Why would the Lord have given such a retributive law to the children of Israel?
Ermel J. Morton, “I Have a Question,” Ensign, Aug. 1981, 29 Ermel J. Morton, patriarch, Rexburg Idaho East Stake, Rexburg, Idaho. Interestingly enough, this passage was not meant to sanction vengeance and retaliation. As given by the Lord in the Old Testament, the phrase is a metaphor meaning “like for like.” The idea is expressed succinctly by Paul: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Gal. 6:7.) In Old Testament times, the concept of “an eye for an eye” was given as a principle to guide judges, so that their judgments might be just, and so that retribution might be taken out of the hands of individuals. As Alma explains to his son Corianton, the operative principle was restoration: “to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or … good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous.” (Alma 41:13). Or, as the Savior put it in the Sermon on the Mount, “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” (Matt. 7:2.) In the final ju
