Corpus-Paul

[MillerJimE AT aol.com]

Philip M writes:
<< 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? >>

    Thank you for the B.Sanhedrin reference, etc.  They are very helpful.
    The link on blood is a close one, with a direct link between eating 
animal blood and shedding human blood.  
    The adultery clause can be gotten from Gen 9:6b-7, "For God made man in 
his image, be fruitful & multiply . . ."  This is a near quote of Genesis 
1:27-28.  A phrase from Genesis 1:27 (which admittedly is not in Genesis 9) 
is, "a male and a female he made them," a prooftext for monogamy in Damascus 
Covenant 4.21 and against adultery in Matthew 19:4/Mark 10:6.  I believe that 
this text was understood as part of Noah's covenant, thus opposing 
fornication.
    Not quite so direct is the possibility that the idolatry ban was derived 
from 9:2, which describes the variety of animal life and is somewhat similar 
to the language of the Ten Commandments and other anti-idolatry passages in 
the Law.  Deriving the idolatry ban from this verse may seem a bit of a 
stretch by the deductive method, but I also believe there was a desire to 
include a ban on idols which encouraged this kind of stretch.
    I just wish I had some more documentation to back all of this up.  But 
then, our sources are far from complete.  If not for the Damascus Covenant we 
would have nothing to suggest that Genesis 1:27 was used to promote monogamy 
prior to Christianity.
Jim Miller