Seder Olam, Part I. Chapter 5. Commentary to Ex 15:23, 25

From the Reed Sea they travelled to Marah as it is said (Ex. 15:23): «they came to Marah»; and it is said (Ex. 15:25): «there He gave them ordinances and laws and there He tried them.» There Israel received 10 commandments, seven of those had already been given to all of mankind as it is written (Gen. 2:16-17): «There commanded the Eternal, God, to Man, saying: From any tree of the Garden you may certainly eat.» «There commanded» refers to a system of laws, and so it says (Gen. 18:19): «For I knew him so that he should command his descendants after him to exercise justice and law in the land.» «Eternal» refers to blasphemy as it is said (Lev. 24:16): «He who blasphemes the name of the Eternal shall certainly die.» «God» refers to idolatry as it is said (Ex. 20:3) «You shall not have other gods before Me.» «To Man» refers to murder, as it is said (Gen. 9:6): «He who spills the blood of a man, by man his blood shall be spilled.» «Saying» refers to adultery as it is said (Jer. 3:1): «Saying: If a man send his wife away and she went and became another man’s, could he return to her again? Would not the land be filled with immorality? But you committed harlotry with many friends, nevertheless return to Me, pronouncement of the Eternal.» «From any tree of the Garden» refers to robbery as it is said (Lev. 5:24): «About anything that one would swear falsely about, he should pay its capital and at its fifths to it.» «You may certainly eat» refers to eating limbs of a still living animal as it is said (Gen. 9:4): «But meat, when its life is still in its blood, you shall not eat.» Israel added to these at that time Sabbath, the Procedural Law, and Honor of Father and Mother. [My emphasis]

Commentary [by Guggenheimer ed. to Seder Olam]

The argument about the Seven Noachide Commandments seems here like an addition but it is found in all versions and manuscripts and is certainly original is Seder ‘Olam. The detailed derivation is reproduced in the Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 56b in the name of R. Yochanan; the introductory and final sentences there are tannaitic statements. [In some manuscripts, the language is almost identical with that of Seder ‘Olam.] In Yerushalmi sources there is a similar derivation in Genesis rabba 16(9) and Pesiqta dR. Kahana on Pentecost. Old Yerushalmi sources always talk about six commandments given to Adam [my emphasis]. The prohibition of eating parts of a living animal was added for Noah since before the Deluge only vegetarian food was allowed (Gen. 1:29). In Gen. rabba, R. Jacob of Kfar Chanin adds that the sentence Gen. 2:17 contains a hint for a future prohibition of parts of living animals. In all, it is clear again that Seder ‘Olam is a Babylonian compilation.

The idea of the derivation needs some elaboration. The verse really serves more as a memnotechnic device than a proof since all prohibitions are spelled out otherwise in Genesis, e.g., the prohibition of incest and adultery in 2:24 (as explained in Chapter 2) and the prohibition of murder in 9:6. The hermeneutic principle underlying most of the derivation is known as gezerah shawah, the principle that words of God in the Pentateuch have an invariable meaning. Hence, the root צו [tzav] in the sentence has the same meaning as in God’s reference to Abraham, and that is to command to exercise justice and law. The law here is not specified; in particular, there are no procedural restrictions on executors of Noachide law. Constitutional safeguards were only added for the Israelites at Marah. These are defined as restrictions on the testimony of relatives and interested persons and substitution of multi judge panels (asking as jury) for single judges allowed for Gentiles.

The details are as follows. The double appellation of Divinity, «Eternal, God» is split into two assertions. The Name of God, Eternal [the Tetragrammaton], implies a recognition of God. There is no explicit requirement that a Gentile worship God, but a prohibition of blasphemy (and atheism). The name usually translated as «God» [Elokim] really means «the All Powerful»; as such there can be no secondary power worshipped, e.g., forces of nature. «Man» (the name of Adam) again by gezerah shawah is taken as a label for the prohibition of murder that in any case is explicitly given to Noach, and all of mankind are obligated by it as Noach’s descendants. [In the Talmud, there is a double interpretation of Gen. 9:6 dependent on where the comma is put that is not written in the unvocalized text. It means either «He who spills the blood of man, by man his blood shall be spilled» or «He who spills the blood of man in a human, his blood shall be spilled.» The second version makes boron a capital crime for Gentiles.]

The connection of adultery with «saying» comes as gezerah shawah from the verse in Jeremiah. There the initial לאמר «saying» is genuinely dangling; it contradicts all rules of composition to start a new chapter and a new subject with «saying.» Therefore, it is assumed that the puzzling word is written to connect with some other statement. Now, as pointed out before, the institution of marriage for Gentiles is contained in Gen. 2:24 where it is stated that a man should be glued to his wife. Hence, there is no divorce for Gentiles. [In strict theory, it is the Talmudic position that a Gentile woman becomes a wife by first sleeping with a man; any subsequent relation with any man but the first is adultery.] Now, the verse in Jeremiah refers to the law (Deut. 24:1-4) that one may not remarry one’s divorcee if she had married another man in the meantime. Since divorce is a purely Jewish institution in Talmudic theory, this part of Jeremiah’s statement cannot apply to rules for Gentiles. Hence, it must be the symbolic comparison of idol worship with adultery of the second part of the sentence that is applicable here, and it implies that punishment for dilatory and adultery are identical.

In the Talmud, the quote about robbery is much shortened: «‘From any tree of the Garden,’ that refers to robbery; ‘You may certainly eat’ but not of a living creature.» In the text reported by Rabbenu Chanan’el (Kairawan, Tunesia, Eleventh Century) the text is «‘From any tree of the Garden eat,’ that refers to robbery; ‘You may certainly eat’ but not of a living creature.» The statement attributed to Rebbi Chiyya (being at least one generation younger than R. Yose bar Chalaphta) is not found in any other Talmudic source. The preceding quote from Leviticus is also puzzling since it clearly refers to the obligation of a Jew but is not applicable to Gentiles. So it seems that the inference is not from the quote itself but from the introductory statement of the entire paragraph (Lev. 5:20-26) dealing with the guilt incurred by dishonest dealings with one’s fellow man: «A person who sins and commits treason against the Eternal by dealing dishonestly with his fellow man either in matters of a deposit, of money held in trust, or robbery, or that he oppressed his fellow man [by denying him just wages].» Here, robbery is taken out of the framework of Civil Law and defined as treason against the Eternal, applicable to all of mankind. The gloss of Rebbi Chiyya then connects the definition of robbery with the Garden of Eden.

The prohibition of eating blood of a living animal and parts cut from a living animal is explicitly given to Noach when animal food was permitted to him (Gen. 9:3-4).

Next, we turn to the additional commandments given to Israel at Marah. The statement of Seder ‘Olam is quoted verbally in the Babylonian Talmud. It is generally agreed that משפט «law» refers to the specific rules mentioned after the revelation of Sinai, mainly in Ex. 21-23, where it is expressly stated (21:1): «These are the laws that you shall put before them,» meaning that they are not directed to Gentiles. חק «ordinance» is usually restricted to ritual law, addressing the relationship of man to God. Now in the second version of the Ten Commandments, both the Sabbath (Deut. 5:12) and the commandment to honor father and mother (Deut. 5:16) are referred to as commandments to be kept «as the Eternal, your God, had commanded you.» It is obvious from the Biblical recital that the Sabbath was given to Israel before they arrived at Sinai (Ex. 16). Hence, the commandment to honor father and mother also must have been given beforehand, and the only additional place mentioned as place of law giving is Marah. This is the argument in all Babylonian sources and it is a recurrent statement of Rav Yehudah in the name of Rav that a statement in the Pentateuch «as I commanded you» always means «commanded you at Marah» (Sanhedrin 57b, Sabbath 87b). In Yerushalmi sources, there are two questions raised that do not have a uniform answer. In the Mekhilta dR. Ismael (Beshallach 1, ed. Horovitz-Rabin p. 156) there is a statement ascribed to Rebbi Yehoshua, one of the two foremost students of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, that חק refers to the Sabbath and משפט to the honor of father and mother. Rebbi Elazar of Modiin, a younger contemporary of R. Yehoshua specializing in the interpretation of Biblical verses, asserts they חק refers to incest prohibitions peculiar to Jews and משפט to the monetary aspects of the law of torts. In the Jerusalem Talmud (Betzah 2:1, fol. 61a) there is an anonymous disagreement over the date of the commandment of the Sabbath, whether it happened at Marah or at Alush. [The way station just before Rephidim is called Alush in Num. 33:13 but Wilderness of Sin in Ex. 16:1; the two places are therefore identified (see the next section).] At Alush in the Wilderness of Sin they received the Mannah; according to everybody details of the prohibition to leave the camp on Sabbath (תחומין) was given at Alush. According to one opinion in the Yerushalmi, all ordinances concerning the Sabbath were given at Alush. In the Babylonian Talmud (loc.cit) it is understood that principles of Sabbath were given at Marah following R. Yehoshua (who is the higher authority), but there is a disagreement among later sages whether the principles of the laws of תחומין were given at Marah or whether they still were allowed to travel on Sabbath (Sabbath 86b-88a). The discussion there starts with: