An example of murder is when Cain killed Abel.
“ And Cain spoke unto Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against abel his brother, and slew him” genesis 4:8
As well as murder we are not allowed to fight because of aggression but we are allowed to fight if it’s for self-defence. If a mothers life or reproductive system is not at risk we are not allowed to abort a foetus, we are also not allowed to commit suicide or assist a suicide, however the 6 other laws are allowed to be broken in order to save your life.
- Not engage in forbidden sexual relationship such as insect, adultery, etc.
In the Tanach it says that to see someone naked is as if you are having sex with that person, and it says in Torah that if you see your mother naked it is as if you era seeing your father naked.
When Joseph’s brothers were blamed for stealing. When they were waiting to find out who had stolen they all hoped they were not the stealer. They are afraid of being blamed. Clearly in Egyptian culture stealing is illegal.
- Not to eat a limb off of a live animal.
This is continued into Kashrut.
We are not allowed to eat flesh with its blood in it because blood is life and if something has blood in it is still alive. We are also not allowed t eat live animals because it is cruel and would make them suffer pain.
- To set up courts to ensure obedience to the other six laws.
This also allows Noachide communities to make other laws the society needs, as long as they don’t go against the other six laws.
- Why might remembering the slavery in Egypt and the Exodus be important for Jews today?
Many parts of the Exodus are linked to the Noachide code because they go against at least one of the laws.
In Egypt when the Jews were slaves they worshipped Idols this was against the Noachide code as the first law is not to deny God, in worshipping the idols they were denying god as the one and only God and if God hadn’t come and taken us out of Egypt then we would be worshipping idols still. Another time that the Jews denied God was when Moses had gone up mount Sinai to get the Torah the people made a golden calf and worshipped it, and another time they denied God was when they went against God and Moses in the wilderness they id this many times.
When the Jews left Egypt they took back their freedom to choose what to do and their free will. The Egyptians stole their freedom; this was against the Noachide code as the fifth law is not to steal. If God hadn’t have taken us out of Egypt then we may have ceased to be as a people and there would never have been the Jewish race, we may have taken on the Jewish way of life and there may have only been about a handful of Jews left today. If God hadn’t have taken us out of Egypt then we would never have got the torah and we wouldn’t have believed in God and we wouldn’t be free.
However not all the things that happen in Exodus are against the Noachide code, the covenant at mount Sinai was similar to the Noachide code because the Noachide code was the basics and the covenant at mount Sinai was a continuation of the Noachide code as the 613 commandments tell us and teach us how to live our lives.
- “ If we obey the Noachide code we don’t need to obey the rest of the laws.”
If we only obey the Noachide code then we would be ignoring all the other laws we have been given, every law is important because God gave all of them to us and so if we ignore them then we are ignoring God.
If we don’t follow all the laws and just follow the Noachide code then our lives and religion would be very different from the way it is e.g. we wouldn’t be eating fully kosher as the Noachide code only has the basics. Some people may say this would be better because it would cost less and be easier to find meat, as kosher food is expensive and hard to find.
Some people would agree that the Noachide code is the basics of Judaism and is the foundation of Judaism and Gods laws, is the beginning of Kosher and stresses the importance of family life and life itself but every other law is important too because together they make Judaism.
