The 'Ten Directives' are ten to the number. This was a remedy to evade being affected by Satan. Unfortunately "some people" distorted the two first directives and strengthened the third, but that is another question.
"Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" is not belonging to the directives above but was help on how to judge in this world. This was for balance, for example trade fairly or only have a proportional punishment for a person who does injury to a community. An example is if one man of a neighbor village does slay one of yours you do not go there fully armed and slay their whole village in revenge. To be full of revenge is a common human instinct and we often wish to return the sin seven times. If we follow the ten directives we do not need this phrase as it is already implicit in the directives, and one directive is "do not kill".
The directives are in order to prevent ten instinctive impulses from coming forth in us to prevent us from spiritually develop. They are all related to Satan thus.
One directive says: "Do not steal", but what does it involve? Just thievery or is it to dubiously acquire things? If you obtain any item at the expense of another you fail to uphold the directive.
Another example is "Do not commit adultery", but what is adultery anyway? Just the sex act or does it involve "activation of the related instinct"? Jesus said: "Do not even look at a woman with desire". The actual detrimental (sin) effect is from the activation of your instinct (i.e.. you get sexually aroused) and it will generate "sexual frustration" in you. Even before you copulate you have adulterated in your mind.
"Do not covet your neighbor's things". Any time you feel you like to have what someone else has it is activation of this instinct to have what others have. It will cause us to strive harder sometimes putting aside morality in order to achieve (dubious methods). You might work harder than is sound, concentrate too much on the worldly at the expense of the spiritual. Bingo, you follow the instinct (Satan). You may even forsake your friends and family in some cases. Remember stories in where the children testified: "Our father was never there for us, he just worked".
One has to contemplate on the source or background to the directives and not what they explicitly say. It is the background to such as "do not kill" which is interesting. What drives us to kill and then tackle the root of the problem. Does it not start with a pale face that turns red? It is not the emotions that begin it all? In the real interpretation of Quran Rabb made written "Is it better to contemplate their application or to enforce their strictness...?" (for a large part of chapter two is about the directives totally missing in the sectarian one).
Look at the philosophical background to them and avoid breaking a single one of them, even "do not covet your neighbor's things" which may be one of the hardest directives of them all and what people miss, even if it might seem innocent and not directly harm anyone.
Be well
Amenuel
