GEN555 Is the commandment of procreation applicable to non-Jews as well as Jews?  On the surface it would seem obvious that the obligation devolves upon them as well, for was this commandment not given to Adam and Noah, the fathers of the human race? Thus, one of the great codifiers of early times, Rav Ahai of Shabha, She’eltot No 165 explicitly states that the commandment is of universal scope. However, most of the codifiers have maintained that a non-Jew may remain celibate and not thereby evade the fulfillment of the Divine commandment.  The ground for the exclusion of Gentiles from this commandment is to be found in the Talmud, Sanhedrin 59a, which states “Every commandment that was given to the sons of Noah and repeated at Sinai applies to both Israel and the sons of Noah; a commandment that was given to the sons of Noah and was not repeated at Sinai is intended only for the sons of Israel and not for the sons of Noah.” This declaration implies that the Siniatic revelation is the source of the commandments that bind both Israel and the nations. The Noachide revelation as such is no longer a living tradition among the nations of the world cf. Bava Kamma 38a. Except insofar as it manifests itself in various religious traditions, both ancient and more recent and is known only through the Torah given at Sinai. Hence, the acceptance of the Noachide commandments must be based upon the Written and Oral law which alone have preserved the record of the Noachide revelation. One who observes these commandments because of their reasonableness is regarded as a wise, but not as a God-revering, man.  Maimonides, Melakhim, VIII, 11, according to the correct reading.  Whatever was repeated at Sinai from the original revelation was directed both to Israel and humanity at large. What was not repeated was removed from its former area of application and limited to Israel. Sanhedrin 58a The commandment of procreation was not repeated at Sinai. Therefore, it no longer applies to the Noachides. Ibid, 59b. The question, of course, arises as to the reason for the exclusion of Noachides from the obligation to propagate. Perhaps the fact that the sexual instinct had been used perversely by the Generation of the Flood and had been elevated to a divine status [this verse] was responsible for its removal from the sphere of Divine commandments. The preservation of the species would be assured by the very dint of a most powerful human drive. It may, moreover, be possible that once the earth was replenished with human beings, the commandment was removed from the Noachides and transferred to the children of Israel, who were few in number, Deuteronomy 7:7 to ensure their physical survival, so that their covenant with God will be continued throughout the generations. ROSNER 70