Corpus-Paul

["maertens" <maertens AT waika9.com>]

Jim, Loren,

The Noachide commandments are discussed in bSanh. 56a-59b. In 56a-b it is
written :
"Our Rabbis taught: Seven precepts were the sons of Noah commanded: social
laws; to refrain from blasphemy; idolatry; adultery; bloodshed; robbery; and
eating flesh cut from a living animal. [56b] R. Hanania b. Gamaliel said:
Also not to partake of the blood drawn from a living animal. R. Hidka added
emasculation. R. Simeon added sorcery. R. Jose said: The heathens were
prohibited everything that is mentioned in the section on sorcery, viz.,
'There shall not be found among you any one, that maketh his son or daughter
to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times,
or an enchanter, or a with, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar
spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an
abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy
God doth drive them [sc. the heathens in Canaan] out from before thee.' Now,
[the Almighty] does not punish without first prohibiting. R. Eleazar added
the forbidden mixture [in plants and animals]: now, they are permitted to
wear garments of mimxed fabrics [of wool and linen] and sow diverse seeds
together; ther are forbidden only to hybridize heterogeneous animals and
graft trees of different kinds."

I can't go in a library to check other material. But W. Zuidema, J. Op 't
Root, En God sprak to Noach en zijn zonen (Ten Have, Baarn, 1991), 49-55,
sum up 5 more sources for the noachide commandments (besides bSanhedrin and
Acts 15) : tAvoda Zara 8,4.6; Jub 7, 20-21; Zadokite Document 4, 15-20;
Bereshit Rabba 34,8, Sifra Lev 18:4; bJoma 67b. On page 54 they sum up the
different commandments according to the different sources. It shows clearly
that they are all different. In fact, that is what I meant by "floating".
There seems total agreement on the fact that Gentiles are bound to some
commandments. But there is no agreement in the first century, on what
commandments they have to follow. (all my excuses if I didn't express myself
correctly, English is not my mother tongue) Acts 15 represents probably a
witness in the evolution of the concept. According to Zuidema and op 't
Root, the total number of 7 laws was fixed in the second half of the second
Century of the common era. These 7 laws are know as the Noachide laws. Acts
15 can then be said to be a form of Noachide laws, not the Noachide laws
comme telles.

Jim, I agree to say that Gen 9:1-7 is a key text. But it would seem to me
that the only commandment plainly stated is the interdiction of blood
(eating or killing). How do you deduce the other ones?

It is interesting to see Acts silented on Paul's opinion of the Decree. It
is even more strange to notice that he does not defend his point of view in
contrast with his reaction in Antioch (Acts 15:2). According to the
alexandrian reading he was sent as a delegate of the church. According to
the text, he did not his job. More interesting, maybe, is the reading of
Codex Bezae according to which Paul was sent to be judged. This would better
explain his silence. (I don't want to defend one of the texts, it is just

that I make a comparatif study of Acts 15 in the Codex Vaticanus and the
Codex Bezae)

Loren, I don't see how the commandment “don’t eat meat from an animal that’s
been strangled” fit with the 7 noachide commandments defined by tSanh 56.
What is forbidden is the eating flesh of an animal still alive. (BTW I have
difficulties to translate pniktos this way; in a short study in NTS 45
(1999) 593-96 I propose another way to understand the term, which is maybe
as questionnable as the traditional translation)

Best regards,

Philip