We consider the approach to thermal equilibrium of a classical homogeneous dense gas with pair interaction corresponding to strongly repulsive forces of range. A series of systematic approximations to the equation determining the rate of change of the one-particle reduced distribution is proposed. Attempting to formulate Enskog's ideas in microscopic language, we construct a description within which the effect ofs-particle dynamics (s = 2, 3,...) is treated exactly, and the approximation affects only the influence of the medium on the distribution ofs-particle states. It is argued that for a system close to equilibrium the effect of the medium is primarily due to the equilibrium component of correlations. This leads to a series of equations for the one-particle reduced distribution. In the case ofs = 2, after taking the thermodynamic limit and passing to the long-time regime, the Enskog equation is obtained.