Chapter 26
Ammon glories in the Lord—The faithful are strengthened by the Lord and are given knowledge—By faith men may bring thousands of souls unto repentance—God has all power and comprehendeth all things. About 90–77 B.C.
1 AND now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?
2 And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?
3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.
Alma 26:1-3 (Emphasis mine)
At the end of Chapter 25, we read about how the sons of Mosiah and their brethren are rejoicing. Ammon, more specifically, begins to rejoice.
Look at what has happened since we began our missionary journey. Could we have ever expected such great blessing? Can we? The Lamanites were in darkness, but we have now brought them to light of God. We have been instruments in the hands of God to accomplish this.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
2 Corinthians 4:5 (Emphasis mine)
Hugh Nibley writes about Ammon’s words and the importance of Ammon.
“Now we come to this wonderful speech, Ammon's mission report. It's a very good one here. It's a most singular document. The Book of Mormon is so full of things like this one here. … Remember, this was the same Ammon who was more than a match for the people at the waters of Sebus. He was a one-man platoon; he could wipe out anything you wanted. He was the most ferocious and effective fighter in the Book of Mormon. Yet see what kind of a mission he went on here … This is what happened, a miraculous turn. There's one key figure in all this change, all this going on. The whole movement comes back to this one man, Ammon, so it is very important that he gives a report on his behavior, his motivation, and how he was able to do it.” [1] (Emphasis mine)
4 Behold, thousands of them do rejoice, and have been brought into the fold of God.
5 Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted.
6 Yea, they shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day; yea, neither shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds; but when the storm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place, that the storm cannot penetrate to them; yea, neither shall they be driven with fierce winds whithersoever the enemy listeth to carry them.
7 But behold, they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest, and they are his; and he will raise them up at the last day.
8 Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever.
9 For if we had not come up out of the land of Zarahemla, these our dearly beloved brethren, who have so dearly beloved us, would still have been racked with hatred against us, yea, and they would also have been strangers to God.
Alma 26:4-9 (Emphasis mine)
Ammon continues to rejoice in the faithfulness of their converts. “…they are his; and he will raise them up at the last day” (verse 7) Ammon proclaims. Ammon’s words begin to appear almost like a song of praise, a spoken song. Let’s look at two verses, 8-9.
Blessed be the name of our God;
let us sing to his praise,
yea, let us give thanks to his holy name,
for he doth work righteousness forever.
For if we had not come up
out of the land of Zarahemla,
these our dearly beloved brethren,
who had so dearly beloved us
would still have been racked
with hatred against us,
yea, and they would also
have been strangers to God.
Compare this with examples from Psalms.
7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.
8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.
10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.
Psalms 57:7-10 (Emphasis mine)
1 O GOD, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
3 I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.
4 For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.
5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;
Psalms 108:1-5 (Emphasis mine)
Ammon’s rejoicing is another way to praise God.
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