Why Don’t Noahide Laws Have an Authoritative Source in Torah or Mishna?

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

Reader: I’ve been researching the source of the 7 Noachide laws, found mainly in Talmud Sanhedrin 56b. It is mentioned that the Noahide Mizvot were taught by the Sages in Baraita. I checked in 59a and it states the same thing. I understand that the Baraita is tradition in Jewish Oral Law that is not included in the Mishnah. But is there any mention of the 7 Laws in Mishnah at all?

The Oral Law is codified in the Mishna. The Talmud contains analyses and discussions on the Mishna (by the Gemara). So the Mishna should be authoritative when it comes to Oral Law. Is my understanding correct? So if the 7 laws are not in the Mishna, then are they really commanded by G-d in the first place? Do the 7 laws really come from G-d or is it a man made innovation? Is there a proper, solid basis to say that these laws are really given by G-d? And what would that be?

I believe the rabbis derive the laws from Genesis 2:16? The verse only states G-d commanded Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The argument used was "The Lord God commanded the man" (Genesis 2:16). What is the basis of these  six laws  derived from that phrase alone and declared to be the law for humanity? 

So which is which? Isn't it obvious that these laws were derived from the opinions of rabbis from their interpretation from the Torah and not a specific, direct command from G-d?

Rabbi: Maimonides states that we have a transmission that God commanded these Noahide laws (Hilchos Malachim 7). The talmud states that the idolatrous nations we're not punished for those sins without God having first told them not to commit those prohibitions, for this would be unjust. From there we learned that God did in fact warn the Nations against idolatry and other sins (Sanhedrin 56b). We thereby learn that not all communications between God and man are recorded in the Torah. But that makes the sin no less culpable. The Rabbis are in agreement that Genesis 2:16 is the source of the Noahide laws and then there are other Rabbis who add on additional Noahide commands based on interesting reasonings.

But there's a very interesting point that you have directed me towards and that is the very reason why we do not have an open source in the Written or Oral Laws regarding Noahide laws. The reason is beautiful: it is because the Noahide commands came prior to those two very bodies of laws! The commands were of an oral nature. To include them in Torah anywhere would indicate they are uprooted from the era of Adam and Noah. To retain their status as true Noahide laws, they must retain their once-given nature at that one time in history, and not repeatedly commanded. And the talmud says further on 59a that whatever laws were given to Noah and then repeated to the Jews at Sinai apply to both Jew and gentile, but the newly repeated law is directed exclusively towards the Jew.

To elaborate, Talmud Sanhedrin 56b asks: “From where are the Noahide mitzvos derived? Rabbi Yochanan says from the verse “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat…” (Gen. 2:16). The verse’s words are each interpreted homiletically as follows: “commanded” alludes to the Noahide obligation to establish courts, “the Lord” alludes to the Noahide prohibition to curse God, “God” alludes to the Noahide prohibition of idol worship…” etc. The gemara continues deriving the others, but there’s a glaring question: homiletics or Talmudic Rabbis’ derivations didn’t yet exist in Adam’s days! Therefore, we cannot apply such mechanisms as Adam’s source of his prohibitions. With this Talmudic section, Rabbi Yochanan is teaching that Adam derived his prohibitions from God authority. There was no “Torah verse” containing all these words “commanded, “The Lord,” “God” etc. as all that Adam heard from God was “You may eat all fruits but one.”  How did Adam arrive at the Noahide (Adamic) laws? Adam understood that, “commands” are part of his relationship with God (man is subservient to God), so courts (a Noahide law) are required to uphold such laws. Adam further understood as God alone was commanding him, there are not other gods (indicating the prohibition of idolatry) and that such an authority must be respected, thereby prohibiting cursing, and so on for all remaining laws. 

God created Adam with keen intellect (Ibn Ezra) so no formal Torah system was necessary, as Adam could deduce volumes about how he should behave. Certainly, as many areas of Torah could not exist then (there were no events yet to celebrate holidays around like the Exodus, there were no Canaanites or Egyptians yet that God might warn against copying their abhorrent ways, nor were all idolatrous expression yet performed that there should be so many laws prohibiting them) Torah as we have it was inapplicable for these and other reasons. 

Thus, Noahide (Adam’s) laws were derived, and not formally scripted. Therefore there is no mishna or Written Law referring to them, as their obligation came from man’s understanding of God’s intervention, and not an authoritative document.