Shabbat shalom everyone,
As part of our custom to look at the seven parts of God’s Covenant in the run-up to Shavu‛ot, today we are looking at the covenant with Noah.
This covenant confirms that all life has been given into the stewardship of humanity; it gives animals as food to humans; and states that animals will be wary of humans. God promises never again to destroy life on earth because of human sin, and especially not with a worldwide flood; God charges humans to be fruitful and multiply, not to eat meat with blood in it, and to bring to account those responsible for shedding human blood (thereby also implying setting up codes of laws and courts to deal with it).
The disapproval of general wrongdoing is implied in Gen 6:11, thus requiring Noachides to live a righteous way of life. However, the commandment about the stewardship of the earth is from the Septuagint version: ‘and have dominion over it’, or ‘and take guardianship over it’ – words which are missing from the Masoretic text. The Hebrew may originally have been ve-radu bah.
The terms of the Noachic Covenant:
What God will do:
- Never again curse the whole earth because of humanity
- Never again destroy all living creatures
- Never again cut off all life with a flood
- Give all animal-life into the custody of humanity
- Give as food to humanity all animals that move
- Cause animals to be wary of humans (implying that such wariness would be a protection for humans)
What humans must do:
- Be fruitful, increase in number and fill the earth
- Take responsible stewardship of the Earth
- Not eat meat with blood still in it
- Give an account from anyone guilty of shedding the blood of another human being
- Live an ethical and righteous way of life
The Blessings of the Noachic covenant:
- As long as the earth exists, then seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease
A Note on the so-called ‘Noachide Laws’ in Rabbinic Judaism
What are referred to in the mainstream as ‘Noachide laws’, are in fact a rabbinic amalgamation of the Adamic and Noachic covenants, appended with certain other laws that were gleaned from elsewhere in the early chapters of Genesis. These are the rabbinic Noachide laws:
- Not to worship idols.
- Not to curse God.
- Not to commit murder.
- Not to commit adultery or sexual immorality.
- Not to steal.
- Not to eat flesh torn from a living animal.
- To establish courts of justice.
In Rabbinic Judaism, creating the status of ‘Noachides’ was a way of keeping non-Jews at arms’ length. The deliberate intent of this, was so that they wouldn’t participate in Jewish life in any way. In rabbinic Judaism, there are no Godfearers, even though Godfearers were a noticeable fact of life right up until the end of the Second Temple Period.
In Orthodox Judaism, non-Jews are absolutely forbidden to study Torah, or to follow the Jewish way of life. However, before the destruction of the Temple, and before the exile of most Jewish people from the Land, there were many Godfearers who lived right amongst Jewish people, and were accepted by the Jewish community as such. They followed Torah, but retained their Gentile status, and did not go through with full conversion. They were part of the covenant-assembly of Israel, but were not considered Jewish.
After the Roman Exile, and after the Christian persecutions of Jews, it became expedient to keep non-Jews at arms’ length. The status of the Godfearer was therefore abolished in rabbinic Judaism, but it was nevertheless acknowledged that there were still righteous Gentiles who wished to worship the God of Israel. The solution they came up with, was to amalgamate the Adamic and Noachic covenants, glean other implied laws that were pertinent to the whole human race, and put together what has become known as the ‘Noachide Laws’, which they decreed would be applicable to all non-Jews who worshipped the God of Israel.
The different Types of Gentile
Before I go into what a ‘Noachide’ would actually be according to the Israelite faith (as opposed to what they are in rabbinic Judaism), it is important to understand the biblical differences between ‘Righteous Gentile’, ‘Noachide’ and ‘Godfearer’. I therefore need to give you a brief description of each, because it is important to understand that they are not all the same thing.
For those brought up in other religions, it may be surprising to learn that, in the Israelite religion, we do not expect everyone to become Jewish. While Christianity and Islam see their mission as converting the entire human race to their respective faiths, Judaism does not consider it necessary for everyone to become Jewish. Christianity and Islam are the only two religions that think this way (that everyone must belong to their religion).
Nor do we expect everyone to adhere to Torah or Jewish law, or force other peoples to accept our beliefs, customs and religious laws. Christianity and Islam expect every human being on earth to join their religion (and that they will go to hell if they don’t); in contrast, the Israelite faith and Judaism do not believe that non-Jews will go to hell, simply for not being Jewish.
However, what we do expect is that all human beings will adhere to some kind of basic ethical code. In the biblical Israelite faith, there are five types – or five levels – of ethical observance in the spiritual journey towards God, from the least to the most observance.
These are the five levels:
1. the Chaneif (‘the Immoral’) – those who have no morality or ethics, nor any kind of spiritual belief – no interest in being good, nor in any kind of moral code (see Job 13:16, 15:34, Prov 11:9). It goes without saying that this is not a desirable level to be on!
2. Righteous Gentiles – those who, while not believing in YHVH, nevertheless do follow a righteous moral and ethical code of life; this could be as part of a non-Yahwist religious system, or even as an ethical atheist, humanist or agnostic (all these people are covered under the Universal Covenant)
3. ‘Noachides’ (or more properly, non-Israelite Yahwists) – those who have freely chosen to worship YHVH exclusively, and to follow basic Yahwist ethics and values, but without following Israelite culture or the Torah of Moses. So, for example, a non-Israelite Yahwist would not be required to observe the Sabbath, nor any religious festivals, or any Jewish customs. The main difference between a ‘righteous Gentile’ and a Noachide, is that a Noachide worships YHVH, and a righteous Gentile does not.
4. Godfearers – these are people who were not born Jewish, nor have any Israelite or Jewish ancestry, but nevertheless have freely chosen to worship YHVH alone, to follow the Torah of Moses as best as they can, gradually taking on the obligations of the Covenant (like the Sabbath and pilgrim festivals), but who stop short of full conversion (so male Godfearers would not be expected to get circumcised). Talmidaism considers Godfearers to be part of the Covenant-Assembly of Israel, as did the pre-Exile Israelite faith (see this article on the Moab Covenant, to find out how Godfearers are attached to the Israelite religion).
5. Proselytes – those whose intent is to fully convert and eventually become Israelite; between declaring their intent to convert, and the final end of the conversion process, they are called ‘proselytes’.
Now, an outsider might be tempted to think that this scale represents how much God loves you – that the higher up on the scale you are, the more you are loved and blest by God, or the better chances you have of getting into heaven. I have to state here for the record, that this is not the case! It is Christianity and Islam which think this way – that only if you belong to their religion, will God allow you into heaven, and that God will love you more. However, that is not the stance of Yahwist theology (because everyone will eventually get to heaven, regardless of what religion you belong to; there is no hell in the Israelite faith). This scale is about, ‘Doing what you can for God, according to your individual ability,’ and not about what your chances of getting into heaven are.
Non-Israelite Yahwists (or ‘Noachides’) in the Israelite Faith
A ‘Noachide’ is generally understood to be a non-Israelite Yahwist. The term refers to a non-Jew, who follows a righteous way of life, worships only YHVH, follows general Yahwist ethics, but does not take on board any of the Sinai Torah, or any Jewish customs or culture (like the Sabbath, although there’s nothing stopping a Noachide from observing the Sabbath as a holy day, if they feel drawn to do so). The Noachide laws should be understood as the bare minimum that a Noachide follows; they should not be seen as the only ethics that a Noachide follows. Remember, all Yahwists, be they Gentile or Jewish, Noahide or Godfearer, try to “do whatever is upright and good in the sight of YHVH” (see Dt 6:18).
The concept of the ‘Noachide’ only really gained ascendance after the destruction of the Second Temple, with the loss of Jewish pluralism, and the ascendancy of the Pharisaic view of Judaism as the only type of Judaism the rabbis would allow.
In Talmidi belief, non-Jewish Yahwists have their assured place in God’s Kingdom – those who wish to live a righteous way of life, cherish and worship YHVH alone, but who do not wish to follow the laws of the Torah given at Sinai. This is the best option for those who have a greater emotional connection to the culture of their birth, or who feel that Jewish customs and culture would be too ‘alien’ or foreign for them.
We accept that there is a spiritual niche for non-Jewish Yahwists in the broader spiritual culture of Yahwism. However, we also accept that there is a place for non-Jews who do wish to follow Torah – as Godfearers. Mainstream Judaism bans Godfearers – you are either a ‘Noachide’ or a fully converted Jew; there is nothing in between.
The non-Jewish Yahwists in the Hebrew Bible
At this point, it might be worth mentioning that, in the future, when God re-establishes David’s kingdom, Amos 9:12 mentions that there will be nations who will be ’called by YHVH’s Name’, i.e. that there will be Gentile nations who will become Yahwists. In other words, it is prophesied that there will be a time when some Gentile nations will be Yahwists – most likely as Noachides.
A Noachide is really a misnomer for this group of people – remember, ‘Noachide’ is a post-Second Temple, rabbinic term. Rabbanites (Jews who follow rabbinic Judaism) are not aware of the Universal Covenant, so in rabbinic Judaism, ‘righteous Gentiles’ and ‘Noachides’ are the self-same thing. But in the Israelite Religion, they are not the same thing. The original Israelite awareness of the Universal Covenant necessitates a complete recalibration of the ethical observance scale.
Mainstream Judaism tends to project the impression that, before Abraham, no human being on earth worshipped YHVH anywhere, and that before Abraham, no one knew about YHVH. However, if you read the Hebrew Bible without any rabbinic preconceptions, you will realise that this is not true.
In the Hebrew Bible, there are a number of non-Jewish Yahwists. The most notable is Reuel, the Priest of Midian, Moses’s father-in-law. His other name is usually rendered as ‘Jethro’, but this actually means, ‘His Eminence’; it was probably a title of the Midianite High Priest. Rabbinic theology proposes that he was the first convert to the Israelite faith, but his declaration at Ex 18:10-11 is not a statement of a new faith, but rather a confirmation that all the things which the Israelites experienced, have confirmed his existing belief.
His tribe were the Kenites; it’s possible that it was just this one single Midianite tribe who worshipped YHVH, because later on in the Book of Numbers, the Midianites are among the people who tempted the Israelites to worship the Baal of Peor. Therefore only Reuel’s tribe, the Kenites, were Yahwists; all other Midianite tribes seem to have been pagans.
In the Sinai, there have been found various inscriptions which mention ‘Yahh’. Since the name of ‘Yahveh’ was revealed first to Mosheh, and then to the Israelites, it is most likely that Reuel – given his geographical location – would have referred to God as ‘Yahh’ (the hh represents a breathed ‘h’, rather than simply a silent h that merely lengthens the a).
Most people do not realise this, but Job (he of the Book of Job) was not a Jew, nor even an Israelite. He was an Aramean who lived in northern Syria about the same time as Abraham. Although committed to writing in about the 6th century BCE, the Book of Job is written in very antiquated Hebrew, suggesting its oral sources were much older than the 6th century BCE. Otherwise, how would a post-exilic Jew have known what antiquated Hebrew was like, unless he had ancient sources of the story to work from? It would be like writing in perfect Old English (or even perfect Shakespearean English), without ever having learned to speak or write it, and then someone else claiming that it is a modern document and that you faked the language!
Job referred to God simply as, ‘Shaddai’. He was a Yahwist – he worshipped the same God as Abraham, but was not part of Abraham’s people.
The next most well known Yahwist was Malki-tsedeq (Melchizedek), the Jebusite king-priest of Jerusalem (or ‘Urushalim’, as it was known then). To Malki-tsedeq, God was ‘El Shadday’. Presumably, the Jebusite citizens of Urushalim were also worshippers of El Shadday, following the example of their king-priest.
Then there is the Avimelekh of Gerar, who also seems to have been a Yahwist. In Gen 20:4, God speaks to this king, and the king even addresses God as Adonai (‘My Sovereign’). He obviously already has an existing reverence for God (as El Shadday), and for God’s values, because in the same verse, he refers to his own people as ‘a righteous nation’.
All these peoples were already Yahwists. However, they would not have been following the written Torah, and they would not have been observing the Sabbath – because these are two things that were only given to the House of Israel at the time of Moses. So what would their religious values and their religion have been like?
We are trying here to take an alternative look at what Rabbanites call ‘the Noachide laws’. A pre-Abrahamic Yahwist would have followed more than what a righteous non-Yahwist would have followed (remember, a righteous, non-Yahwist Gentile is covered under the laws of the Universal Covenant – knowledge of which is the game-changer in this discussion). So what kinds of standards would God have expected of non-Hebrews at that time who were Yahwists?
The ethical values of a non-Jewish Yahwist
Modern Judaism has seven ‘Noachide’ laws (which I’ve listed above). However, it should be pointed out that, in the Second Temple Period, some ancient Jewish sects had more laws which they considered incumbent upon non-Jewish Yahwists, and some had less. Therefore, we should not be forced to believe that there are precisely seven, just because the Pharisees said so.
If a non-Jew worshipped YHVH, without following any part of Jewish culture, why would they have chosen to be a Yahwist in the first place?
They might have been attracted to the idea of worshipping only one God, but what values would they have held? What spiritual and religious principles would their Yahwist society have expected them to follow? The main reason for choosing to be a Yahwist, might also have been because they were attracted to the values and principles expected of someone who follows YHVH (Yahh / El Shadday).
In Yahwist philosophy, there is the expectation that anyone who calls themselves, ‘a Follower of YHVH’, should adhere to a certain ethical and spiritual standard, because that standard reflects back on the reputation of the God whom you worship.
Other gods and other religions had other laws and other values. So, what would Reuel’s (or Jethro’s) religion have been like? What would have distinguished the religious values that Job followed, from the values of the non-Yahwist peoples around him? What would Melchizedek’s religion have been like? What would the religion of the Avimelekh of Gerar have been like?
Here’s an interesting point to think about: What values made pre-Abrahamic Yahwists so different from the values of other religions? If the Avimelekh called his people righteous, and the people of Sodom were judged by God to be the exact opposite, we would need to work out what kinds of things that the Gerarites, Melchizedek’s Salemites, Job’s people, and Jethro’s Kenites were doing before Abraham, that the people of Sodom were not doing. What were the people of the Dead Sea Plain doing, that made them so irredeemably wicked?
Here then, is a tentative list of ethical values that might have been expected of a non-Hebrew Yahwist:
A non-Israelite Yahwist should:
- Honour the Creator, by having respect and care for God’s Creation and God’s creatures
- Not worship idols
- Have respect for one’s mother and father
- Respect one’s fellow human beings as oneself
- Act fairly, and deal justly in one’s daily life, business and legal systems
- Be faithful in marriage, and not commit adultery
- Not blaspheme by using God’s Name for false or evil purposes
- Not oppress the poor or the less able in one’s society
- Not commit murder
- Not engage in sexual immorality or sexual abuse.
- Not rob or steal
- Not eat flesh taken from any living animal, nor consume its blood.
These, I believe, may have been the unwritten laws that Job, Melchizedek, Jethro and the Avimelekh followed that made them all quintessentially Yahwists; these may have been the basic ideals of the unwritten religion they followed as part of an ethical Yahwist society – and ideals that are still ideals of the Israelite faith. Incidentally, if we want to know what laws the people of Sodom broke, and for which they were destroyed, it must have been for doing the exact opposite – for breaking all these above laws, the basic laws of a righteous Yahwist society.
The term, ‘Righteous Gentile’ only covers non-Yahwists, and such people are already governed by the laws of the Universal Covenant. The Noachic covenant governs those who are not Hebrews, but are Yahwists. Non-Hebrew Yahwists undoubtedly existed in ancient times, even before Abraham. What was different about the Yahwist religion of Abraham, was that God was going to make his descendants into a nation, and through the covenant God made with him, was going to give those descendants a land and a home, and be their God forever. That’s what we will be looking at next week.
Blessings in YHVH’s Holy Name
your brother
Shmuliq