Noahide Life: The Seven Noahide Laws

The Seven Noahide Laws

The Seven Noahide Laws are: ¹

1.    Do not worship false gods.
2.    Do not curse G-d’s Name.
3.    Do not murder.
4.    Do not engage in specific forbidden sexual relations.
5.    Do not commit theft.
6.    Establish laws and courts of justice.
7.    Do not eat flesh that was removed from a living animal.

The first six of these law were given to the first man, Adam, the day he was created. The seventh law was added when it was given to Noach. Finally, as part of the Torah given to Moshe on Har Sinia, G-d repeated and gave the Seven Noahide Laws to Moshe along with their explanation and details.²

Observance Based on Mount Sinai

In order to receive a portion in the World to Come for observance of the Noahide Commandments, observance must be done because the G-d commanded them to Moshe on Har Sinia.  This is opposed to one who observes out of his own intellect and knowledge.

“Any Gentile who accepts the seven commandments and is careful to observe them is of the ‘pious of the nations of the world’ and will have a portion in the World to Come.  This is so provided that one accepts them and observes them because the Holy One, blessed is He, commanded them in the Torah and informed us through Moses our teacher that the descendants of Noah were originally commanded about them.”³

As explained by Rabbi Avraham Chaim Bloomenstiel:

The Talmud in Sanhedrin 105a proves that the Umos Ha-Olam, the gentile nations, have a share in the World to Come if they are Chasidim, pious. Therefore, a non-Jew who keeps the Seven Mitzvos [Commandments] is called MiChasidei Umos HaOlam, of the Pious Non-Jews, and he receives reward in the World to Come. However, he only merits this reward if he accepts and observes his mitzvos from the viewpoint that they were transmitted and reaffirmed to the world via Moses at Sinai.⁴

Positive and Negative Commandments

Six of the Noahide commandants are listed as “negative” commandments, i.e. abstain from certain acts, while one seems to be listed as a “positive”, i.e.  perform an act.  The truth is, all seven of the commandments contain positive and negative mitzvot.

The Talmud tells us that the Seven Noahide laws are listed as prohibitions, negative commandments. The Talmud itself questions this idea, though, asking: If all of the Noahide laws are prohibitions, then why is dinim included? Is not dinim, the requirement to carry out justice, a positive commandment? The Talmud answers that the Noahide laws are merely listed according to their negative, prohibitive qualities. In truth, though, the Noahide laws are not 100% prohibitive in nature. Similarly, dinim, the requirement to establish courts, is not a purely positive commandment. It includes both positive and negative aspects.

In one sense it requires the establishment of courts and enforcement of the laws (the positive aspects). It also prohibits perversions of justice and the allowance of crime to run rampant (the negative, prohibitive aspects)…  Based upon this understanding of dinim, we see that dinim includes laws pertaining to the establishment and operation of a legal system (thou shalts) and prohibitions to prevent perversions and laxity (thou shalt nots). As a general rule, the Seven Noahide laws, despite being termed as prohibitions, contain positive as well as negative mitzvos.⁵

“Sub-Catagories” of the Seven Laws

Part of what the negative and postive “dual-nature” of the Seven Noahide Laws shows us is that the Seven Noahide Laws are more than they appear.  In fact, the Seven can be broken down categorically into many “sub-laws”.  I’ve seen the Seven broken down into 30 to 100 different subcategories.  In The Noahide Laws, Rabbi Avraham Chaim Bloomenstiel cites to the “earliest surviving statement of the Noahide laws with their expanded derivations… from the Torah commentary of Rabbi Shmuel ben Chofni Gaon” and lists 30 catagories as follows: ⁶

I. Idolatry
     1) Belief in the unity of God
     2) Prohibition of idolatry
     3) To offer ritual sacrifices
     4) To honor one’s father and mother
     5) Prohibition of worshiping the Molekh
     6) Prohibition of witchcraft
     7) Prohibition of soothsaying and soothsayers
     8) Prohibition of conjuring and conjurers
     9) Prohibition of sorcery and sorcerers
     10) Prohibition of sciomancy
     11) Prohibition of demonomancy
     12) Prohibition of theurgy
     13) Prohibition of necromancy

II. Blasphemy
     14) Prohibition of blasphemy
     15) To Pray
     16) Prohibition of false oaths

III. Murder
      17) Prohibition of suicide
      18) Prohibition of murder

IV. Sexual Immorality
      19) Prohibition of adultery
      20) To engage in formal marriages
      21) Prohibition of incest with a sister
      22) Prohibition of homosexuality
      23) Prohibition of bestiality
      24) Prohibition of castration

V. Not to Eat a Limb Torn From a Living Creature
      25) Prohibition of eating the limb of an animal that died naturally
      26) Prohibition of eating the limb of a living animal
      27) Prohibition of eating or drinking blood
      28) Prohibition of crossbreeding animals

VI. Justice
      29) To establish courts of justice

VII. Theft
      30) Prohibition of theft and robbery

1. Rabbi Moshe Weiner. The Divine Code: The Guide to Observing the Noahide Code, Revealed from Mount Sinai in the Torah of Moses, Fourth ed., Ask Noah International, 2020, p. 24.
2. The Divine Code, 4th ed., pp. 24-25.
3. The Divine Code, 4th ed., pp. 31. (quoting Laws of Kings 8:11).
4. Rabbi Avraham Chaim Bloomenstiel. The Noahide Laws. Yeshiva Pirchei Shoshanim, 2014, p. 24.
5. The Noahide Laws, p. 59. (citing Sanhedrin 58b-59a).
6. The Noahide Laws, pp. 49-50.