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The Seven Laws of Noah: Part I
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The Rabbinical Writings
This is unquestionably the criterion on which the subject should be based. However, since the majority of the average non-Jewish laymen and clergy have no idea as to who the sages Rambam, Rashi, and Joseph Cairo were; they disregard all Jewish sources as non-authoritative. They approach this subject with the attitude, “If it is not in the Holy Scriptures, we do not accept it”.
While they shun the citation of Jewish Sources, they fail to realize that not only the Jewish Scriptures, but moreover, even the original sources of the Christian’s New Testament are from Jewish sources. There is an even greater problem than the bigotry of the average layman against anything Jewish. The clergy and scholars, both in traditional Christianity and Islam, disdain the Rabbis and Jewish sources as nonsense and erroneous. In their prejudice, they ignore that their New Testament and Koran both rely on the Jewish Scriptures for their authority. Therefore, this specific study of the Noahide Covenant and Seven Laws of Noah will be based on the Hebrew Scriptures and even augmented with the Christians’ Gospels and Epistles, the Islamic Koran.
Since 1985, scores of books have been published on the subject of the Noahide Covenant and the seven laws related to that very first covenant that G-d made with mankind. Most of these publications are authored by Jewish scholars and documented from Talmudic Sources and beast of the earth” This Noahide covenant of seven commandments was made 1657 years after the creation of Adam. Whereas, the Sinai covenant with Israel and 613 Commandments was not made until the 2448th year after Adam, a mere 791 years later. For wellnigh eight centuries, all seventy families of human kind were only known as Noahides, or the children of Noah. Actually, six of these seven laws were given to Adam, only the seventh was given to Noah.
To correlate these dates to the Common Era, the flood was 4,108 years and Mount Sinai was 3,317 years before the CE year 2005. The 7 Laws of Noah are included in the 613 commandments given at Sinai. The 10 Commandments are not an elaboration on the seven Laws given to the Noahides. In fact, though they sound similar. The Noahide Laws are in some aspects distinctly different from the ten commandments. The Torah, or Pentateuch, called the five books of Moses, is the complete Word of Gd. Its truths unfold as the opening pedals of a rose until it compasses the entire Tanach of the Prophets and all the Holy Writings of the Jewish Scripture. “And the Word [Torah] became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Torah was personified in seven men. They were Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. This is the Genesis of the revelaand other non-rabbinical sources. The very first time the word “Covenant” appears in the Bible is in Genesis 10:8-10.
“[8] And God spoke unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying: “ [9] And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; [10] And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark,"
to every tion of the Torah of creation for all the human families in earth of all times and places of their existence. The book of Genesis alone contains and conceals every rudiment of revelation that was given to the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. It also contains, sort of tucked away and hidden, all that was given to Moses at Mount Sinai. Even more, Genesis contained everything in the Holy Prophets and the Holy writings. This is to say, that the first 50 chapters of Jewish Scripture contains the seed particles that sprout and grow into the entire Tanach. The Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants were B’nai-Noah and under the Noahide Covenant until the Hebrews of the Jacob Clan were separated from the other 70 Nations at Mount Sinai.
This separation Am- Yisrael [People of Israel] from Amai-HaOlahm [Peoples of the world] did not negate the Israelites from remaining Noahides and subject to the 7 Laws of that first covenant. The Mosaic Covenant did not replace the Noahide Covenant. The Sinai covenant was given in tandem to the Ararat Covenant. Sinai did not replace Ararat. Noahide Laws are unrestricted and universal. No Jewish person is exempt or bypassed from also observing the Noahide Laws. They are the foundation of the Sinai Code. Inversely, the 613 commandments are not all universal. For the most part they are emphatically restricted to Israel. These Judicial Sinai Decrees are in general directed only to the people of Israel. The exceptions are when a commandment is addressed to “a man” as in Deuteronomy 24:1 and Leviticus 1:2 “If any man of you”. These usually occur when the particular commandment is corresponding to a Noahide Law. These restrictions extend farther than just to the People of Israel. Inside that community, the 613 Laws fanout and dovetail in all directions. Some of these laws apply only to the men, while others apply solely to women. Certain apply only to the Kings while others are directed exclusively at the judges and system of jurisprudence. Some of the specific 613 Commandments are strictly to the High Priest while different laws are only to the thousands of common priests. Meanwhile, others of the 613 Laws are directed exclusively to the Levites. Nevertheless, while within the Levite family there are Levitical laws particularly different to the Sons of Marari, as they are to the Sons of Gershon or even more so to the Sons of Kohath. Even the Prophet Balaam recognized that the Israelites were set-apart from all other peoples: Numbers 23:9: “For from the tops of the rocks, I see him, and from the hills, I behold him: Lo, this people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations”.
The 613 Commandments, given solely to Jacob’s family, etched in Sapphire Stones, lie hidden away in the Ark of G-d! Hitherto, they yet remain with us today windings around the spindle of the Torah Scroll. They seemingly soundout loud and clear in the imperatives of the “THOU SHALTS” and the “THOU SHALT NOTS ”. In contrast the Seven Laws of Noah are not so distinctly and dynamically listed as is Israel’s Torah. The Noahide Laws are presented in an allusion drawn from the dynamics of the primal human stories etched in the flesh and blood drama of Adam and Eve and of the tragedy of their violations. “The Tale of the Snake” anecdote in Eden dramatizes and acts-out the first three Noahide Laws against Blasphemy, Idolatry and Theft. Yet, it does not plainly state: Thou shalt not Blaspheme, Thou shalt not idolize nor Thou shalt not steal! What was G-d’s Mood and Disposition When He Gave the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai?
All translations of the Ten Commandments fail to convey the tenor of the language they are written in. The Ten Commandments given to Israel appear to be sledgehammer commands of “Thou shalt!” and “Thou Shall Not!” The tenor of this top ten come across as strong harsh imperatives. Yet, in the Hebrew verb house, they do not occur in the imperative Pi’al house, but rather in the soft, gentle, buoyant and almost pillow- talk whispering tones of the P’al or Kal house of the verb. They are in sort of “pillow-talk” “Give me your ears, O’Israel [so I may whisper]. I Am The LORD, your G-D, Love Me, Certainly, you will h a v e n o o t h e r gods…Surely, you will remember to guard my Sabbath and hallow it… etc.” Back to “Tale of the Snake” narrative, the connotations of Adam’s, Eve’s and our own violation’s are etched, not in sapphire stones, but rather in souls and conscience. That still small voice whispers the austere consequences of our primal parents and our own transgressions. We were all embodied in Adam and Eve physically, spiritually and psychologically, and. Adam and Eve remain hitherto embodied in us. It is not the question that: “If we were there”, for we were in actuality… all there! “In each of us there is an Adam, in exile from the garden in need of redemption….
This “Tale of the Snake” incident in Genesis chapter three is the “Curse of the Law [Torah]”. Only this single, solitary section of the entire Torah specified as the “The Curse of the Torah”. The Snake, Eve, Adam and even the Ground and vegetation were cursed. Paul’s references in Galatians 3:13 to the “Curse of the Law” is referring exclusively to this precise section of the “Tale of the Snake” in the Torah. Theologians are totally ignorant of the Torah in general because they totally ignore the Torah. They are even more ignorant of the Torah in particular because they ignore Rabbinical Commentary. They have taken this specific and restricted Pauline statement of the “Curse of the Law” in Genesis chapter three and spread it like mayonnaise over the entire Five Books of Moses and in effect the entire Jewish Scripture. The First Noahide Law isAgainst Blasphemy. The Second Noahide Law is Against Idolatry. The Third Noahide Law is Against Theft The Fourth Noahide Law is Against Murder. The Fifth Noahide Law is Against Illicit Sex. The Sixth Noahide Law is Against Injustice in the Jurisprudence Court System. The Seventh Noahide Law is Against Eating the Limb of a Living Animal. We shall peruse each of these Seven Laws of the Noahide Covenant. Yet, this initial study will be dedicated only to the First Law Against Blasphemy. Later we will pursue the other six Noahide Laws. B’nai Noah is not something new. In reality, it is the oldest and original Covenant G-D made with mankind. It is not even a religion. It is a universal social and moral code obligatory on all mankind in deference of religion race, color, and creed or ethnic origin. President Ronald Reagan issued an official document on April 10, 1985 affirming that the Republic of the United States of America was founded upon the precepts of the Seven Laws of Noah.
November 20,1987. President Reagan issued a second similar statement. The One Hundred and Second Congress, On Thursday, January 1, 1991, the Joint Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Joint House of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives in Washington DC. The first five items of this declaration are as follows: “Whereas the Congress recognizes the historic tradition of ethical values and principles which are the basis of Civilized society and upon which our great Nation was founded Whereas these ethical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Laws of Noah; Whereas society is profoundly concerned with the recent weakening of these principals that has resulted in crises that beleaguer and threaten the fabric of civilized society; peril of returning to chaos; Whereas the justified preoccupation with these must not let the citizens of this Nation lose sight of their responsibility to transmit these historical ethical values from our distinguished past to the generations of the future…” (To be continued, in the next Researcher. “Part II: What is B’nai Noach?”)
This is unquestionably the criterion on which the subject should be based. However, since the majority of the average non-Jewish laymen and clergy have no idea as to who the sages Rambam, Rashi, and Joseph Cairo were; they disregard all Jewish sources as non-authoritative. They approach this subject with the attitude, “If it is not in the Holy Scriptures, we do not accept it”.
While they shun the citation of Jewish Sources, they fail to realize that not only the Jewish Scriptures, but moreover, even the original sources of the Christian’s New Testament are from Jewish sources. There is an even greater problem than the bigotry of the average layman against anything Jewish. The clergy and scholars, both in traditional Christianity and Islam, disdain the Rabbis and Jewish sources as nonsense and erroneous. In their prejudice, they ignore that their New Testament and Koran both rely on the Jewish Scriptures for their authority. Therefore, this specific study of the Noahide Covenant and Seven Laws of Noah will be based on the Hebrew Scriptures and even augmented with the Christians’ Gospels and Epistles, the Islamic Koran.
Since 1985, scores of books have been published on the subject of the Noahide Covenant and the seven laws related to that very first covenant that G-d made with mankind. Most of these publications are authored by Jewish scholars and documented from Talmudic Sources and beast of the earth” This Noahide covenant of seven commandments was made 1657 years after the creation of Adam. Whereas, the Sinai covenant with Israel and 613 Commandments was not made until the 2448th year after Adam, a mere 791 years later. For wellnigh eight centuries, all seventy families of human kind were only known as Noahides, or the children of Noah. Actually, six of these seven laws were given to Adam, only the seventh was given to Noah.
To correlate these dates to the Common Era, the flood was 4,108 years and Mount Sinai was 3,317 years before the CE year 2005. The 7 Laws of Noah are included in the 613 commandments given at Sinai. The 10 Commandments are not an elaboration on the seven Laws given to the Noahides. In fact, though they sound similar. The Noahide Laws are in some aspects distinctly different from the ten commandments. The Torah, or Pentateuch, called the five books of Moses, is the complete Word of Gd. Its truths unfold as the opening pedals of a rose until it compasses the entire Tanach of the Prophets and all the Holy Writings of the Jewish Scripture. “And the Word [Torah] became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Torah was personified in seven men. They were Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. This is the Genesis of the revelaand other non-rabbinical sources. The very first time the word “Covenant” appears in the Bible is in Genesis 10:8-10.
“[8] And God spoke unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying: “ [9] And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; [10] And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark,"
to every tion of the Torah of creation for all the human families in earth of all times and places of their existence. The book of Genesis alone contains and conceals every rudiment of revelation that was given to the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. It also contains, sort of tucked away and hidden, all that was given to Moses at Mount Sinai. Even more, Genesis contained everything in the Holy Prophets and the Holy writings. This is to say, that the first 50 chapters of Jewish Scripture contains the seed particles that sprout and grow into the entire Tanach. The Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants were B’nai-Noah and under the Noahide Covenant until the Hebrews of the Jacob Clan were separated from the other 70 Nations at Mount Sinai.
This separation Am- Yisrael [People of Israel] from Amai-HaOlahm [Peoples of the world] did not negate the Israelites from remaining Noahides and subject to the 7 Laws of that first covenant. The Mosaic Covenant did not replace the Noahide Covenant. The Sinai covenant was given in tandem to the Ararat Covenant. Sinai did not replace Ararat. Noahide Laws are unrestricted and universal. No Jewish person is exempt or bypassed from also observing the Noahide Laws. They are the foundation of the Sinai Code. Inversely, the 613 commandments are not all universal. For the most part they are emphatically restricted to Israel. These Judicial Sinai Decrees are in general directed only to the people of Israel. The exceptions are when a commandment is addressed to “a man” as in Deuteronomy 24:1 and Leviticus 1:2 “If any man of you”. These usually occur when the particular commandment is corresponding to a Noahide Law. These restrictions extend farther than just to the People of Israel. Inside that community, the 613 Laws fanout and dovetail in all directions. Some of these laws apply only to the men, while others apply solely to women. Certain apply only to the Kings while others are directed exclusively at the judges and system of jurisprudence. Some of the specific 613 Commandments are strictly to the High Priest while different laws are only to the thousands of common priests. Meanwhile, others of the 613 Laws are directed exclusively to the Levites. Nevertheless, while within the Levite family there are Levitical laws particularly different to the Sons of Marari, as they are to the Sons of Gershon or even more so to the Sons of Kohath. Even the Prophet Balaam recognized that the Israelites were set-apart from all other peoples: Numbers 23:9: “For from the tops of the rocks, I see him, and from the hills, I behold him: Lo, this people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations”.
The 613 Commandments, given solely to Jacob’s family, etched in Sapphire Stones, lie hidden away in the Ark of G-d! Hitherto, they yet remain with us today windings around the spindle of the Torah Scroll. They seemingly soundout loud and clear in the imperatives of the “THOU SHALTS” and the “THOU SHALT NOTS ”. In contrast the Seven Laws of Noah are not so distinctly and dynamically listed as is Israel’s Torah. The Noahide Laws are presented in an allusion drawn from the dynamics of the primal human stories etched in the flesh and blood drama of Adam and Eve and of the tragedy of their violations. “The Tale of the Snake” anecdote in Eden dramatizes and acts-out the first three Noahide Laws against Blasphemy, Idolatry and Theft. Yet, it does not plainly state: Thou shalt not Blaspheme, Thou shalt not idolize nor Thou shalt not steal! What was G-d’s Mood and Disposition When He Gave the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai?
All translations of the Ten Commandments fail to convey the tenor of the language they are written in. The Ten Commandments given to Israel appear to be sledgehammer commands of “Thou shalt!” and “Thou Shall Not!” The tenor of this top ten come across as strong harsh imperatives. Yet, in the Hebrew verb house, they do not occur in the imperative Pi’al house, but rather in the soft, gentle, buoyant and almost pillow- talk whispering tones of the P’al or Kal house of the verb. They are in sort of “pillow-talk” “Give me your ears, O’Israel [so I may whisper]. I Am The LORD, your G-D, Love Me, Certainly, you will h a v e n o o t h e r gods…Surely, you will remember to guard my Sabbath and hallow it… etc.” Back to “Tale of the Snake” narrative, the connotations of Adam’s, Eve’s and our own violation’s are etched, not in sapphire stones, but rather in souls and conscience. That still small voice whispers the austere consequences of our primal parents and our own transgressions. We were all embodied in Adam and Eve physically, spiritually and psychologically, and. Adam and Eve remain hitherto embodied in us. It is not the question that: “If we were there”, for we were in actuality… all there! “In each of us there is an Adam, in exile from the garden in need of redemption….
This “Tale of the Snake” incident in Genesis chapter three is the “Curse of the Law [Torah]”. Only this single, solitary section of the entire Torah specified as the “The Curse of the Torah”. The Snake, Eve, Adam and even the Ground and vegetation were cursed. Paul’s references in Galatians 3:13 to the “Curse of the Law” is referring exclusively to this precise section of the “Tale of the Snake” in the Torah. Theologians are totally ignorant of the Torah in general because they totally ignore the Torah. They are even more ignorant of the Torah in particular because they ignore Rabbinical Commentary. They have taken this specific and restricted Pauline statement of the “Curse of the Law” in Genesis chapter three and spread it like mayonnaise over the entire Five Books of Moses and in effect the entire Jewish Scripture. The First Noahide Law isAgainst Blasphemy. The Second Noahide Law is Against Idolatry. The Third Noahide Law is Against Theft The Fourth Noahide Law is Against Murder. The Fifth Noahide Law is Against Illicit Sex. The Sixth Noahide Law is Against Injustice in the Jurisprudence Court System. The Seventh Noahide Law is Against Eating the Limb of a Living Animal. We shall peruse each of these Seven Laws of the Noahide Covenant. Yet, this initial study will be dedicated only to the First Law Against Blasphemy. Later we will pursue the other six Noahide Laws. B’nai Noah is not something new. In reality, it is the oldest and original Covenant G-D made with mankind. It is not even a religion. It is a universal social and moral code obligatory on all mankind in deference of religion race, color, and creed or ethnic origin. President Ronald Reagan issued an official document on April 10, 1985 affirming that the Republic of the United States of America was founded upon the precepts of the Seven Laws of Noah.
November 20,1987. President Reagan issued a second similar statement. The One Hundred and Second Congress, On Thursday, January 1, 1991, the Joint Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Joint House of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives in Washington DC. The first five items of this declaration are as follows: “Whereas the Congress recognizes the historic tradition of ethical values and principles which are the basis of Civilized society and upon which our great Nation was founded Whereas these ethical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Laws of Noah; Whereas society is profoundly concerned with the recent weakening of these principals that has resulted in crises that beleaguer and threaten the fabric of civilized society; peril of returning to chaos; Whereas the justified preoccupation with these must not let the citizens of this Nation lose sight of their responsibility to transmit these historical ethical values from our distinguished past to the generations of the future…” (To be continued, in the next Researcher. “Part II: What is B’nai Noach?”)