29 And it came to pass that she went and took the queen by the hand, that perhaps she might raise her from the ground; and as soon as she touched her hand she arose and stood upon her feet, and cried with a loud voice, saying: O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an awful hell! O blessed God, have mercy on this people!
30 And when she had said this, she [clapped] her hands, being filled with joy, speaking many words which were not understood; and when she had done this, she took the king, Lamoni, by the hand, and behold he arose and stood upon his feet.
31 And he, immediately, seeing the contention among his people, went forth and began to rebuke them, and to teach them the words which he had heard from the mouth of Ammon; and as many as heard his words believed, and were converted unto the Lord.
32 But there were many among them who would not hear his words; therefore they went their way.
Alma 19:29-32 (Emphasis mine)
We find a mistake in verse 30. The published version says that the queen ”clasped her hands.” This should have been “clapped.” Checking the original manuscript, Royal Skousen wrote:
“The 1830 typesetter apparently interpreted Oliver Cowdery's spelling claped as missing an s, yet this spelling is simply the result of the scribes' tendency to not double consonants after a short vowel. Elsewhere, the text does refer to the more emotional clapping of hands (‘they clapped their hands for joy,’ in Mosiah 18:11), but never to clasping hands. In this second example, Oliver Cowdery also spelled clapped with a single p.” [1] (Emphasis mine)
The time had come to end the contention. Abish went forward and took the queen by the hand. The queen stood up and began to praise Christ.
She then took Lamoni by the hand and he stood. Seeing the contention, he immediately rebuked the people, putting an end to their contentions. He proceeded to preach the words of Ammon to the people, and many were converted; however, many exercised their free agency to ignore his words. This is not an usual result. John recorded:
37 ¶ But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
John 12:37 (Emphasis mine)
33 And it came to pass that when Ammon arose he also administered unto them, and also did all the servants of Lamoni; and they did all declare unto the people the selfsame thing—that their hearts had been changed; that they had no more desire to do evil.
34 And behold, many did declare unto the people that they had seen angels and had conversed with them; and thus they had told them things of God, and of his righteousness.
35 And it came to pass that there were many that did believe in their words; and as many as did believe were baptized; and they became a righteous people, and they did establish a church among them.
36 And thus the work of the Lord did commence among the Lamanites; thus the Lord did begin to pour out his Spirit upon them; and we see that his arm is extended to all people who will repent and believe on his name
Alma 19:33-36 (Emphasis mine)
After Ammon arose, he administered to the people and proclaimed that their hearts had changed, “they had no more desire to do evil.” (verse 33)
This is a powerful and mighty change. Here we have people who knew nothing about the gospel. Hearing and accepting Ammon’s words gave them a unique experience – to be taught by heavenly messengers.
We have another example of this mighty change among the people. This occurred among the Nephites after King Benjamin’s powerful sermon. The scriptures tell us that:
2 And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.
Mosiah 5:2 (Emphasis mine)
This is also an important event in Book of Mormon history. Hugh Nibley writes:
“Here we reach a critical point in Book of Mormon history. From this time on the Lamanites start going up in virtue, and the Nephites start going down. The Lamanites become the virtuous people now. It's a very strong trend we see from here on. This critical moment in history is the turning point. It had to be, and the only way such a thing could happen would have to be by another Pentecost, by an eruption of the spirit…
“The big shift begins here in the Book of Mormon where the Lamanites begin to get a break. We talked about mixing races; from now on you're not going to be able to distinguish them at all. Many said ‘they had seen angels and had conversed with them . . . and as many as did believe were baptized; and they became a righteous people, and they did establish a church among them. And thus the work of the Lord did commence among the Lamanites.’ That's why this thing is so sensational, so very striking. The work of the Lord begins among the Lamanites. The moral of that, says Mormon, is ‘that his arm is extended to all people who will repent and believe on his name.’ “ [2] (Emphasis mine)
In closing, I would like to share some comments from James Faulconer. Sharing his love of the Book of Mormon, he wrote:
“Though it was a while in coming, my experience with the Book of Mormon is that, as much or more than any other scriptural work, it opens the opportunity for me to enjoy an experience with the Spirit, an experience in which I learn not only the content of the Book of Mormon, but, more important, what it means to be a saint, a person who desires to be holy, who desires to be like the Savior, Jesus Christ. Reading the Book of Mormon gives me a chance to hear the call of the Spirit, to have, at least for a while, my desires purified, to have ‘no more desire to do evil’ (Alma 19:33). The Book of Mormon straightforwardly directs me along the path I started on when was baptized, and that is why I love it.” [3] (Emphasis mine)
[1] The Systematic Text of the Book of Mormon, Royal Skousen, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 11, 2011.
[2] Lecture 52: Alma 19-22, Hugh W. Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 11, 2011.
[3] With Real Intent, James E. Faulconer, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 11, 2011.
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