Where Are The Noahide Laws in the Bible?
In a talk recently released on video, Rabbi Tovia Singer, who advocates for Torah, the Jewish people and the State of Israel from his home in Jakarta, Indonesia, was asked by an audience member where the Noahide Laws appear in the Bible.
This question is significant because anyone familiar with the Hebrew Bible is aware that there is no such listing anywhere in the Bible.
However, in the Babylonian Talmud, which is the most important compendium of rabbinic law, it is written that “the descendants of Noah were commanded with seven precepts: to establish laws, (and the prohibitions of) blasphemy, idolatry, adultery, bloodshed, theft and eating the blood of a living animal.”
These seven precepts are commonly known as the Seven Noahide Laws or the Sheva Mitzvot Bnei Noach in Hebrew. Since the list does not explicitly appear in the Bible, but only in the Talmud, it is reasonable to wonder whether the ancient Rabbis made the list up.
On the contrary, Rabbi Singer explained that the Rabbis simply codified what the Bible itself teaches. He proceeded to give several examples of Biblical stories in which the Noahide Laws are implied.
As an example, to illustrate the prohibition of murder, he used the story of Cain, who killed his brother Abel. The Noahide prohibition against murder has a Scriptural origin in the fact that Genesis 4:10-16 details how Cain was punished for murdering his brother.
Since Cain was punished, it follows logically that there must have been a commandment prohibiting bloodshed. As Rabbi Singer asserts, “if they were not commanded not to murder, then he did not do anything wrong.”
A second example is the city of Sodom, which the Bible calls sinful.
Since the Torah was not yet given on Mount Sinai when Abraham argued with God to prevent Him from destroying Sodom, by what measure was Sodom judged to be sinful? If there were no Noahide Laws, against what were the people of Sodom being judged?
Again, the logical assumption is that the entire world had to have already been given some commandments to follow. And it is these commandments that the Rabbis grouped together and named the Noahide Laws.
A third example is the prohibition against eating the blood of a living animal. As Rabbi Singer explains, “when God gives Noah permission to eat from animals, He says, ‘but you may not eat from the animal that has the life force blood still inside.’”
You must not, however, eat flesh with its life-blood in it. Genesis 9:4
Rabbi Singer concluded that “all the Noahide Laws are all over Tanach (the Bible) for non-Jews. All the Noahide Laws were given already all the way back to the beginning of mankind.”
Will the Noahide Laws Still Apply After The Messiah Comes?
End Times expert and prolific author Rabbi Pinchas Winston told Breaking Israel News how the Noahide Laws will function after the arrival of Moshiach (Messiah). “Once Moshiach comes and all the dust settles, after bringing the world up to spiritual speed, the world will become more like what it was always meant to be since leaving the Garden of Eden.”
“All remaining Jews will lovingly return to Torah and the Land of Israel, and all remaining gentiles will accept upon themselves the Seven Noahide Laws. There will be one God for all nations, the God of Torah. Jerusalem, and the Temple at its heart, will be the undisputed center of the spiritual world, to which Jew and gentile alike will visit to experience the reality of their Creator.”
Similarly, Rabbi David Katz, author of Laws of Ger Toshav: Pious of the Nations spoke to Breaking Israel News about the role of the Noahide Laws in the End of Days. “The Lubavitcher Rebbe in his work From Exile to Redemption quotes the Rambam who quotes Isaiah.
In all of My sacred mount Nothing evil or vile shall be done; For the land shall be filled with devotion to Hashem As water covers the sea. Isaiah 11:9
“The conclusion he draws from this is that all of mankind will know God, not only Israel. The Rebbe explained that the nations too will know God and they will keep the Seven Laws of Noah. Since, according to the Rebbe, in the end of days all people from the Nations will be called ger toshav (righteous gentile, literally: an alien resident), the implication is that in the Messianic Age, the world will consist exclusively of righteous gentiles keeping the Noahide Laws alongside Israel,” Rabbi Katz explained.
Rabbi Singer amplified the connection between the Noahide Laws and the End of Days. In an interview with Breaking Israel News, he said, “the [Seven Laws of Noah are] umbilically connected to the Messianic Age. During this final epoch, all the nations will reach their highest spiritual pinnacle, and live according to their full potential in the worship Hashem (God) in Truth. The same for Jews.”
“At that time, the gentiles will look to the Jews to understand how to worship Hashem.”
Thus said God of Hosts: In those days, ten men from nations of every tongue will take hold—they will take hold of every Yehudi by a corner of his cloak and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that Hashem is with you.” Zechariah 8:23
“The Jews will finally attain their full mandate as a light to the nations.”
I Hashem, in My grace, have summoned you, And I have grasped you by the hand. I created you, and appointed you A covenant people, a light of nations Isaiah 42:6
“Messianic prophecy is not just a description of events that will occur in the future,” he continued. “Rather, they are a full, moving portrait of how the world is to look; the nations [will be] learning about Hashem from the Jews.
“Finally, non-Jews will keep many mitzvot (Biblical commandments) that they cannot perform now. Notably, the kings of nations will bring offerings in the Bais Hamikdash (Third Temple) and the righteous of the nations will celebrate Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles),” he concluded.