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NASB | 2 Kings 2:11 As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Kings 2:11 As they continued along and talked, behold, a chariot of fire with horses of fire [appeared suddenly and] separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. |
Subject: what man was born but never died |
Bible Note: Hi Brad and thanks for the answer, 1. I think this may be a point to agree to disagree on. I see that Jacob, being dead, was transported somewhere, not by his power, but by the power of someone else. That is how I see the translation of Enoch, Elijah and Jacob as being the same - a transportation not of their own power. As I've said, if you were reading it in the original Greek you'd be lead to believe that whatever happened to Enoch in Hebrews happened to Jacob in Acts. It's the translation from Greek to English that changes it for us. Translation may seem like mere semantics but it is important. For example, your translation of Hebrews 11 which uses the phrase "taken up". That phrase simply doesn't exist in the original Greek - it's the word we've discussed "metatithemi". And it doesn't mean "taken up" - that's an incorrect human translation based on a pre-conceived idea that Enoch went up to heaven. 2. The reason that we are not told explicitly that Enoch died in Genesis may actually be self apparent. The writer knew exactly how long every one else lived, so he records that age and notes that they died. But if no one could find Enoch after he was translated then it would be impossible for any human writer to know when he died. All that could be done was to record how long he lived until his translation. 3. Again, this may boil down to semantics. You believe that God translated Enoch so that he would never, ever experience death. I believe God translated Enoch so that he could temporarily avoid death – I would say that Enoch was threatened with death but because he walked with God, God took him away from that situation. Both of these stem from what we understand of the phrase "not see death." I suppose that could be argued either way. 4. I would however differ on the point in Hebrews 11. The phrase "these all" grammatically includes those who precede as well as those which follow - the relative pronoun embraces all those named in the list of the righteous. "These all" in verse 13 applies to those of the whole chapter, just as "these all" in verse 39 does. To say that it applies to some and not all is an arbitrary choice which ignores the grammatical and contextual setting. Anyway, it's late here and I really could do with getting home. I'll just leave you with a few things to ponder: 1. If Elijah was translated from Earth to Heaven how and why did he write a letter to the King of Judah nearly ten years later? (2 Chr 21:12) 2. How can Enoch or Elijah have been taken up to heaven if "no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven" (Jhn 3:13). 3. The person whose death is not recorded that you overlooked was Melchisedec, of whom it was written he was, "Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life." (Hebrews 7) Okay and as always, thanks, Dr. B. |