Chapter 18
King Lamoni supposes that Ammon is the Great Spirit—Ammon teaches the king of the creation, of God's dealings with men, and of the redemption that comes through Christ—Lamoni believes and falls to the earth as if dead. About 90 B.C.
1 AND it came to pass that king Lamoni caused that his servants should stand forth and testify to all the things which they had seen concerning the matter.
2 And when they had all testified to the things which they had seen, and he had learned of the faithfulness of Ammon in preserving his flocks, and also of his great power in contending against those who sought to slay him, he was astonished exceedingly, and said: Surely, this is more than a man. Behold, is not this the Great Spirit who doth send such great punishments upon this people, because of their murders?
3 And they answered the king, and said: Whether he be the Great Spirit or a man, we know not; but this much we do know, that he cannot be slain by the enemies of the king; neither can they scatter the king's flocks when he is with us, because of his expertness and great strength; therefore, we know that he is a friend to the king. And now, O king, we do not believe that a man has such great power, for we know he cannot be slain.
Alma 18:1-3 (Emphasis mine)
King Lamoni heard about what happened before Ammon and his other servants got back. His first action was to call his servants to come and tell him what had happened. He wanted to hear the story first-hand.
They told him the story and about the power of Ammon. After hearing the story, Lamoni’s first thought was he had to be the Great Spirit. His servants gave the only reply they could. “We don’t know if he’s the Great Spirit or not. What we do know is our enemies can’t kill him and he cannot be slain.” (They did add a qualifier – “we do not believe that a man has such great power” [verse 3] It may be that they didn’t want to take a stand because if they gave the King an answer with which he would later disagree, things may not have turned out well for them!)
The concept of the Great Spirit is an interesting one, one that gives us a special spiritual tie with the Native Americans. Hugh Nibley wrote:
“There is one common ground, one common need, between us and them, and it is the Book of Mormon. Consider how much it tells us about the present situation. First of all, we accept the Great Spirit—we do not consider the Indians heathen. King Lamoni mistook the visiting superman Ammon for the Great Spirit, a mistake which his descendants have made more than once, to their loss.” [i] (Emphasis mine)
“… [the words Great Spirit are going to be repeated many times, and that will turn out to be very significant for us] … The people were beginning to think that what they had done was murder. The people of Ammon later on always described their killing in battle as murder. Why did he [the king] go on murdering? It could have been ritual murders, etc.
“… See, he was about to slay them; he had every intention of putting them to death. It occurs to him for the first time with rather a shock that it must be wrong to kill the way he had been doing. In other words it was an established custom; it was the thing to do. Nobody thought of it as particularly wrong … It is perfectly clear that he was doing it as a custom, as a required gesture, and now it suddenly occurs to him that it might be wrong to slay his servants. You would think anybody was crazy who didn't know that was wrong. But he didn't. It was customary, and people do these things.” [ii] (Emphasis mine)
The concept of the Great Spirit gives us more information about the Lamanites. John L. Sorenson wrote:
“In any case we are not justified in supposing that the Lamanites had no religious system. No doubt what they followed involved elements of the Jerusalem cult with which Laman, Lemuel, and probably one or more of the sons of Ishmael had had experience as adults. Evidently a "Great Spirit" deity was integral to the later belief pattern…” [iii]
4 And now, when the king heard these words, he said unto them: Now I know that it is the Great Spirit; and he has come down at this time to preserve your lives, that I might not slay you as I did your brethren. Now this is the Great Spirit of whom our fathers have spoken.
5 Now this was the tradition of Lamoni, which he had received from his father, that there was a Great Spirit. Notwithstanding they believed in a Great Spirit they supposed that whatsoever they did was right; nevertheless, Lamoni began to fear exceedingly, with fear lest he had done wrong in slaying his servants;
6 For he had slain many of them because their brethren had scattered their flocks at the place of water; and thus, because they had had their flocks scattered they were slain.
7 Now it was the practice of these Lamanites to stand by the waters of Sebus to scatter the flocks of the people, that thereby they might drive away many that were scattered unto their own land, it being a practice of plunder among them.
Alma 18:4-7 (Emphasis mine)
Lamoni is convinced that Ammon is the Great Spirit and he is in trouble because of his killing of his servants. It was Lamanite tradition that they believed in the Great Spirit, but that whatever they did was right. For the first time, Lamoni is questioning this.
In verse 7, Alma(2) reminds us that scattering flocks was a standard practice of the people. The acceptance of this allows us to look carefully at Lamanite society, but at the basis for this acceptance.
Alan Goff wrote:
“The other Lamanite custom follows from the first: ‘Now it was the practice of these Lamanites to stand by the waters of Sebus to scatter the flock of the people, that thereby they might drive away many that were scattered unto their own land, it being a practice of plunder among them’ (Alma 18:7). This explains Lamoni's response when he hears of Ammon's exploits: he fears it is the Great Spirit punishing them ‘because of their murders’ (Alma 18:2); the king is as guilty as the thieves, for the thieves have no fear of appearing in the palace (Alma 19:21-22).” [iv] (Emphasis mine)
We again turn to Nibley.
“They took their tents and their people and continued to hunt and rob their brethren in the old accepted fashion of the East, and their descendants after them never gave up that exceedingly attractive way of life.” [v] (Emphasis mine)
“For example, ‘it was the practice of these Lamanites to stand by the waters of Sebus to scatter the flocks of the people, that thereby they might drive away many that were scattered unto their own land, it being a practice of plunder among them (Alma 18:7; italics added). If ever there was an authentic piece of Bedouin mischief that is it. And of course it led to fights and reprisals in the best desert manner (Alma 18:6). Among others these rascals scattered the flocks of their own king and yet continued active in the social and political life of the community—how weak and poorly organized a government, and how typical of the East! (Alma 17:26—27; 19:21).” [vi] (Emphasis mine)
Here’s a good place to stop for today. Tomorrow we will discuss horses in the Book of Mormon.
[i] Promised Lands, Hugh W. Nibley. Maxwell Institute, accessed September 4, 2011.
[ii] Lecture 51: Alma 17-19, Hugh W. Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 4, 2011.
[iii] Religious Groups and Movements among the Nephites, 200–1 B.C., John L. Sorenson. Maxwell Institute, accessed September 4, 2011.
[iv] Reduction and Enlargement: Harold Bloom's Mormons, Alan Goff, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 4, 2011.
[v] The Nature of Book of Mormon Society, Hugh W. Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 4, 2011.
[vi] Lehi and the Arabs, Hugh W. Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 4, 2011.
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