In the October 2006 edition of the magazine Moment, there is an interesting article about “The Seven Laws of Noah and the Non-Jews Who follow them”. Who among us know about these laws, where they came from, where they may be found and, so what? The answer seems to be the Lubavicher (Chabad) movement.
Noah preceded Moses so these laws were promulgated (in the Torah which Moses is credited writing) for all other peoples excepting the Jews who were to be bound to a stricter ethics and more complicated ritual demanded by God whose word Moses wrote down after being admonished.
The Noahide Laws are as follows: 1. Belief in God, 2. Do not blaspheme God, 3. do not Murder, 4. Respect the Family. 5. Do not steal, 6. Do not eat a limb torn from a living animal and 7. To set up courts to ensure obedience to the other six laws. These 7 laws are a simpler set of rules by which to live than those imposed on the Jews whom God freed from slavery and eventually delivered their descendants into the Land owned by others and gave to them. So there is a whole other story involved and an interesting development in the gentile world that has somewhat become disenchanted with the polytheism offered by Christianity and the bloodthirsty history of Islam with strictures on women.
This story tells of nominal Christians who not only have left the religion of their fathers and families who have taken to follow the Noahide 7, but to closely study the Hebrew development following the experience of Noah. Noah finally got it right after living a short while in the belly of a giant fish. Those who follow Noah and his revelation of what God expected of him and others are few but seem to be growing in numbers. As an alternative to becoming Jews who still have the stigma of Killing Jesus and who chose a homeland right under a Mosque in Jerusalem, their choice might not be a bad thing. In fact, the simplicity of the rules that modern Noahide-ites seem to lead them to look deeper into Judaism and go further along in history to see what the God of Noah had in mind for his “chosen” people”. This is one of the things which Noahide converts want to avoid but need to close in on to see if the 7 are sufficient in an increasingly complex world.
What the Jews gave to the Gentiles was another, simpler version of the edifice erected in the name of the Creator of the Universe. It was not a bad deal and those who follow the 7 lead righteous lives. Jews do not proselytize, but Chabad specializes in outreach.