MY ANSWER
The Jewish
Encyclopedia explains
the origin of the Noahide Laws as follows:
Laws which were
supposed by the Rabbis to have been binding upon
mankind at large even before the revelation at Sinai, and which are
still binding upon non-Jews. The term Noachian indicates the
universality of these ordinances, since the whole human race was
supposed to be descended from the three sons of Noah, who alone
survived the Flood. Although only those laws
which are found in the earlier chapters of the Pentateuch, before the
record of the revelation at Sinai, should, it would seem, be binding
upon all mankind, yet the Rabbis discarded some and, by hermeneutic
rules or in accordance with some tradition (see Judah ha-Levi,
"Cuzari," iii. 73), introduced others which are not found there. Basing
their views on the passage in Gen. ii. 16, they declared that the
following six commandments were enjoined upon Adam: (1) not to worship
idols; (2) not to blaspheme the name of God; (3) to establish courts of
justice; (4) not to kill; (5) not to commit adultery; and (6) not to
rob (Gen. R. xvi. 9, xxiv. 5; Cant. R. i. 16; comp. Seder 'Olam Rabbah,
ed. Ratner, ch. v. and notes, Wilna, 1897; Maimonides, "Yad," Melakim,
ix. 1). A seventh commandment was added after the Flood—not to eat
flesh that had been cut from a living animal (Gen. ix. 4). Thus, the
Talmud frequently speaks of "the seven laws
of the sons of Noah," which were regarded as obligatory upon all
mankind, in contradistinction to those that were binding upon
Israelites only (Tosef., 'Ab. Zarah, ix. 4; Sanh. 56a et seq.).
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Noahide Laws were
first listed in the Babylonian Talmud (500-600
AD). They claim to be derived
from commandments God gave to Adam and Noah, but Genesis contains no
such
listing. It is by some creative interpretation that the rabbi's
have
derived these laws from Genesis. If you run a Google search,
you find many sites, but I have not been able to find a site that
references each law to a specific verse in Genesis. Some of them
but
not all of them, and the ones that do have been given a rabbinic
interpretation of the text to derive the laws. For example, Gen.
9:6,
"Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood."
becomes a prohibition against eating the limb of a living animal, or
eating the flesh of an animal having a beating heart. There is
surely
a long history of oral rabbinic lore behind the Babylonian Talmud, and
I interpret it in the light of the attitude of Jesus
toward the Rabbi's and their traditions (oral interpretation handed
down by the rabbi's). We find this attitude of Jesus displayed in
the following verses:
Mark 7
[1] Now when the Pharisees gathered together
to him, with some
of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem,
[2] they saw that some of his disciples ate
with hands defiled,
that is, unwashed.
[3] (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do
not eat unless they
wash their hands, observing the tradition
of the elders;
[4]
and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they
purify themselves; and there are many
other traditions which
they
observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.)
[5]
And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not
live according to the tradition of the
elders, but eat with
hands
defiled?"
[6] And he said to them, Well did
Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, `This people
honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
[7] in vain do they worship me, teaching as
doctrines the precepts of men.'
[8] You leave the commandment of God,
and hold fast the tradition of men."
[9] And he said to them, "You have a
fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition!
[10] For Moses said, `Honor your
father and your mother'; and, `He who speaks evil of father or mother,
let him surely die';
[11] but you say, `If a man tells his
father or
his mother, What you would
have gained from me is Corban' (that is, given to God) --
[12] then you no longer permit him to
do anything for his father or mother,
[13] thus making
void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on.
And many such things you do.
This is the way we should understand the Noahide Laws -- as
traditions of men. I understand that much of the modern focus on
these laws, which we find on the Web, arises in
Orthodox Judaism as an effort to impose the application of the Jewish
scriptures on all men, finding there a special place for
Gentiles.
Those who are concerned that
these "Noahide Laws" will
ultimately bring the World into
subjection to Mosaic rules rightly
understand their modern application to be motivated to this end.
We
need not be concerned about it. Jesus is king, remember?
Matt.28
[18] And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me
It is not likely that the apostles and other early disciples were
influenced by the Noahide Laws because they had received the Lord's
evaluation of
such things as in Mark 7 above. Furthermore, Jesus was
careful
to specify what is to be preserved from the Torah and applied to his
disciples:
Matt. 22
[35] And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to
test him.
[36] "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
[37] And he said to him, "You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind.
[38] This is the great and first
commandment.
[39] And a second is like it, You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.
[40] On these two
commandments depend all the law and the prophets.
"All the law" surely refers to the Noahide laws as well as the
Mosaic code. I find no record that Jesus ever acknowledged either
the
existence or the authority of such a listing of Gentile Laws.
Do not be deceived!