The Sheva Mitzvot B'nai Noach: An Introduction

The Noachide laws, seven in number, lay out what G-d requires of all non-Jewish people. Six of the seven laws were given to Adam and all his decedents, and one additional law commanded to Noach and all his decendents, that is to all human beings. The amount of material available is large, and yet there are still unanswered questions about both the laws and their history. Any report on the topic will only be able to scratch the surface of the meaning and history of the laws, as even books on the subject do not deal with it completely. Nonetheless, the exploration of the Noachide laws and their history is valuable.

Several important people in the Tanakh were Noachides, righteous people outside or before the covenant at Sinai. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all Noacides with the addition of the covenant of circumcision. As Genesis 18:19 says, "For I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of the L-RD by doing what is just and right, in order that the L-RD may bring about for Abraham what He has promised him."¹ Since this was before the covenant of Sinai, it seems that there was known to Abraham the "way of the L-RD" and what G-d considered just and righteous, a way that needed to be taught to children. Though the rabbis of the Talmud deduce the laws of Noach from only a few verses of the Torah, using other verses as support, I have found what I think are other indications of these laws in the Torah. Though the laws are not, in many cases, derived from the verses I have found, the verses give support to the 7 laws. Seven are the number of colors in the rainbow which G-d turned into a symbol of His covenant with Noach and his decedents, so it seems to me to be especially appropriate that the laws are seven in number.

The first of the seven laws of the children of Noach is not to deny G-d, by idolatry, for example. The rabbis of the Talmud derive this from the fact that it was G-d who commanded Adam (Sanhedrin 56b) and connects this law to Genesis 18:19 also. I also see hints of this law in a number of incidents in Genesis, including the fact that G-d created the world. The negative consequences of denying G-d are seen in the Tower of Babel incident (Gen 11-they wanted to make a name for themselves, as if they were as powerful as G-d).

What constitutes idolatry for a Noachide is somewhat complex. Rambam, in Hilchot Melachim, says that "a gentile who worships false gods is liable, [for the death penalty] provided he worships them in the accepted manner. A gentile is executed for every type of foreign worship which a Jewish court would consider worthy of capital punishment."² Even if a gentile is not executed for the forms of foreign worship a Jew would not be executed, he or she is still forbidden from doing them. Additionally, they should be disallowed to "erect a monument, or plant an asherah, or to make images and the like, [even though they are only] for the sake of beauty."³ However, if a Noachide is commanded to bow down to an idol or die, he or she is not required to die.⁴

From my reading on the subject, it seems unclear whether some or all forms of Christianity are idolatry. Maimonides seems to think so in Hilchot Avodat Kochavim (chapter 9), and in his Epistles to Yemin, but he also says Christianity has a role to play in G-d's plan by "preparing the way for the Messiah's coming and the improvement of the entire world..."⁵

The second Noachide law is not to blaspheme or curse G-d or His Name. Maimonides states that this includes not only using G-d's unique Name, but any name used to refer to Him, in any language.⁶ Rabbi Yirmeyahu Bindman deduces this law from Vayikra (Lev) 24:16 which states "And he who utters the name of the L-RD blashphemously ... both the stranger and the resident alien..."⁷ He does not state why, but it seem that he is differentiating between the resident alien, that is, the stranger who lives among us or a convert, and the stranger (possibly taking this to mean the stranger at the gate, ie, a Noachide). The Art Scroll Siddur disagrees with his translation, rendering this to refer to proselytes and native Jews alone and JPS translates this as "stranger or citizen".

Job, whom the Rabbis deem to have been a non-Jew, was scolded by his wife (Iyov 2:9-10, JPS translation) "...'You still keep your integrity! Blaspheme G-d and die!' But he said to her, 'You talk as any shameless woman might talk! Should we accept only good from G-d and not accept evil?' For all that, Job said nothing sinful."⁸ Job, the righteous non-Jew, a Noachide, could only blaspheme G-d on penalty of death. This is so with all Noachides, indeed with all of the Noachide laws.

Another of the seven laws is not to murder. Cain and Abel (Gen 4:8-16) is an obvious example of murder, and G-d clearly does not approve of it, but there is a specific prohibition as well. Gen 9:5-6 "But for your own life-blood [human life] I will require a reckoning: I will require it of every beast; of man too, I will require a reckoning for human life, of every man for that of his fellow man! Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in His image did G-d make man." The fact that man will shed the blood of the murderer, also leads to the necessity of courts (law 7), though the Rabbis derive courts of law from another verse.

Also included under this law are such things as not fighting wars of aggression (self-defense is permitted), not to abort a fetus unless the mother's life or reproductive ability is in danger, not to commit euthanasia or assist another to commit suicide, nor to commit suicide oneself. A child of Noach may not break prohibition to murder another even to save their own life. For example, to murders another because you yourself are being threatened by another at gunpoint, is prohibited--a person may defend themselves, but may not murder a person who is not out to murder them. The other 6 laws may be violate in order to save one's own life, but in no case may one murder.⁹

Noachides are forbidden to engage in forbidden sexual relationship such as incest, adultery, bestiality, and the like. There are many verses which illustrate this law, in many of its facets, in addition to the one from which it is derived. The law is principally derived from Genesis 2:24 where it says "Hence a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh". Clearly a man is not to be one flesh with anyone except his wife.

Ham's son Canaan had incestuous, homosexual relations with his grandfather, Noah. (Gen 10:20-28) according to some commentators. In the Tanach, to uncover someone's nakedness is often used to mean to have sex with that person. So, Canaan must have had sex with Noah while Noah was drunk. Since Canaan got punished, not Ham, Canaan seems to have done the deed. A son is not punished for the sin of his father, but a son's actions reflect upon his father. Later the Torah, it will say that if you uncover the nakedness of your mother, for example, it is as if you were uncovering the nakedness of your father. Thus, Ham is connected in the verse, by the deed was done by Canaan. Additionally, there is the incident with Lot and his daughters, which was incestuous, though not homosexual. Adultery is shown to be prohibited to non-Jews also by G-d's reaction when Pharaoh takes Sarai into his house(Gen 12:10-20, see also Gen 20:1-7).

Rambam's Hilchot Melachim discusses the various forms of sexual immorality for which a Noachide is liable. In the category of adultery, he states that relations with a fellow Gentile's wife is not an executable crime if the marriage has not been consummated. However, if a Gentile sleeps with a betrothed Jewish woman, he is liable to be stoned to death. If she was married but the marriage not yet consummated, he is strangled to death. And finally, if she was married and the marriage was consummated, he is beheaded.¹⁰

The fifth Noachide Law is that against theft. The first theft was that of the eating of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Another Genesis incident was where Joseph's brothers found their money back in their sacks. They were dismayed, clearly they were afraid they will be accused of stealing (Gen 43:35). Again, in Gen 44:1-10, they were accused of stealing in verse 8, that stealing is evil (verse 4), wicked (verse 5), and that they brothers expected that if one had stolen, that they should die (verse 9) and the rest become slaves. The Egyptian says that only the one who had the goblet will become a slave. Clearly stealing is against the seven laws.

Besides the obvious acts of theft, this also means that a B'nai Noach cannot: do such things as cheat a worker or employer out of money, overcharge, shift a landmark to add someone's property to your own, refuse to pay money owed, kidnap a person (this, by the way, includes a prohibition to kidnap a fellow to enslave them), use false weights or measures, looting in wartime (or in peacetime, as that too is theft), or commit rape. According to The Path of the Righteous Gentile, the Noachide commandment against theft is "virtually identical to Torah Law... this means that G-d's will concerning theft is virtually identical whether the person involved is an Israelite or a Noachite. The only difference involves the return of a stolen object worth less than a pruta."¹¹ There is much debate in the Talmud tractate Sanhedrin over whether a Noachide is liable for execution for stealing less than a pruta. Some rabbis are of the opinion that they are liable, others that they are not. Page 57a of Sanhedrin, according to the interpretation of Chaim Clorfene and Yakov Rogalsky, declares that an object worth even less than a pruta must be returned to a Noachide. However, the admit that there is some debate as to whether a Noachide who stole such an object must return it to a fellow Noachide.¹² Rambam states that even for that small amount a Noachide is executed.¹³ Rabbi Bindman agrees with Rambam in this, stating that "non-Jews are liable for theft no mater what the articles the steal..."¹⁴

Noachide Law number six forbids a Noachide from eating a limb off of a live animal. This law is based on Berishit (Genesis) 9:3-4, which states: "Every creature that lives shall be yours to eat; as with the green grasses, I give you all these. You must not, however, eat flesh with its life-blood in it." Flesh with its life blood in it is considered to be eating from a living animal. Rabbi Moshe Adler is of the opinion that the Gemara concluded that it is acceptable for a Noachide to consume blood, but not to consume "flesh with its life, which is its blood, you shall not eat." In other words, not to consume a living animal or the limbs or meat from a living animal.

I searched for the Gemara R. Adler mentioned and found that folio page 57a (57a¹ in ArtScroll translation) of Talmud Bavli's tractate Sanhedrin states (ArtScroll translation): "The Gemara states this Tanna's source for including eating a limb from a live animal as a Noachide law: A limb from a live animal, for it is written in that section: But flesh with its soul, [which is] its blood, you shall not eat. (Gen 9:4) This implies that it is prohibited to eat a limb taken from an animal when the flesh was attached to it soul in the blood [i.e. when the animal was alive]. " The tractate brings this issue up again on page 59a (a² in ArtScroll translation) of tractate, where the footnote states: "This verse [Gen 9:4] implies that it is prohibited to eat a limb taken from an animal when it soul still exists [ie when the animal is alive]....Rambam [Maimonides] writes (Hil. Melachim 9:11) that this prohibition applies also to eating meat that is not part of a limb, which is taken from a live animal." It is unclear to me from the Gemara if it is also prohibited to eat blood coming from a live animal as the Masai do in Africa, though such is clearly prohibited to an Israelite as is all blood. Since it was not clear, I turned to Hilchot Melachim 9:10 where Rambam (Maimonides) discusses the issue. He states that a non-Jew "is permitted blood from a living creature". The footnote further clarifies Sanhedrin 95a explains "that this verse [Gen 9:4] does not prohibit a gentile from drinking blood taken from a living animal. By contrast, a Jew is prohibited from drinking all blood...."

That being said, there are other opinions which hold that blood itself is also prohibited by the verse in Berishit. One such person is Rabbi Jacob Migrom, who states that "Genesis 9:1-4...bans the entire human race from ingesting animal blood".¹⁵ For support of this view, in addition to the passage in Berishit, he quotes the Apocrypha book of Jubilees and the Christian New Testament book of Acts, both of which explicitly state that blood is prohibited. While I do not know the context of the Jubilee's quote Milgrom cites, the context of the passage in Acts 15:20 is clear. It is in relation to the requirements of a Non-Jew who wants to join the movement of which James is a part and the verse states some of the other Noachide Laws. So, it would seem that James at least was of the opinion that the Noachide Laws prohibited blood consumption. Seeing that there is disagreement on the consumption of blood, but none on the prohibition on eating a limb from a live animal, it makes sense to me that a Bnai Noach should abstain from blood, while being aware that not all are of the opinion that this is mandatory.

The prohibition against eating a limb from a live animal may sound strange to most of us, who would not even consider doing such a thing. However, it was a fairly common practice in the ancient world, and today is still done with frog's legs, the claw of rock crabs, and even reproductive organs of male cattle that was cut off and is then eaten by some, the bull still being alive. In some slaughter houses in some places, an animal may be cut up before it is fully dead and have ceased moving.

The seventh and final Noachide Law requires that Noachide societies set up courts to ensure obedience to the other six laws--this usually being based upon the incident with Shechem where the city provided no justice after the rape of Dinah. Additionally, some of are the opinion that this law allows Noachide communities to make other laws their society needs, provided they do not conflict with the first 6 laws above. Rabbi Katz (of a Noachide e-mail list) states that while they may be allowed to make such laws, it is questionable "whether a penalty can be assessed against those who fail to obey these laws." R. Bindman says "In criminal cases the basic code of law for non-Jewish states consists of the Seven Laws themselves, but in civil matters non-Jew are not required to follow the law of the Torah as laid down in the book of Exodus, chapters 21-23. They make their own laws as they see fit, in accordance with equitable principles, and appoint their own judges to settle cases according to the particular need of each nation. The only requirement in civil matters is that they allow Jews to live according to the full extent of Torah law without being judge in any other way."¹⁶ Rabbi Katz states the Rabbi Bindman is agreeing with one opinion on the matter, and Rabbi Katz himself is not willing to side with one opinion in this matter over the other. He would prefer to see that a rabbi with the stature and authority of Rambam, R. Caro, R.. Feinstein, or R. Auerbach resolve this dispute of the Rishonim one way or the other. Until then, he is of the opinion that Noachides cannot legislate even in civil matters. It is possible, however, for Noachides to compromise on civil matters, going through mediation or arbitration, according to Clorfene and Rogalsky.¹⁷

From the beginning, Noachides have taken on themselves the additional obligation of honoring their parents, and many have even been role models of this to Jews. The Rabbis even used Noachide examples to teach Jews lessons about honoring our parents. The story of Doma ben Nessina in the Talmud is only one such lesson.¹⁸

Some people have asked, how can a mere seven laws be satisfying when Jews have 613 laws? Of course, the seven laws are more than seven laws, they are more like seven categories of laws. Being a Noachide instead of a Jew is somewhat comparable to being a Levi or Kohen instead of being a member of the tribe of Judah. We all have our priests. Of course, there is a difference, as you cannot become a Levi or Kohen, only be born one. A Noachide can choose to become a Jew, that is a priest to the nations or can choose to remain a lay person, a Noachide. Just as not all Catholics become priests, so too not all Noacides should become Jews. Many Jews are not Leviim or Kohenim, and see no problem with that. A non-Kohen does not have to worry about passing by a funeral home with a large tree in front of it and violating a rule that is only for Kohenim, nor does a non- Kohen male Jew have to worry about marrying a divorcee by mistake. The Kohenim and Leviim have extra duties, extra obligations. They also have some extra privileges even today, being called first to read the Torah and so on. Just like Kohenim and Leviim, Jews in general have extra obligations to perform, the obligations needed of them as priests to all humanity. One can become a priest, a Jew, whereas one cannot become a Kohen or Levi. However, it is not necessary for a Gentile to take those extra obligations upon themselves, unless they feel drawn to them and have a desire to do them all. Of course, a Noachide can voluntarily take on selected Jewish mitzvot without becoming Jewish, but one can be a perfectly righteous Noachide without doing so.

The history of the Noachide movement is difficult to trace outside of the Ger Teshuv of the Tanach. The movement, which seemed to be thriving before the destruction of the Second Temple, was nearly non-existent after the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Rabbi Bindman mentions that a memorial tablet was found in a synagogue in Turkey that "has two separate groups of names: one is of Jews, but the other is of Greeks ... and it [the list of Greeks] is headed with the words, 'and also these Fearers of the One...' A similar inscription has also been found in the synagogue of Sardis, this time with three groups of names: born Jews, full converts to Judaism, and observers of the Seven Laws. The 'Fearers' are mentioned many times by the Roman commentators and historians."¹⁹ Deuteronomy Rabbah (II:24) attests to the existence of G-d Fearers in general, and a particular G-d Fearer in the Roman Senate. Domitiam, son of Vespasian complained that the city of Rome was full of Jews.²⁰ It seems to me to be possible that many of those he believed to be Jew were in fact G-d Fearers. According to Gedaliah Alon, Josephus also attests to the presence of G-d Fearers, who were said to have absorbed the Jewish love of work.²¹

The Seven Laws of Noah demonstrate that G-d has demands for all mankind, and that G-d loves all mankind. He does not leave non-Jews without guidance. He has given the seven categories of laws and, when the need was apparent, a nation of teachers and priests to aid the rest of mankind in learning and following the laws. G-d does not demand that everyone be Jewish, but He does demand that everyone be righteous, follow the path He has set out for them. The Noachide laws are the path of the righteous Gentile.

1 All quoted from the Tanakh are from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985) unless otherwise specified.

Gedaliah Alon, The Jews in their Land in the Talmudic Age (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984).

Rabbi Yirmeyahu Bindman, The Seven Colors of the Rainbow (San Jose: Resource Publications, Inc., 1995).

Chaim Clorfene and Yakov Rogalsky, The Path of the Righteous Gentile (Jerusalem: Targum Press, 1987).

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, "Hilchot Melachim U'Milchamoteihem," Mishneh Torah, Rabbi Eliyahu Touger, translation and commentary (New York: Moznaim Publishing Corperation, 1987).

Jacob Migrom, "The Blood Taboo," Bible Review August 1997: 21.

Talmud: Sanhedrin, "Abba Misos", (Brooklyn, Mesorah Publications, Ltd, 1994).

Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985).

[ Return to my All Things Jewish page ] [ My Papers and Posts ]

This page was made by Gretchen S., © copyright 1998-2007

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws