(22) So long as the earth endures,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
Day and night
Shall not cease.”
(2) In the days to come, The Mount of GOD’s House Shall stand firm above the mountains And tower above the hills; And all the nations Shall gaze on it with joy. (3) And the many peoples shall go and say “Come, Let us go up to the Mount of GOD, To the House of the God of Jacob; That we may be instructed in God’s ways, And that we may walk in God’s paths.”
For the instruction of law shall come forth from Zion, The word of GOD from Jerusalem. (4) Thus [God] will judge among the nations And arbitrate for the many peoples, And they shall beat their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks: Nation shall not take up Sword against nation; They shall never again teach war.
(א) עַל שִׁשָּׁה דְּבָרִים נִצְטַוָּה אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן. עַל עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה. וְעַל בִּרְכַּת הַשֵּׁם. וְעַל שְׁפִיכוּת דָּמִים. וְעַל גִּלּוּי עֲרָיוֹת. וְעַל הַגֵּזֶל. וְעַל הַדִּינִים. אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁכֻּלָּן הֵן קַבָּלָה בְּיָדֵינוּ מִמּשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ. וְהַדַּעַת נוֹטָה לָהֶן. מִכְּלַל דִּבְרֵי תּוֹרָה יֵרָאֶה שֶׁעַל אֵלּוּ נִצְטַוָּה. הוֹסִיף לְנֹחַ אֵבֶר מִן הַחַי שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית ט, ד) "אַךְ בָּשָׂר בְּנַפְשׁוֹ דָמוֹ לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ". נִמְצְאוּ שֶׁבַע מִצְוֹת. וְכֵן הָיָה הַדָּבָר בְּכָל הָעוֹלָם עַד אַבְרָהָם. בָּא אַבְרָהָם וְנִצְטַוָּה יֶתֶר עַל אֵלּוּ בְּמִילָה. וְהוּא הִתְפַּלֵּל שַׁחֲרִית. וַיִּצְחָק הִפְרִישׁ מַעֲשֵׂר וְהוֹסִיף תְּפִלָּה אַחֶרֶת לִפְנוֹת הַיּוֹם. וְיַעֲקֹב הוֹסִיף גִּיד הַנָּשֶׁה וְהִתְפַּלֵּל עַרְבִית. וּבְמִצְרַיִם נִצְטַוָּה עַמְרָם בְּמִצְוֹת יְתֵרוֹת. עַד שֶׁבָּא משֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ וְנִשְׁלְמָה תּוֹרָה עַל יָדוֹ:
(1) Adam, the first man, was commanded with six commandments: 1) idolatry, 2) “blessing” (euphemistically) the Name (of G-d), 3) murder, 4) illicit sexual relations, 5) thievery and, 6) establishing a system of justice. Even though all of these have been received as a Tradition from Moses our Teacher and we can understand the rationale for them, nevertheless, from (verses in) the Torah (we learn that) it was these that they were commanded. A seventh commandment forbidding the eating of a limb torn from a live animal was added for Noah, as it says, “Even flesh, life is in the blood, do not eat of it” (Genesis 9:4). These commandments were universally applicable - until Abraham. With Abraham, circumcision was also commanded and he prayed Shacharis (the Morning Prayer). Isaac separated out a tithe and added another prayer in the afternoon and, with Jacob, the prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve was added, as was the Maariv (Evening) Prayer. In Egypt, Amram was commanded with other precepts and, with Moses our Teacher, the Torah was completed.
(13) The sum of the matter, when all is said and done: Revere God and observe His commandments! For this applies to all mankind:
(23) Thus said GOD of Hosts: In those days, ten people from nations of every tongue will take hold—they will take hold of every Jew by a corner of their cloak and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”
What do Jews respond to those who say "let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you?"
See the Babylonian Talmud, 56a,56b. Obligations on noachides, G*d fearing goyim/gentiles.
Other Ancient Transmitters of Noachide Ethics.
These were likely transmitted to Persia, Greece, India, and throughout the ancient near east during the time of the Babylonian exile, since Daniel was the chief scholar of the "University of Babylon". Jeremiah, Ezra and Mordechai were all well-known and widely respected statesmen in the secular world. The wise and pious among the nations would have eagerly sought out their teachings about ethical monotheism, which, are known to all through natural philosophy and enlightened reason because it in our nature as homo sapiens to seek out the true and righteous.
Therefore we think it entirely plausible and highly likely that the learning which has come down through Plato, Aristotle, and Patanjali originated with or was nourished by Jews teaching the book of Koheleth and the Noahide covenant to foreigners at the time of Sukkot and other Jewish festivals - a tradition the Jews today should renew. But since true philosophy is now often mixed into idolatrous or superstitious systems of thought, therefore use discernment, and investigate them non-dogmatically with the help of a pharisee (an orthodox rav), using primary sources wherever possible, rather than later religious translations and their publications.
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics V - VI.11 Justice as the chief of the four cardinal virtue. Next are courage, temperance, and prudence. (Aristotle's hylomorphic theory of "immanent realism" is consistent with the metaphysics and ontology of the Hebrew bible.)
Patanjali Yoga Sutras II.27-45 the yamas - ethical restraints - corresponding to second table of the decalogue: Ahimsa (non-violence) brahmacarya (sexual restraint), asteya (non-stealing), satya (truthfulness, not lying), aparigraha (not hoarding). (Yoga darsana shares the metaphysics and ontology of Samkhya darsana - a form of moderate dualism that rejects Hindu idolatry and Advaita Vedanta, and is roughly equivalent to the systems of Koheleth and Aristotle.)
Matthew 5-7, Joschka's "Sermon on the Mount", a pharasaical exposition of the second table of the decalogue: Oral Torah, halakha, and mussar
Noahide covenant taught by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1,13,14-15
Judaism affirmed for Jews, and Gentile anti-Judaism refuted in Romans 9-12:
Jacob Have I loved and Esau have I hated:
Analysis of Torah sources for Paul's epistle to the Romans (work in progress)
הברכה והכונה
The BLESSING given to Adam is the "Telos" or PURPOSE or END in Aristotelian terms, the Final Cause of human nature.
(26) And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.” (27) And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (28) God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.”
נח הצדיק. את האלקים התהלך נח
See source sheet on: Noah the Righteous, Who Walked With Eloqim
See source sheet on: Equal Justice under Law: the commandment of righteous judgment מצוה עשה משפת בצדק
the sky proclaims His handiwork. (3) Day to day makes utterance,
night to night speaks out.
