The Lamanites Receive Talionic Justice

John W. Welch

Moroni did not boast of his success. In Alma 50:1, he sent the people immediately back to work constructing more fortifications. This defeat in Ammonihah and Noah was a kind of poetic justice for the Lamanites, who fought until their chief captains were all gone. This can be seen on other occasions in the scriptures, where justice in the ancient world was talionic. Whatever they were planning to do to their enemy (such as kill them all) would happen to them (they were killed). For example, if you dig a pit for your neighbor, you may fall in it. That is talionic justice. Abinadi was burned, and he warned, “What ye have done to me is going to happen to you.” This in the teachings of the Savior in several places. If you forgive, you will be forgiven, and if you do not you will not be forgiven. Whatsoever measure you use for measuring, that yardstick that is going to be used to measure you (Matthew 7:2).

John W. Welch Notes

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