Absolute Values

For all of mankind to exist in peace and harmony, we must listen to what our Creator said to Noah after the flood. We must accept that a set of absolute values or a baseline of bare minimum laws are set by the Creator of all things. It is not for us to play with or alter these absolute values to suit our convenience or beliefs. These are values far above the understanding of people.

These values where given to Adam and again Noah as the beginning steps in establishing a world that was worthy of the blessings of the Creator. In other words these values establish what is required for life to exist in peace. They are for all people in all times and they are not dependent upon the beliefs or customs of any society.

Some have referred to these absolute values as the Noahide laws. Others simply call them the 7 basic moral principals

Some have referred to these absolute values as the Noahide laws. Others simply call them the 7 basic moral principals

These laws are found in starting in verse 1 through about verse 11

Let us look at these Laws together:

Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version Chapter 9

1God blessed Noah and his sons, and He said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the land. 2The fear and terror of you will be on every wild animal, and on every flying creature of the sky, with everything that crawls on the ground and with all the fish of the sea—into your hand they are given. 3Every crawling thing that is alive will be food for you, as are the green plants—I have now given you everything. 4Only flesh with its life—that is, its blood—you must not eat! 5Surely your lifeblood will I avenge. From every animal and from every person will I avenge it. From every person’s brother will I avenge that person’s life.

6The one who sheds human blood,

by a human will his blood be shed,

for in God’s image He made humanity.

7But as for you, be fruitful and multiply! Flourish in the land and multiply in it.”

8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9“Now I, behold, I am about to establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, including the flying creatures, the livestock, and every wild animal with you, of all that is coming out of the ark—every animal of the earth. 11I will confirm My covenant with you—never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again will there be a flood to ruin the land.”

Let us look at these Laws together:

1. Do not serve other gods.

2. Do not blaspheme the name of God. Some understand this to be do not curse God.

3. Do not murder.

4. Do not commit forbidden intimate practices.

5. Do not steal.

6. Do not eat meat from a limb severed from an animal that is living. Some understand this to be do not consume blood.

7. Do live in a society which sets up courts of justice. Some understand this to be setup courts of justice or administer justice.

How many of these Laws seem familiar? They all should. All of these are reiterated again in other parts of the Torah. Many of them make up the 10 utterances or 10 commandments. As well we can see much of this reiterated by the Apostles in

“The emissaries and the elders, your brothers,

To the Gentile brothers of Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:

Greetings!

24Since we have heard that some from among us have troubled you with words disturbing to your souls, although we gave them no such authorization, 25it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul— 26men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 27We therefore have sent to you Judah and Silas, who themselves will report to you the same things by word of mouth. 28It seemed good to the Ruach ha-Kodesh and to us not to place on you any greater burden than these essentials: 29that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. By keeping away from these things, you will do well.

Shalom!”

Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society, Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), .

Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version Chapter 15

“The emissaries and the elders, your brothers,

To the Gentile brothers of Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:

Greetings!

24Since we have heard that some from among us have troubled you with words disturbing to your souls, although we gave them no such authorization, 25it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul— 26men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 27We therefore have sent to you Judah and Silas, who themselves will report to you the same things by word of mouth. 28It seemed good to the Ruach ha-Kodesh and to us not to place on you any greater burden than these essentials: 29that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. By keeping away from these things, you will do well.

Shalom!”

So what do we gather from this? Is this a “truer” law than the others? Are these laws that supersede the others? One may ask themselves, if we are keeping Torah why do we need to know these laws? Same might be said if we are following the example set by Yeshua Messiah why do we need Torah? There is a couple of reasons. 1st one leads to the other. If we want to understand the complex we must understand the foundation. If one wants to understand something it is important to understand its history. To say it another way it is helpful to understand these absolute values because they help us to understand the history and context of the Torah and the Messiah Yeshua. 2nd It also helps us to understand where we can draw a line for interaction with people who may not keep Torah or even believe in Adonai. These are a set of very fair and basic laws that every reasonable person can respect and should should expect them to follow. They provide a basic set of boundaries.

We live in a society that is increasing removing boundaries by crossing them. Boundaries are important for healthy human interaction. In fact if we think about it every conflict, disagreement, battle and struggle is really about boundaries. We will one day need to either establish the boundaries again or remind people of where they are. This is the template for where to start.

They are also only the beginning steps in a process of reuniting all humanity with the blessed Creator. We must remember these laws are the first step in establishing a people that could be presented with and understand the Torah. The Torah is the next step that we could be given the Messiah Yeshua. The Messiah Yeshua is both the final step in Salvation as well as the coming of the Holy Kingdom.

As the people who where given these laws matured they where given more laws to follow. These additional laws where not put in place to have a next level or some kind of hoop to jump through type of advancement. They where put in place as guide rails on how to reach the goal given to us by our creator. Some people become aware of this goal and started to work toward it.

Abraham is a good example of this. He was fully aware of the Laws Adonai had given Noah. He also had some idea of where the obedience would lead too. As a result he become righteous for his faith and his obedience proved his faith.

So too does the Torah serve this function. As some became more obedient to the Torah, they where given prophets, Kings, the temples, restoration, and eventually the Messiah Yeshua. All of this leads to salvation and the eternal kingdom.

So what do we make of this. If we get to the next “level” of understanding can we do away with the previous? May it never be. Each level builds on the last. We need the previous level to help us continue our Journey and understanding of Adonai’s will.

This can also help us as we interact with those close to us that perhaps do not keep Torah. We should expect them to follow these basic laws and start with establishing boundaries with them. Then as they hopefully mature and become more accustomed or appreciative of the laws then we can introduce new ones that will benefit them in their growth and path of maturity. We must understand this maturity will happen at different paces for everyone. We must also remember that not following or accepting of a more advance law is not the same as rejection but can also be a lack of understanding or a lack of maturity.

We can see this a lot today in mainstream Christianity. Though they have the Messiah and in reality follow many of the laws of the Torah they do so with out understanding or true maturity. As an example, when we see they do not keep the Shabbat it may not be out of a rejection of the Shabbat, but out of a misunderstanding or lack of maturity about it. It is our place to help them to gain understanding. We can not help them mature that happens at their pace. We also cannot force knowledge on them as that is being a bully and definitely not kind. We must be ready to answer questions and help when they need it.

Even on a personal level this helps us with establishing healthy boundaries. Is there a person in our life that curses God? Do they have idols in their home? Are they a thief, maybe not of things but of time, energy or attention? Then we must limit our interaction with them. This maybe that we warn them very directly do not curse God or use his name in appropriately. Maybe we do not go to their house where the idols are but we can meet them in public or even at our house. We may even have to put limits on the time or times we spend with a person. Some people will take up all your time and leave you with nothing for your family and other responsibilities. We might need to place a hard limit on our interaction with them. Being able to tell a person who is trying to consume more and more of your time and attention to stop and keep their distance is not mean it is maturity.

With the establishment of these boundaries we will most likely see 1 of 2 things. In time either the other person will not respect the boundaries and will distance themselves until they are gone or they will learn and mature after seeing the benefit of the boundary to both you and them. They may even want to know more and I dare say mature in to a better understanding. Improving their life and the lives of those around them. If you want evidence of this we need to simply look at ourselves. How many of us lived with in appropriate boundaries? Then in time as we had these laws established with in our lives by other people we matured and gained an appreciation for them. We learned in time the laws where not laws of restriction or destruction. We studied and continue to study the Torah and in the process we discovered that Jakov brother of Yeshua was right about obedience to the Torah.

Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version Chapter 1

22But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. 23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror— 24for once he looks at himself and goes away, he immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25But the one who looks intently into the perfect Torah, the Torah that gives freedom, and continues in it, not becoming a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts—he shall be blessed in what he does.

We studied the Torah and found something astonishing this law gives freedom. Freedom from all those corruptible and wicked things we wanted to get away from. This is the benefit of boundaries or the Law. So when others see the difference or change with us or they ask what we changes we have life that have led to where we are we can direct them to those 7 basic laws for all people to start with and growth will happen from there.