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Blessed is HaShem, Mighty One
of Israel, Master of the Universe, the One Alone True, who opens the eyes of man to see wonderous things in His Torah.
The Almighty commanded 6 categorical laws to Adam. These were to be taught generation after generation. Mankind quickly abandoned G-d's instruction.
Ultimately the world was so corrupt in its rebellion that only the household of Noah merited to be saved from the Almighty's
solution to the situation, the Great Flood. Ever asked yourself just what was it that made the generation of Noah so corrupt?
What commandments were they rebelling against? Jonah was sent to Nineveh to warn the gentiles living there to repent before
the Almighty would bring judgment upon that great city. They repented in the end, but what sins were they repenting from?
When they repented, what commandments of the L-rd did they resume keeping which previously they had turned against? There
is found no where in the Bible any straight forward list of the obligations the Almighty commands the nations of the world
to keep. A moderately careful reader notices that the '10 Commandments' were only directed to the nation of Israel. In addition, there are other laws contained in the Torah [Law of Moses] which specify things which are prohibited to Israel
but permitted to other humans. If so, how do we know what is obligatory upon the non-Jewish nations? The people of Israel
inherited from their righteous ancestors certain oral teachings which preceded the covenant made with Israel at Mt. Sinai.
Some of these teachings are alluded to in the written text of the Torah [Law of Moses.] Among the oral teachings which Israel received from its righteous ancestors are the 7 Laws which are incumbent upon all mankind. All throughout history, while the majority of humankind would be turning away from
surrendering to their Creator, there remained a remnant of people, sometimes just individuals, who preserved the chain of
instruction passed down from generation to generation, going all the way back to the first man (Adam) who received them from
the Almighty. The instruction of the 7 categorical laws, often called the 7 laws of Noah because the 7th was given via Noah,
were kept by very few until Abraham's lifetime.
Abraham not only preserved the
7 laws, he also strove to spread the knowledge of and submission to the will of the One Creator to the masses. Genesis 12:5 refers to “..souls they made in Haran.." The souls they made can’t
refer to children. Abraham and Sarah hadn’t yet had children, as indicated
in the following chapters. Instead, the ancient Sages of Israel teach that the
souls they made refer to the people that Abraham and Sarah won over to the monotheistic community which they were building.
With Abraham the Almighty began to unfold His ultimate plan to remedy the problem of the world's continual rebellion and ignorance
of His Will. The Almighty made an ETERNAL covenant with Abraham's. (See
Genesis 17:7, 13, 19.) This household, whose faithful teachings were passed down through Isaac [Yeys'haq] and then Jacob [Ya'aqov], developed
into the people of Israel.
At the giving of the Torah at
Mt. Sinai, the people of Israel became set apart as a nation of kings and priests to the world. By making the nation of Israel,
and setting them apart with 613 commandments, the Almighty created a way by which knowledge of the Torah, whose core remained
the 7 original laws, the core of which remained surrender to the One Creator, would never be forgotten. This nation would
itself be a continual and eternal testimony to the Reality and Singularity of His Being and the faithfulness of His instruction for mankind. The L-RD of the
world set apart a small slice of land for this set apart people to dwell in. He choose this land to be at the cross roads
of 3 major continents. By placing this set-apart land in such a location, it became inevitable that traveling caravans from
throughout the known world would encounter this set-apart people. Among the commandments given to Israel is that if anyone
wants to even pass through the Land of Israel, although they need not become an Israelite, they must at least accept the 7
laws of Noah. Such a traveler who accepts the 7 laws is referred to in the written Torah [Law of Moses] as the 'stranger in
your gates.' This function of people of Israel, being a teacher to the nations, is one of the essential purposes of its existence
as a nation of priests. Teaching the 7 laws of Noah is critical to that purpose. Now one may ask, “But why aren’t the 7 laws of Noah listed in the Bible? Among the possible reasons why the 7 laws are not plainly listed in the Torah [Law
of Moses] may be:
1) Because the written Law of
Moses was not given directly to the nations. Rather, the nations were, and are,
to learn Torah under the guidance of the people of Israel. (Zechariah 8:23, 14:16-21; Micah 4:1-3)
These Bible passages are in the context of the "latter days" because only " at that time... the nations... shall no
longer walk according the stubbornness of their evil heart," ( Jeremiah 3:17); and only at that time "... He shall swallow up the covering which covers all the peoplehoods, even the veil which is
stretched over all the nations....," when " He shall remove the reproach of His People from all the earth;" ( Isaiah 25:6-7) and " All the ends of the earth shall remember and return unto the LORD;" ( Psalm 22:28). "... the nations shall come from the extremities of the earth, and shall say: 'Our fathers have inherited nothing
but lies, emptiness, and things that are of no profit,'" ( Jeremiah 16:19).
2) Because when Israel received
the written Torah [Law of Moses], they already
had knowledge of the 7 Laws of Noah. This is similar to the reason why the writers
of the ‘New Testament’ did not repeat basic stories of Jes’us life in each of their books. The authors probably assumed or knew that the readers were already aware of these things. All in all, it is quite clear from the written text that the Israelites had standards of right and wrong
even before the giving of the Torah. The same is true for the righteous individuals
before the formation of the children of Jacob/Israel.
3) To testify to whom the true
people of Israel are. There have been many groups, big and small, who claim to
be either replacements of Israel or the new Israel. Some even claim that they themselves are the historically true
Israel while those called Jews in the English language are either phony Israelites or cast aways. Yet the preservation of the oral teachings and explanations of the Torah [Law of Moses]
testify to the fact that the Jews are the true people of Israel. Only the Jews
possess the record of the Great Court [Sanhedrin]’s rulings, which the written Torah commands us to follow [Deuteronomy
17:8-12]. Along with this, only the Jews possess clear knowledge of the religious
obligations of the strangers of the gates mentioned in the Torah, who are not Jews.
All the phony replacement groups possess no such information. In fact,
these phony groups would not even be able to read the Bible in any translation without relying on someone who learned Hebrew
from the Jews.
...This section of the website
lists some of the allusions to the 7 laws of Noah contained in the Bible, building upon passages mainly from the Humash [5
Books of Moses]. Select from the list which of the 7 commandments you would like
to see allusions to from the Bible:
IDOLATRY BLASPHEMY MURDER SEXUAL IMMORALITY STEALING JUSTICE MEAT
If a person is to be put to death for shedding another human's blood specifically because man is made in
G-d's image, then how much more so is it prohibited and punishable to murder, so to speak, or desecrate G-d's "image" itself by committing
idolatry? After all, man's having been made in G-d's image is the only reason plainly written in this verse as to why murder
is so severe that it is punishable by death. When a person commits idolatry he misrepresents G-d's existence to the world,
as well as His will concerning how we are to worship Him. Idolatry destroys people's realization of G-d, which is made known
to them via His mighty works, by others teachings about Him, and by our submission to His commandments concerning how we are
to worship Him. It also reveals things about G-d to the world when we worship Him properly, according to His commandments.
If we were to worship Him by praying through pictures, statues, or any other kind of intermediary, this gives false conceptions
to those who see us doing so, besides being directly contrary to His command. If a person who spreads lies or false rumors
about a well known individual is guilty of destroying that individual's public 'image,' how much more so would the case be
with a person who spreads lies, misrepresentations, and misconceptions about the Creator, thus destroying His 'image' as perceived
by the world? Click IMAGE to see what " image of G-d" means. You will find that it concerns human perception. Jonah 3:5 “ The people of Nineveh believed in G-d;...
That the people of Nineveh’s repentance included believing in G-d may imply that part of their previous
wickedness was that they were believing in other “gods/powers.”
[click to view laws of..] DO NOT COMMIT BLASPHEMY
Leviticus 24:16 "And he that blasphemeth the name of the L-RD, he shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly
stone him; as well the stranger, as the home-born, when he blasphemeth the Name, shall be put to death."
Leviticus 24:16 also punishes the stranger for breaking this prohibition.
Other commandments where the stranger is mentioned, such as the Sabbath, prohibit the Jewish people from making
them work, just as we are prohibited to make animals work. This is done without specifying a punishment for the
stranger or the animals if they voluntarily choose to work.
This command is alluded to in the commandment of Genesis 2:16 by the inclusion of the Unique Name of the Almighty Y-H-W-H, which signifies the Creator's transcendence
over time/space, and his independent self-existence, as well as other deeper realities of the truth of His Being.
[click to view laws of..] MURDER
Genesis 9:5-6
"And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it; and at the hand
of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall
his blood be shed; for in the image of G-d made He man."
That this was commanded previously is shown by the fact that the world was already
punished for its wickedness by the Flood. Would the world be punished for things they were never commanded against
doing?
In Genesis 4:11-13 we see that Cain was cursed and punished for killing Abel. Was he punished and cursed for something
he was never prohibited from doing? This is the same question as the question about the Flood.
[click to view laws of..] SEXUAL IMMORALITY
Genesis 2:24 "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh."
Genesis 20:3 "..'Behold, thou shalt die, because of the woman whom thou hast taken; for
she is a man's wife."
Genesis 20:13 "My sister, daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, so she has become to me for a wife."
These verses indicate some of the prohibitions on sexual intercourse as
it applies to the non-Israelite nations in the following manner:
The following is the codification of the Sanhedrin's clarification of this prohibition
as put forth by RAMBAM in the Mishneh Torah, in Sefer Shoftim, Hilkhoth Melakhim u'Milhamotheihem 9:7-11 [5-8]
9:7 [5] There are six types of sexual acts forbidden to a ben Noah:
Intercourse with his own mother,
with his father's
wife (who is not one's mother, ei: step mom),
with another man's
wife,
with his sister from
his mother's side (maternal sister),
and with an animal
-- as it is written: "Therefore, a man should leave his father..." (Genesis
2:24)
This verse indicates that intercourse with his father's
wife is prohibited, even when
she is not his mother; (An individual who is "leaving his father" is also leaving any wife his
father may have, since his father and any wife his father may have are considered "one flesh.")
Intercourse with "...his mother" is prohibited,
as is explicit in the verse;
The phrase "and he will cleave with his wife" in
the above verse entails that intercourse with
his fellow's wife is not permitted. ("with HIS
wife," and not with someone else's.)
In the above verse, the phrase "and he will cleave with
his wife" excludes intercourse with a male; (A male is
not a wife; "wife" and "woman" are the same word in Hebrew.)
The phrase "and they become one flesh" excludes cattle, livestock, fowl, etc.. from among types of intercourse entailed
as permitted by the verse, because a one can not produce "one flesh" with such. [Becoming "one flesh" includes the ability to have children. Children are a physical combination of the man
and woman. - This excludes intercourse with non-females and non-humans.]
And it is stated, "My sister, daughter of my father, but
not the daughter of my mother, so she has become to me for a wife." (Genesis 20:13) [This shows that one's maternal half-sister is forbidden
by the Laws of Noah, but not one's paternal half-sister.]
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[click to view laws of..] STEALING
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Genesis 2:16-17 "And the L-RD G-d commanded the man, saying: 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die.'"
Genesis 9:3 "Every moving thing that liveth shall be for food for you; as the green herb have I given you all."
In the command of Genesis 2:16 itself, like we also find in Genesis 9:3-4, one sees see that permission has to be given to Adam to eat of the trees of the garden. Permission
to eat of the trees was not to be assumed by Adam. Rather, Adam had to be told that he can partake of the fruits, with
an exception to one tree, of course. This implies that if permission had not been granted to Adam to partake of the
trees, it would have been forbidden to them as the tree of knowledge was forbidden to him. Taking what was not
permitted to him was the first sin. This is stealing, being that all these things belong to the Creator, Exodus 9:29,
19:5; Deuteronomy 10:14; Job 41:11; Psalm 24:1, 50:10-12. Taking from what is His domain against permission is called robbing,
Malachi 3:8-10. In Genesis 2:6 Adam is only given permission to eat
of the trees. He is not here given permission to partake of the animals for food. Meat is not permitted to
mankind until Genesis 9:3-4.
When we take into account that so many generations after Adam, Noah still had
to be given clear permission to partake of meat for food, this shows that it was assumed that mankind was to continue to live
by the command given to Adam until further told by the Almighty.
Genesis 34:2-8 "And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her; and he took her, and lay with her, and
humiliated her.... Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter;... 'Get me this damsel to wife.' ....he had wrought
a vile deed in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; a thing which ought not to be done..."
Shechem "took" Dinah and "lay with her" (had relations) in a "humiliating"
way. He "defiled" her, and afterward wanted her for a wife, meaning that he was not married to her. As seems clear,
and as our Sages teach, Shechem kidnapped and raped her. This is a horrible form of stealing. |
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[click to view laws of..] KOSHER LAW FOR GENTILES
Genesis 9:2-4 "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air,
and upon all wherewith the ground teemeth, and upon all the fishes of the sea: into your hand are they delivered. Every moving
thing that liveth shall be for food for you; as the green herb have I given you all. Only flesh with its life-blood [or blood-movement], this you may not eat."
Meat from an animal that is alive with blood-movement [ Hebrew: nafsho damo ] - do not eat;
Meat from an animal whose blood is alive with movement [ Hebrew:
nafsho damo] - do not eat. The verse prohibits EATING
MEAT of this type. If it were speaking of drinking blood then meat is needlessly mentioned and it would have said not
to drink instead of 'do not eat.'
All plant life is permitted as indicated in the following verses:
Genesis 9:3 "Every moving thing that liveth shall be for food for you; just as the green herb, have I given you all."
Genesis 1:29-30 "And G-d said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every
tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed--to you it shall be for food;...every green herb for food."
Jonah 3:5-10 “The people of Nineveh believed in G-d [elohim: possibly judges as well];
and they proclaimed a fast,....the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne,...And he caused it to be
proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: 'Let neither man nor
beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing; let them not feed, nor drink water; but let them be covered with sackcloth, both
man and beast, and let them cry mightily unto G-d; yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence
that is in their hands. And G-d saw their works, that they turned from
their evil way;
That their repenting
included the animals implies that their sinning involved animals. This may be
an allusion to bestiality, eating meat from a living animal, or both.
[click to view laws of..] SET UP JUDGES AND COURTS
Genesis 14:18-20 "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was priest of G-d the Most High... and
he (Abraham) gave him a tenth of all."
Deuteronomy 1:16-17 "And I charged your judges at that time, saying: 'Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge
righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment;
ye shall hear the small and the great alike; ye shall not be afraid of the face of any man; for the judgment is G-d's;
and the cause that is too hard for you ye shall bring unto me, and I will hear it."
Deuteronomy 17:5 "If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between
stroke and stroke, even matters of controversy within thy gates; then shalt thou arise, and get thee up unto the place which
the L-RD thy G-d shall choose.... And thou shalt do according to the tenor of the sentence, which they shall declare unto
thee from that place which the LORD shall choose; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they shall teach thee....
According to the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do;
thou shalt not turn aside from the sentence which they shall declare unto thee, to the right hand, nor to the left."
Unknown to many who are not Jews, one of the most common terms used in reference
to the Almighty is also a term used in reference to judges. This word, Elohim or Aloh'heem, which refers to an exceedingly powerful authority (All-powerful), like the Almighty
[hence, the plural form of the word in
reference to the ONE Creator], is also used to refer to powerful
authorities - judges and courts.
Genesis 2:16 "And the L-RD
E'loheem commanded the man, saying: 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat;"
In Genesis 2:16, by using the word E''LOHEEM in reference to
the Creator, Adam must recognize that he should submit to the All-Powerful Authority, the Creator. Just as Genesis 2:16 alludes to the other commands given to Adam, by using the word eloheem, it implies
following the commands of the Almighty as expressed by authoritative courts. These courts themselves must, of course,
uphold His commands. This includes the courts enforcement of His commands. This idea is further clarified in Deuteronomy
1:16-17 and in Deuteronomy 17:8-12. Without courts and judges to enforce the laws and to clarify matters unclear to the public, the world would turn into
chaos. We must submit to the ruling authorities as an act of submission to the Ultimate Ruling Authority, since
they are His representatives on earth. We must submit to them only so much as they submit to the Almighty. If
courts and judges make rulings or take actions contrary to essential commands of the Almighty, they are guilty of leading
the masses astray. In such a case they should not be listened to.
Shekhem:
There is also an allusion to a judgment agreed upon by the sons of Jacob concerning
Shekhem in Genesis 34. While they were correct in executing judgment, Jacob was
not happy at the way in which they executed it, having carried out their judgment with seemingly excessive revenge.
Nineveh
Jonah 3:5-10 “The people of Nineveh believed in G-d [elohim: possibly judges as well ]; and
they proclaimed a fast,....the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne,...And he caused it to be proclaimed
and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: 'Let neither man nor beast, herd
nor flock, taste any thing; let them not feed, nor drink water; but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast,
and let them cry mightily unto G-d; yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in
their hands. And G-d saw their works, that they turned from their evil
way;
That
the people of Nineveh’s repentance included the issuing of a proclamation and decree by Nineveh’s King and nobles alluds
to a precedent in Noahide law to establish courts contained in the 7 Laws of Noah.
It is clear that the acts of repentance that Nineveh’s citizens did nullified their punishment.
OTHER
DETAILS IN NOAHIDE LAW CONCERNING AJUDICATION:
Cain killed Abel - the Bible teaches in Genesis that the punishmen tis the death penalty - "a man who sheds blood, by
man shall his blood be shed."
Witnesses & Judges
Cain's fear that people would want to take his life due to his having murdered his brother idincates that the expected
result for murdering someone was already that the life of the murderer should be taken; so why does HaShem seem to prevent
the carrying out of His own laws by providing protection for Cain via the special sign/mark He gave him? To teach us
that HaShem alone was witness, and the carrying out of the death sentence against a murderer via court ajudication requires
a human witness, and not merely judgment by the Hand of Heaven. Why then does under Moses the Torah says that by the
testimony of two or three a matter is settled / established, if the requirement for a human witness already existed since
the first generation of man? To teach us that under the eternal "Mosaic" Covenant with Israel there is something different.
Where as before among the children of Israel only one witness was required, when they were only under the Noahide Law,
after having entered the Covenant at Mt. Sinai two witnesses are required. Whereas for Israel 3 are the minimum
fo rwitnesses of judgment in a court, previously - when Israel was subject to the Original "Noahide Law," only one judge was
required (allowed?) to witness judgment. What more? This is to show us a certain similarity between the testimony
in Israelite Mosaic Law and the "Noahide Law" for the nations: Just as in Israelite law in regard to the violation of
any prohibition, only a "kosher" male can serve as witness, so also in "Noahide law" only a male who is "kosher (not worthy
of death) according to "Noahide law" is to serve as a witness or judge in a Noahide court. Further, this parallel teaches
the nations' obligations to establish judicial systems that are in accordance with "Noahide Law," which requires that such
courts be upright in midoth (character traits) for the proper and honest application of Noahide Law, just as is required for
judges in Mosaic law.
Revenger of Blood
Why would Cain expect that others may seek his life apparently without worry that they may be punished for taking his
own life, though there were no witnesses to his murder, in which case he would have been obligated him to suffer
the death sentence according to Noahide law, so that a exceptional mark was given upon him as a sign and a special warning?
To teach us that just as in Israelite "Mosaic" Law the revenger of blood is not punished if he revenges the blood of the one
the murderer killed, likewise in Noahide law.
Ho'ra'ah Sha'ah (Temporary Suspension of a Command)
What does the exceptional assitance granted to Cain teach us? That just as with Israelite "Mosaic" Law - the law
can in expectional cases / situations be temporarily suspended, as in the case of Eliyahu (Elijah)'s building of an alter
and offering sacrifice upon it in a place other than the Temple - an act which carries a severe punishment according to Israelite
"Mosaic" Law, so also with the special expcetional despensation granted to Cain as protection against a revener of blood.
In all such cases the dispensation is limited and exceptional, not replacing the preceeding law. For just as we do not
see Eliyahu (Elijah) or later righteous prophets establishing as a continual practice the building of alters and offering
sacrifices outside the Temple, so also with the case of Cain, we do not see the favor bestowed upon him which protected him
against the judgment of a revenger of blood bestowed upon all.
Blessed is He who grants prophecy and preserves His Original Instruction.
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