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Of the Seven Noahide Laws, at least three are identical to one of the Ten Commandments. To be specific I am referring to

  • Do not murder
  • Do not steal
  • Do not deny God
  • Do not blaspheme

I understand that the Noahide Laws were in practice long before the Ten Commandments, so I assume the Israelites were already keeping these before the episode at Sinai.

My question is, why did some of these commandments need to be reincluded? Do the ten commandments override the Noahide laws?

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  • Two concepts play here, primarily. 1 - The 613 commadnments include the 7 Noachide ones. 2 - Frequently, the Torah repeats things. I also must ask, where does it say "Do not blaspheme" in the 10 Commandments? I think it only says Don't use G-d's name in vain. Also, I don't think any of the 10 C's say not to deny G-d's (existence). Please correct or explain further.
    – DanF
    Commented Jan 1, 2016 at 19:57
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    Don't steal means different things in the different sets of commandments. Noahide == literally steal anything worth more than a prutah. 10 Commandment == kidnapping, a capital offense
    – Menachem
    Commented Jan 1, 2016 at 20:58
  • Where is blaspheming in the 10 Commandments? That prohibition is in Emor. Also, you left out idolatry and adultery. And, as @Menachem said, stealing refers to kidnaping. Related: judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/27890/…
    – DonielF
    Commented Jun 3, 2016 at 22:48

1 Answer 1

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The new covenant replaced the old one. The reason the Jews keep the 7 Noachide laws is not because of the commandments to their pre-Mosaic ancestors, but because of the covenant at Sinai. In fact, according to Maimonides' Laws of Kings and their Wars 8:14 this is arguably also the reason why gentiles post-Sinai are still obligated in their 7 commandments.

See also, e.g., Shabbos 135a-b: “נתנה תורה ונתחדשׁה הלכה” - "The Torah was given and the law was renewed."

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  • Are Gentiles who joined Israel under both covenants? The Sinai one and the Noachide one? If my question is not understandable, then let me get to another point: can a gentile under any circumstance, loophole, possibility, etc be ever under both covenants?
    – ninamag
    Commented Sep 25, 2017 at 15:44
  • Perhaps this delves into a more philosophical discussion of the concept of "mitzvoth". I.e., does the idea of a mitzvah exist prior to the formal receiving of the torah at Mt. Sinai? Or, in another way, do the NOachide mitzvoth become a "mitzvah"? How would B'nai Noach have known about these rules?
    – DanF
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 23:19
  • @Loewian how can "the old one" (that is, "the 7 Noachide laws") be "replaced" and at the same time, "was renewed"? I am asking this at this time, because somebody at shul told me that Shavuos is also a celebration of renewing the Noachide laws. Is that true?
    – ninamag
    Commented Jun 2, 2020 at 6:04
  • @DanF Does it? "does the idea of a mitzvah exist prior to the formal receiving of the torah at Mt. Sinai?" By "mitzvah" you mean command or good-deed?
    – ninamag
    Commented Jun 2, 2020 at 6:07

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