519. At that time there were people who formulated doctrine out of what had been matters of perception in the Most Ancient Church and in the Churches that came after it, and this doctrine was to serve as a yardstick by which people could recognize what good and truth were. Such people were called 'Enoch', and this is meant by these words, 'and Enoch walked with God'. They also applied this name to that doctrine of theirs, for this indeed was meant by the name Enoch, which is 'instructing'. The matter is also clear from the meaning of the expression walking' and from the fact that he is said to have walked, not with Jehovah, but 'with God'. 'Walking with God' is teaching and living according to the doctrine of faith, whereas 'walking with Jehovah' is leading a life of love. 'Walking' is a customary expression to mean living, as in the phrases walking in the law, walking in statutes, walking in the truth. Strictly speaking, walking has regard to the path of truth, and therefore of faith or the doctrine of faith. From the places that are quoted below it becomes to some extent clear what 'walking' means in the Word.
[2] In Micah,
He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you but to carry out judgement and the love of mercy, and to humble yourself by walking with your God? Micah 6:8.
Here too 'walking with God' means living according to the requirements set out here. But although the expression 'with God' is used here the preposition employed is different from the one used in reference to Enoch, which really means 'from with God', and so is a phrase which is ambiguous. 1 In David,
You have delivered my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living. Psalms 56:13.
Here 'walking before God' is walking in the truth of faith, which is 'the light of the living'. Similarly in Isaiah,
The people walking in darkness see a great light. Isaiah 9:2.
In Moses the Lord says,
I will walk in your midst and be your God, and you will be My people. Leviticus 26:11.
This stood for the requirement that they should live according to the teaching of the law.
In Jeremiah,
They will spread them 2 before the sun and the moon and all the hosts of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have walked after, and which they have sought. Jeremiah 8:2
A clear distinction is made here between the things that belong to love and those that belong to faith. Those that belong to love are referred to by 'loving and serving', those that belong to faith by 'walking and seeking after'. For in the Prophets careful attention is paid to the use of words; one word is nowhere used in place of another In the Word 'walking with Jehovah' or 'before Jehovah' means leading a life of love.
Notas a pie de página:
1. i.e. the Hebrew preposition 'im is used in Micah 6:8 but 'eth in Genesis 5:22.
2. i.e. the bones of those mentioned in Jeremiah 8:1.
