On March 20, 1990 President George Bush signed into law a historic Joint Resolution of both Houses of Congress recognizing the Seven Noahide Laws as the "bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization" and urged our country to "return the world to the moral and ethical values contained in the Seven Noahide Laws" (H.J. Res. 104, Public Law 102-4).

    The culmination of the Great Exodus from Egypt, recorded in the Biblical book of Exodus, was the Israelite's arrival at the foot of Mount Sinai. Here, amidst the trembling mountain, in a remote desert location, millions of people heard the voice of G-d Himself, speaking from the clouds and fire. The words He spoke that day will forever be engrained in the minds of Western Civilization. They are refered to as the Testimony, or adut  in the original Hebrew, but we know them as the Ten Commandments.
    Most of modern civilization consider these laws to be the foundation of modern human moral society, taking great lengths to write them upon the walls of their homes, their workplace, their government buildings, and their schools. To most people, these ten statements lie at the very heart of their moral beliefs. Yet there is an important point that must be remembered when studying this Biblical account. These laws were not given to all of humanity as a whole, but to a very specific ethnic group of people - the Nation of Israel. This is clearly evidenced in the passage of the Bible that relates the Commandments - Exodus 20. In the first words of the adut, G-d spoke saying, "I am the L-rd your G-d who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; Thou shalt have no other gods before Me...." This is an explicit statement to a specific group of people who had been obligated to a special mission by G-d. Nowhere in this Biblical account are the Ten Commandments said to be incumbent upon all of mankind, nor were they agreed to by the nations of the world as the Israelites did, saying, "And all the people (Israel) answered with one voice and said, 'All the words which the L-rd has spoken, we will do and we will hear." Exodus 24:3
    However, most of the Ten Commandments are in fact fundamental laws of morality that all human-kind should feel obligated to, but not all. One noteable exception is the commandment to abstain from doing work upon the Sabbath day. This law is nowhere in the Bible made incumbent upon all of mankind, but is a special covenant between G-d and the Jewish People.
    But what about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Adam and the other great Ancient sages? They lived long before Moses stood upon Mount Sinai. Had they no laws, no moral precepts? What was the criteria that people were judged by before G-d gave the Law to the Jewish people? It is obvious that G-d demanded moral standards from the people who lived in this ancient time. He brought the flood upon the world for their sins, destroyed Sodom and Gommorrah for their evil, and banished Cain for the murder of his brother Abel. There are many such examples. How could a just G-d punish people if they were unaware of the difference between right and wrong?? This is obviously absurd. Another example of the existence of a set of laws in these ancient times is Genesis 26:5 "Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." This was said of a man who lived hundreds of years before the giving of the Ten Commandments, so what were these charges, commandments, statutes and laws?
    Generally speaking, all laws that were given to the human race prior to the Revelation on Mount Sinai are considered incumbent upon all of mankind. All laws that were given to Moses at Sinai are a special covenant between G-d and the Children of Israel, or B'nai Israel in Hebrew, i.e. the Jews. It has never been considered necessary for Gentiles to keep the laws that were given to the Israelites. This is why one never sees Jewish missionaries, and why Jews do not seek converts to Judaism. They realize the fact that Gentiles have their own special covenant with G-d. This covenant is known as The Seven Laws of the Sons of Noah.
    The obvious question is "Why Noah?" From the Biblical book of Genesis, we learn that ten generations after the birth of Adam, the world had degraded to a terrible state. We are all familiar with the Biblical story of the Great Flood. According to the text, G-d declared that the human race had become altogether evil, and that there was in fact only one righteous person, "blameless in his generation" ibid. 6:9, Noah. The text continues to explain that G-d brought a flood upon the earth which destroyed all human life except for Noah and his family. Therefore, according to this story, all humanity is descended from Noah, making the generic Hebrew term for humanity B'nai Noach, or Children of Noah. Upon Noah's exit from the ark, G-d makes a special covenant with Noah, and issues a number of commandments. Some are explicitly stated, yet others are implied in the story. The totality of these laws are recorded and expounded in the Oral Tradition, many years later compiled into the Talmud. They are seven in number, and are the foundation of Western human moral society. These are the laws that G-d considers incumbent upon all of mankind. They are the Seven Laws of the Sons of Noah.