Melachim uMilchamot – Chapter 9: The Seven Noahide Laws and Their Legal Framework
Halacha 1 – The Seven Noahide Laws and Their Origins
Adam was commanded six laws:
- Prohibition of idolatry
- Prohibition of blasphemy
- Prohibition of murder
- Prohibition of forbidden sexual relations
- Prohibition of theft
- Obligation to establish courts
For Noah, a seventh was added: prohibition of eating flesh from a living animal.
Later patriarchs introduced additional practices, but the Torah was completed only with Moses.
Halacha 2 – Idolatry Among Gentiles
A gentile who worships idols is liable if he worships them in ways considered idolatrous under Jewish law. Even forms of worship that Jews are not executed for are still forbidden to gentiles, though they may not incur execution. Gentiles may not erect monuments, plant Asherot, or make decorative images.
Halacha 3 – Blasphemy
A gentile who curses God is liable whether he uses the Divine Name or any attribute, and in any language. This law is stricter for gentiles than for Jews.
Halacha 4 – Murder
A gentile who kills any human being—including a fetus—or causes a death indirectly (e.g., pushing someone before a lion or starving them) is executed. Killing a pursuer when he could have been stopped non-lethally is also murder for gentiles. These stricter rules do not apply to Jews.
Halacha 5 – Forbidden Sexual Relations
Gentiles are prohibited from:
- Relations with their mother
- Relations with their father’s wife
- Relations with another man’s wife
- Relations with their maternal sister
- Homosexual relations
- Bestiality
These prohibitions are derived from Genesis 2:24 and other verses.
Halacha 6 – Details of Forbidden Relations
A gentile is liable even if his mother was never married to his father, and is liable for relations with a father’s wife even after the father’s death. Liability applies for relations with males or animals, but the animal is not executed (unlike in Jewish law).
Halacha 7 – Adultery and Jewish Women
A gentile is liable for adultery with another gentile’s wife only after she has had relations with her husband. But with a Jewish woman, he is liable regardless of whether the relations were normal or abnormal, and the punishments follow Jewish standards.
If a gentile has relations with a married Jewish woman after she has once had relations with her husband, he is executed by decapitation.
Halacha 8 – Designated Servants
If a gentile assigns one of his maidservants to a slave and later has relations with her, he is executed for adultery—once the relationship is public and she is known as that slave’s “wife.”
Gentile divorce occurs simply when either spouse decides to leave.
Halacha 9 – Theft
A gentile is liable for any form of theft—whether from a gentile or Jew. This includes robbery, wage withholding, kidnapping, or minor theft. Even stealing less than a perutah is punishable by death for a gentile.
Halacha 10 – Flesh From a Living Animal
A gentile is liable for eating any amount of flesh or a limb from a living animal. The prohibition does not include blood of a living animal.
Halacha 11 – Types of Animals
The prohibition applies to limbs or flesh from both domesticated and wild animals. Rambam suggests a gentile is not executed for eating a limb from a living bird.
Halacha 12 – Convulsing Animals
Even after kosher slaughter, as long as the animal is still convulsing, any flesh removed is forbidden to gentiles as “from a living animal.”
Halacha 13 – Stringencies for Gentiles
Gentiles are liable for eating limbs from both kosher and non‑kosher species, whether domestic or wild, and even if the animal is convulsing after slaughter—more strict than Jewish law.
Halacha 14 – Courts of Justice
Gentiles must establish courts in every major city to judge according to the Seven Laws. A gentile who violates these laws is executed, typically by decapitation.
Shechem’s inhabitants were liable for not judging their prince for kidnapping.
Legal standards differ from Jewish law:
- One witness is enough
- One judge is enough
- No warning required
- Relatives may testify
- Women may not serve as judges or witnesses
