Natural Law : Judaism

Those who see biblical support for the doctrine of natural law often point to Abraham's interrogation of God on behalf of the iniquitous city of Sodom. Abraham even dares to tell the Most High that his plan to destroy the city (Genesis 18:25) would violate God’s own justice: “That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do justly?" This almost Socratic reply became for later writers the beginnings of natural rights theory. In this respect, natural law as described in the interaction between Abraham and God predates the later Greek exposition of it by Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle.

However, an even earlier set of laws is attributed to the Seven Laws of Noah. The seven Noahide laws as traditionally enumerated are the following:

Not to worship idols.
Not to curse God.
To establish courts of justice.
Not to commit murder.
Not to commit adultery or sexual immorality.
Not to steal.
Not to eat flesh torn from a living animal.
According to the Genesis flood narrative, a deluge covered the whole world, killing every surface-dwelling creature except Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives, and the animals taken aboard Noah's Ark. According to this, all modern humans are descendants of Noah, thus the name Noahide Laws in reference to laws that apply to all of humanity. After the flood, God sealed a covenant with Noah with the following admonitions ( Genesis 9):

Flesh of a living animal: "Only flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” (9:4)
Murder and courts: "And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it; and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man." (9:5-6)

Source: Philosophy of Law App.by Kirill Sidorov

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