware of the book, as it is seen in the book of Jude, where the apostle quotes from I Enoch 1:9 regarding God’s judgment on the ungodly.

The idea that Enoch never died spawned the legends and speculations that are reflected in the apocryphal literature. Some believed that such speculation should be kept to a minimum. Enoch’s popularity in Christian circles led Jewish commentators to tread lightly.¹¹ The guardians of the halakhic tradition passed over these legends in silence. Some even read the verses as censure and denounced Enoch as a wicked man or said that he was a sinner for part of his life and later repented. His “taking” is understood to mean that he died. The first to state this explicitly was Ben Sira (Eccl. 44:16; 49:14–16), who wrote that Joseph, Shem, Seth, Enoch, and Adam all had to die.

Nevertheless, the legends about Enoch were popular with the masses and flourished in the apocalyptic literature and later midrashim. Enoch is said to be one of the nine righteous men who entered Paradise without having suffered the agonies of death.¹² His importance increased until he came to be identified with the angel Metatron, the intercessor on behalf of Israel. Some even identified the name of Metatron with the name of God. TB Sanhedrin 38b, glossing Exodus 24:1 (“He said to Moses, ‘Come up to the Lord’”), explains that “It was Metatron [who spoke]: his name is like that of his Lord, as it is written, … for My name is in him (Ex. 23:21).” Metatron became so important that the post-Talmudic 3 Enoch refers to Enoch/Metatron as “the lesser Yahweh.”¹³ This trend seems to be what led orthodox circles to be so suspicious of anything related to Enoch.

Elijah

Elijah’s departure is unique among biblical characters according to the biblical text. When the prophet Elijah and Elisha were walking and talking: “a fiery chariot with fiery horses suddenly appeared and separated one from the other; and Elijah went up to heaven in whirlwind” (II Kgs. 2:11). The verse states that the chariot and horses only separated the two and there is no suggestion that Elijah was taken to heaven by chariot with fiery horses. A different understanding is provided by Ben Sira that maintains that Elijah was taken by chariot and fire: “Who were taken up in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses” (48:9). The fiery chariot and horses can be traced to the cult of the sun god.¹⁴ In addition, horses sometimes personify the sun itself (see II Kgs. 23:11). It was suggested that the Elijah-Elisha tradition probably borrowed motifs from solar mythology and used the chariot and horses as symbols for the deity.¹⁵ Indeed, in Israelite belief, the chariot and horsemen are associated with the God of Israel and are part of the heavenly host that serve Him (Isa. 66:15; Hab. 3:8; Ps. 68:18). Fire is a frequent element in accounts of divine revelation (Ex. 3:2, 24:17; Isa. 30:27; Hab. 3:3–5; Deut. 33:2). More than likely, the divine revelation which describes Elijah ascending to heaven is meant to bolster Elisha’s legitimacy as Elijah’s successor. Elisha’s designation as Elijah’s successor is connected with theophany, and when Elisha arose, he was able to reenact Elijah’s splitting of the waters.

The fiery chariot with fiery horses only separated Elijah and Elisha and Elijah went in a whirlwind (II Kgs. 2:11). The fact that God took Elijah in a whirlwind (sĕʿārāh) is already mentioned in verse 1. Examination of Ezekiel 1:4 reveals that the whirlwind was linked to fire — “a huge cloud flashing fire, surrounded by a radiance.” Sometimes whirlwind appears as a symbol of God’s judgment (Isa. 29:6) and it is used to label a theophany (Job 38:1; 40:6). The usage of a storm to describe theophany is undoubtedly derived from the ancient cult of the weather god.

Seeing Elijah going to heaven in a whirlwind, Elisha cried out, “Oh, father, father! Israel’s chariots and horsemen!” (II Kgs. 2:12). He did not mention the prophet by name; instead he called him “father, father,” which is an expression of respect and honor.¹⁶ A similar usage is attested in Akkadian for abu, “father,” as a form of address and title.¹⁷ In addition, Elisha kept shouting “chariot of Israel and its horses,” which is ambiguous. Ehrlich suggests that it was used as referring to the prophet since the Israelites did not have chariots and horses.¹⁸ The motif of fiery horses and chariots is repeated with Elisha (II Kgs. 6:17). The mantle that Elijah wore and dropped is used by Elisha. It is the same one that was thrown over him when he first met Elijah (I Kgs. 19:19-21). Elisha took the mantle, struck the water, and split it to the right and left, and crossed over the water. His act suggests that he succeeded Elijah to the “fathership” over the sons of the Prophets. Through the years Elijah is depicted as a person who disappeared and reappears at a moment’s notice (I Kgs. 18:11-12). The disciples who looked for him could not find him as Elisha predicted. This supports the view that Elijah did not die in the usual sense.

Since Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind and Elisha could no longer see him, he tore his own garments in two. Renting cloth is a typical sign of mourning in the Hebrew Bible (Gen. 37:34; Josh. 7:6; II Kgs. 19:1; Esth. 4:1; Job 1:20). This practice is mentioned for the first time in the Joseph cycle, when Reuben discovers that Joseph has vanished, and he tears his clothes (Gen. 37:29). The custom is also documented in extra-biblical texts; thus, during the drought that followed the death of Daniel, we read that Anath “rends the garment of Daniel the Rapha-man.”¹⁹

In TB Moed Katan 26a the sages maintain that since Elisha did not see Elijah, he considered him as dead: “Reish Lakish said to Rabbi Yoḥanan: But isn’t Elijah still alive? Why, then, did Elisha rend his garments for him? He said to him: Since it is written: ‘And he saw him no more’ (II Kgs. 2:12), Elijah was considered dead from Elisha’s perspective, and so Elisha rent his clothing for him.” Based on this episode the sages interpret this verse as follows: “‘My father my father’; this comes to teach that one must rend his garments for the death of his father or mother. ‘The chariot of Israel and their horseman’; this comes to also include one’s teacher who taught him Torah.”

The legends about Elijah the prophet can be traced back to the end of the prophetic corpus, in the last verses of the book of Malachi: “Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the Lord” (Mal. 3:23 [4:5]). In the wake of this passage Elijah came to be identified as the herald of the Messiah. According to 1 Maccabees, “Elijah for his acts of zeal on behalf of the Torah was taken up as if into Heaven.”²⁰ Here one can sense a certain disquiet with the idea that a mortal rose to Heaven. In TB Sukkah 5a, R. Jose, quoting Psalms 115:16, maintained that Moses and Elijah did not go up to heaven: “The Divine Presence never actually descended below, and Moses and Elijah never actually ascended to heaven on the high, as it is stated: The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, and the earth He gave to the children of man (Ps. 115:16).” According to R. Jose the transient abode of Moses and the permanent one of Elijah are in close vicinity of heaven but not in heaven itself. Noteworthy that the Hebrew word shamayim is better rendered “sky” than “heaven” since the latter term suggests a paradisaic abode unknown in the Hebrew Bible. The God of Israel took his servant from earth to his mysterious and unapproachable abode, and the text does not say anything about the nature of immortality.

A letter from Elijah to Jehoram, the king of Judah, is described in 2 Chronicles 21:12. The mention of it raises chronological issues. According to 2 Kings 2-3 Elijah had already disappeared and he was succeeded by Elisha during the reign of Jehoshaphat. He could not be alive during the reign of Jehoram to write the letter. This suggests that Elijah wrote the letter prophetically before he died or that he transmitted the letter from heaven. However, the Chronicler never suggested a movement between this world and the next.

In Christian tradition Elijah is the precursor of the Messiah. The synoptic Gospels identify Jesus with Elijah.²¹ When Jesus brought his messianic doctrine, however, he said that John the Baptist was the reincarnation of Elijah.²² In the fourth gospel, however, John rejects this idea.²³

The esteem for Elijah in Christian circles caused his stature to wane in the Talmud. It is not surprising to find that the idea that he ascended to Heaven is rejected there.²⁴ From the time of the Greek translation of the book of Kings we find the view among Jewish authorities that did not accept the belief that a mortal was taken all the way into heaven.²⁵ Nevertheless, by the end of the Talmudic period and in the post-Talmudic age the link between him and the messiah, whose coming will be announced by Elijah, was firmly established. Elijah will appear three days before the messiah. On the first day he will mourn the destruction of Israel but conclude by saying that “peace has come to the world.” On the second and third days he will offer words of consolation.²⁶ In these sources Elijah is not only the herald of the messiah but his partner as well. Elijah and the messiah appear as the recorders of the good deeds of the righteous in order to bring the day of redemption closer.²⁷ According to Genesis Rabbah 71:9, Elijah will put an end to idolatry. He will resolve all rabbinic legal dispute and will come to bring peace.²⁸ In addition, Mishna Eduyyot 8:7 states that he will trigger the resurrection of the dead — a belief that may be associated with his revival of the son of the widow of Zarephath (I Kgs. 17:17ff.).

Conclusion

The passages about Enoch and Elijah are ambiguous. The words death or dying are not mentioned with their disappearance and there is no mention of a corpse nor a grave. This led to the notion that a mortal can ascend to Heaven. However, a close reading of the biblical text reveals that they died mysteriously, and no explanation is given for the nature of their deaths. Yet by the end of the Talmudic and post-Talmudic periods the legends about Enoch and Elijah were popular with the masses and flourished in the apocalyptic literature and later midrashim, which contributed to the belief that Enoch and Elijah were taken by God to heaven. The idea that the dead descended to the underworld and remained there forever had begun to fracture. By the second century CE the future resurrection was an integral part of rabbinic doctrine.