Question:
What are the Seven Laws of Noah (the Seven Noachide Laws), and should the "Gentiles" keep them?
Answer:
There is no such thing. This is an invention of the Pharisees, taught as fact throughout the centuries. Today, the Rabbis recognize it as a valid religion for the Gentiles, but there is no Scriptural evidence for this. The closest that they can get to "proving" their doctrine is by leading one to study the "covenant of the rainbow" given to Noah, and then calling that covenant a covenant to the Gentile nations that if they subject themselves to the following laws, then this is all that is required of them. This second-class status invented by the Rabbis for Gentiles relegates them only to do the following mitzvot:
- # To refrain from blaspheming God's name.
- # To refrain from practicing idolatry.
- # To avoid immoral practices, specifically incest and adultery.
- # To avoid shedding the blood of one's fellow man.
- # To refrain from robbing one's fellow man.
- # To refrain from eating a limb torn from a live animal.
- # To behave justly in all relationships, and to establish courts of justice.
Thus, the Rabbis say:
"Seven commandments were the sons of Noah commanded: (1) concerning adjudication, (2) and concerning idolatry, (3) and concerning blasphemy, (4) and concerning sexual immorality, (5) and concerning bloodshed, (6) and concerning robbery, (7) and concerning a limb torn from a living animal" -- (Talmud Sanh.56a).
"This obligation, to teach all the peoples of the earth about the Laws of Noah, is incumbent upon every individual in every era" -- (Mishnah Torah, Law of Kings 8:10).
But, is this taught in the whole context of Hebrew Scripture? No! Rather, we should examine carefully the words of Isaiah:
THUS says Yehovah, "Preserve justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come And My righteousness to be revealed. How blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who takes hold of it; who keeps from profaning the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil." Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to Yehovah say, "Yehovah will surely separate me from His people." Neither let the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." For thus says Yehovah, "To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, to them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yehovah, to minister to Him, and to love the name of Yehovah, to be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant; even those I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." Adonay Yehovah, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, "Yet (others) I will gather to them, to those (already) gathered." Isaiah 56:1-8.