20 And as Ammon
entered the land of Ishmael, the Lamanites took him and bound him, as was their
custom to bind all the Nephites who fell into their hands, and carry them
before the king; and thus it was left to the pleasure of the king to slay them,
or to retain them in captivity, or to cast them into prison, or to cast them
out of his land, according to his will and pleasure.
21 And thus Ammon was
carried before the king who was over the land of Ishmael; and his name was
Lamoni; and he was a descendant of Ishmael.
22 And the king
inquired of Ammon if it were his desire to dwell in the land among the
Lamanites, or among his people.
23 And Ammon said unto
him: Yea, I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps
until the day I die.
24 And it came to pass
that king Lamoni was much pleased with Ammon, and caused that his bands should
be loosed; and he would that Ammon should take one of his daughters to wife.
25 But Ammon said unto
him: Nay, but I will be thy servant. Therefore Ammon became a servant to king
Lamoni. And it came to pass that he was set among other servants to watch the
flocks of Lamoni, according to the custom of the Lamanites.
26 And after he had
been in the service of the king three days, as he was with the Lamanitish
servants going forth with their flocks to the place of water, which was called
the water of Sebus, and all the Lamanites drive their flocks hither, that they
may have water—
27 Therefore, as Ammon
and the servants of the king were driving forth their flocks to this place of
water, behold, a certain number of the Lamanites, who had been with their
flocks to water, stood and scattered the flocks of Ammon and the servants of
the king, and they scattered them insomuch that they fled many ways.
28 Now the servants of
the king began to murmur, saying: Now the king will slay us, as he has our
brethren because their flocks were scattered by the wickedness of these men.
And they began to weep exceedingly, saying: Behold, our flocks are scattered
already.
29 Now they wept because
of the fear of being slain. Now when Ammon saw this his heart was swollen
within him with joy; for, said he, I will show forth my power unto these my
fellow-servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks unto
the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may
lead them to believe in my words.
30 And now, these were
the thoughts of Ammon, when he saw the afflictions of those whom he termed to
be his brethren.
31 And it came to pass
that he flattered them by his words, saying: My brethren, be of good cheer and
let us go in search of the flocks, and we will gather them together and bring
them back unto the place of water; and thus we will preserve the flocks unto
the king and he will not slay us. (Alma 17:20-31)
When Ammon departed, he went to the land of Ishmael. He was
captured by the Lamanites. He was bound and brought before the king. He would
decide what would happen to Ammon.
He was brought before the king, Lamoni. We are informed he
descended from Ishmael.
King Lamoni began to interrogate Ammon. He first asked if he
was in his land and desired to live among his people. Ammon responded he did.
He said he may remain until the day he dies.
Lamoni was pleased with his answer. He had him freed from
his bondage. Then, he offered one of his daughters to be his wife.
Ammon refused his offer. Instead, he offered to become the
king’s servant. His first duty was to watch the flocks of Lamoni.
After three days, he went with the other servants to the
water of Sebus. This was a place where the Lamanites drove the flocks to give
them water.
While there, a gang of Lamanites scattered Lamoni’s flocks.
The flocks ran off in different directions.
The servants became upset. In the past, the king had killed
those watching his flocks when they were scattered by the gangs of Lamanites.
They feared they would all be killed.
“What insanity is this, the king kills his own servants for
losing a contest that had been acted out before? In fact, we are told in Alma
18:7 that ‘it was the practice of these Lamanites to stand by the waters of
Sebus to scatter the flocks of the people,’ keeping what they could for
themselves, ‘it being a practice of plunder among them’ (Alma 18:7). It looks
like it was a regular custom. So it was no secret to anyone; this was not an
ambush but something to be expected. But the king’s own flocks? How could they
get away with that? Didn’t he have enough men to protect them if this happened
regularly? Well, for one thing the Lamanites played the game for sport; it was
more than meat that they were after, for ‘they delighted in the destruction of
their brethren; and for this cause they stood to scatter the flocks of the king’
(Alma 17:35). They thought it was great sport. The Arabs have a saying, ‘If we
cease ghāza, we will cease to live.’ A ghāza is a raid; our
word raid is from the Arabic ghāza. They must raid or life isn’t
worth living. ‘Life is raiding.’”[1]
“That life was extremely cheap among the Lamanites (and not
just for Nephites) is further evidenced by Lamoni’s own history of punishing
with death any of his servants who allowed his flocks to be scattered (Alma
17:28–29).”[2]
Seeing how the Lamanites responded, Ammon was filled with joy.
“I will show forth my power unto these my fellow-servants, or the power which
is in me, in restoring these flocks unto the king, that I may win the hearts of
these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words” (Alma
17:29).
He told them to cheer up. He told them they should search
for the flocks, gather them, and bring them back to water them. This will
preserve the king’s flocks and they will not die.
“[W]e may read this as a story about some shepherds trying
to round up some missing sheep, but the message is much more powerful and
significant than that. Ammon was a missionary with noble intentions to bring
the king and his kingdom back to the fold of righteousness, to the well of
living water. The challenge looked daunting to those who could see only, in
everyday terms, sheep strung out on hillsides and not enough manpower to round
them up. They were discouraged and fearful that the king would discover their
loss.
“Ammon not only led the force to recapture the sheep, he
drove away the evil men who caused the problems; and his heroic efforts
persuaded the king to follow him and to follow the Savior.”[3]
[1] Lecture
51: Alma 17-19, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 2, Lecture 51, War, Ammon,
and King Lamoni, Hugh Nibley,
Maxwell Institute website.
[2] Were
the Ammonites Pacifists?, Duane Boyce, Journal
of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 18/1 (2009): 39.
[3] “When
Thou Art Converted, Strengthen Thy Brethren,” Elder Robert D. Hales, April 1997
General Conference.
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