Giving of the Seven Commandments at Mount Sinai
Timeline of God’s re-affirming the Noahide Commandments at Mount Sinai, where He commanded them with specific details as part of the eternal Torah of Moses:
The Seven Commandments of HaShem
1. I Believe and Trust the One True G-d, The G-d of Israel, HaShem, Havaya I will never worship any idol or follow any false man-made philosophies or ideologies.
2. I Will Honor HaShem, the G-d of Israel and Praise Him I will not blaspheme, disrespect or swear falsely in the Holy Name of HaShem.
3. I Will Honor the Sanctity of Human Life I will not injure, murder, embarrass in public or act with cruelty towards any of my fellow Noahides or Jews, the Members of the Holy Covenant.
4. I Will Honor My Family I will not commit adultery or any sexual transgression and pursue a life of Marriage & Children.
5. I Will Honor the Property of My Fellows I will not still, induce into error, make fake measures, or kidnap any person.
6. I Will Respect the Life of All Living Creatures and Nature I will not be cruel to animals or eat flesh severed from a still-living animal.
7. I Will Honor these Divine Laws, Pursue Justice and my Countries Laws I will contribute to Reinforce correctness of the legal system and the administration of justice.
As God decided for reasons known to Him, some of the verses in the Torah that refer to these events are not placed in chronological order. Here they are presented according to the order of what took place:
1st day / Ex. 19:1-2. The Israelite nation encamped at Mount Sinai, on the 45th day after God led them out in their exodus from slavery in Egypt.
2nd day / Ex. 19:3-8. Moses ascended to the top of Mt. Sinai to receive instructions from God, and then he descended. The Israelites agreed that they would obediently enter into the Jewish covenant, when they said, “Everything that God has spoken we shall do!”
3rd day / Ex. 19:8 (starting from “Moses brought back the words of the people to God”) to Ex. 19:9 (up to … “and they will believe in you [Moses], also forever”). Moses then ascended Mt. Sinai again, reported to God, received His next instructions, and then descended.
4th day / Ex. 19:9 (starting from “Moses told the words of the people to God”) to Ex. 19:14, and then the continuation skips to Ex. 24:1-4 (through “Moses wrote all the words of God”). Moses ascended Mt. Sinai again to receive instructions from God, and descended to tell the people all the Divine laws that had been commanded up until that time.
Note that the recounting and recording of the Seven Noahide Commandments by Moses took place at Mount Sinai on this day, two days before God spoke openly to the entire Jewish nation. In Ex. 24:3, it says “Moses came and told the people all the words of Go-d and all the laws…” Here, “all the laws” refers to the Seven Noahide Commandments and a few of the Jewish Commandments, all of which the Israelites had already been commanded before they arrived at Mt. Sinai. (Moses told these commandments to the Israelites at Marah, after they crossed through the sea – see Exodus 15:25.)
In Ex. 24:4, “Moses wrote all the words of God” means that at that time, he wrote down the Book of Genesis – that contains the verses which inform us of the earlier Covenant of the Rainbow and the Noahide Commandments – and the Book of Exodus up to that point. Thus, God commanded upon the Jewish people that based upon the revelation at Mount Sinai, they would have the responsibility for preserving and publicizing the Noahide Commandments and all their details, which are for all the nations of the world for all generations.
5th day / Ex. 24:4 (from “He [Moses] arose early in the morning…”) to Ex. 24:11. This is the day that Moses built an alter, and read to the people the “Book of the Covenant” (the Book of Genesis, including the Seven Noahide Commandments, and part of Exodus up to that point).
6th day / Ex. 19:16-20:18, and Ex. 24:12-15. God openly spoke 10 of the 613 Jewish Commandments to the people, and Moses then ascended Mount Sinai, to learn more of the Jewish Commandments from God for 40 days and 40 nights. (Many of these Jewish commandments are recorded in Ex. 20:19 to Ex. 23:22.)
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Footnotes:
[1] The Oral Torah (Tractate Sanhedrin, ch.7) explains how all of these 7 Noahide Commandments are encoded within the Hebrew text of the verse Genesis 2:16: “And Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.’ ”
[2] Tractate Sanhedrin, p. 56a).
Shalom Rabbi. Thank you very much for the excellent explanation that gives us a thorough understanding of the Seven Commandments of HaShem (Noahide Laws), and for presenting to us the very informative order of events of what took place at Mt. Sinai.