If you have ever been camping, gone to church camp, or just visited campgrounds for a day to picnic; you know there are rules that are posted for the good and protection of all who come to camp.  The rules might seem odd to people who have never set up tents or RV’s at a campsite so they can live in the “great outdoors” for awhile.  Randy and I took our kids camping many times in their younger years. We know what it is like to “set up and tear down” camp.  We also became accustomed to not only knowing the camp rules but behaving with camp etiquette.  The mantra of camp our kids were taught was, “Always leave the campsite better than the way you found it.” 

Later in life we would direct church camps of all ages.  We were direct and lovingly firm as we taught the campers how to behave with respect for each other’s belongings and bunk area, how to clean up after themselves while helping others, and to leave the rented campgrounds “better than the way we found it.”  It was easy to see how some kids had everything done for them at home and others knew exactly the tasks to be done and did it without thinking or complaining.  When a dispute at camp occurred; all involved were to come to their Counselor or the Camp Director for resolution. No one was to take the matter in their own hands.

Moses is Camp Director along with his faithful brother who is his back up Counselor for hundreds of “campers” in the desert as they journey to the promised land.  After the Ten non-negotiable commandments were given to the campers by God, Himself, the nitty gritty details, occurring when any group of people gather to live in harmony with each other, were explained.  This camp of people were former slaves of the Egyptians.  The culture they came from was difficult and not their own.  God is helping them through Moses to learn a new way of life where brutality will be banned.  The “camp rules” God is giving will seem extremely odd to us today because we are not living as they did with the challenges they had to deal with.  We have our own challenges with rules and addendums to the rules! 

From the descriptions of these new rules; we can readily see and now understand the form of disputes Moses was judging back in Exodus 18 when his father-in-law intervened with the wisdom to form a judging team!  We must not get bogged down by the intense detail of the laws with explicit ways to punish; but instead go deeper in our understanding of who God is as He is providing ways to deter sins that dishonor, maim, and/or kill people who He loves!  God’s goal is to protect His campers for their own good and for His glory.  God is God and no one else.  The campers are beginning to know and live this truth.

Exodus 21

“These are the laws you are to set before them:

Hebrew Servants

² “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. ³ If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. ⁴ If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

⁵ “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ ⁶ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

⁷ “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. ⁸ If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. ⁹ If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. ¹⁰ If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. ¹¹ If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.

Personal Injuries

¹² “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. ¹³ However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. ¹⁴ But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.

¹⁵ “Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death.

¹⁶ “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

¹⁷ “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.

¹⁸ “If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, ¹⁹ the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed.

²⁰ “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, ²¹ but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

²² “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. ²³ But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, ²⁴ eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵ burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

²⁶ “An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. ²⁷ And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.

²⁸ “If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. ²⁹ If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death. ³⁰ However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded. ³¹ This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter. ³² If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death.

³³ “If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴ the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange.

³⁵ “If anyone’s bull injures someone else’s bull and it dies, the two parties are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally. ³⁶ However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and take the dead animal in exchange.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Obedience shows our love for God who knows exactly what we need with how to live for Him in ways that show love and honor to Him and to each other. 

These camp rules are only the beginning of how the Ten Commandments will be interpreted in daily living.  After giving the Ten Commandments, God showed his people how to apply them in everyday matters. Chapter 21 begins the discussion about worship, the care of servants and those physically injured, slaves, thieves, property, and morality.  God provides guidelines for his people so their moral life will be pleasing to him.  Holiness doesn’t seek to be odd. Holiness seeks to be like God.

Jesus came to earth later to go over these laws of love and honor again.  He taught us exactly how to think and behave more like God intended. Jesus reminds all of us then and now that all the Laws hangs on the two most important commands—Love God; Love Others.  Hold that thought throughout our study!  Meditate on how we can love each other like God loves us—without conditions!

Paul, a devout Jew when Jesus walked the earth, did not believe what Jesus said made it his life’s goal to rid the world of all who believed in Jesus—until that day after Jesus died and rose again and appeared to then Saul with this transforming indictment of his behavior; “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” That day, Paul not only received name change but a heart transplant.  His encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damacus with orders to maim and kill more believers in hand was blinded from the Law he had learned from childhood to adulthood and given sight to see the Law of Love which translate all the Laws!

Paul’s former enemies became his rescuers and mentors sent by God to help Paul really know Christ (Philippians 3:10) for who He was and was sent to do—save us and set us free from all our sins!  Paul no longer used and abused the Law he knew so well to hate, maim and imprison believers.  Paul now knew Jesus, Son of God, the one who came to not only fulfill the Law, but to teach the intent of the God’s Law and deliver salvation from sin by his death and resurrection!  All accomplished, as the scriptures foretold, so that mankind could have a new, right and holy relationship with our God, our Creator and Father in Heaven!   

Paul, transformed by Jesus, gave his whole being to Jesus who saved him.  He  preaches the words of Jesus to “campers” everywhere who have formed churches of people groups who love Jesus.  Paul wrote without haste to those people groups who were beginning to quarrel with each other, as humans will do, just as they did in the days of Moses.  Here are some of Paul’s holy advice to us today:

1 Thessalonians 4:11–12: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”

Why? A peace-filled life leads nonbelievers to respect believers. People are watching the way we act more than they are listening to what we say.  The way we respond to adversity, unfairness of others, disrespect, and other evil ways will show others readily who we truly believe and follow. Yes, our behaviors will indeed reflect who or what we really, truly believe. “Camp” on these thoughts with prayerful reflection.

Lord,

Thank you for these thoughts that transform my thinking and cause me to be more compelled to follow what you say!  Cleanse my heart, renew my mind, transform by responsive behaviors, refresh my soul, and restore the joy and peace that comes from knowing and following you.

In Jesus Name, for our good and Your glory, Amen 

Thank You, Lord.