Alma 27:1-20

Chapter 27

The Lord commands Ammon to lead the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi to safety—Upon meeting Alma, Ammon’s joy exhausts his strength—The Nephites give the Anti-Nephi-Lehies the land of Jershon—They are called the people of Ammon. About 90–77 B.C.

1 Now it came to pass that when those Lamanites who had gone to war against the Nephites had found, after their many struggles to destroy them, that it was in vain to seek their destruction, they returned again to the land of Nephi.

2 And it came to pass that the Amalekites, because of their loss, were exceedingly angry. And when they saw that they could not seek revenge from the Nephites, they began to stir up the people in anger against their brethren, the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi; therefore they began again to destroy them.

3 Now this people again refused to take their arms, and they suffered themselves to be slain according to the desires of their enemies.

4 Now when Ammon and his brethren saw this work of destruction among those whom they so dearly beloved, and among those who had so dearly beloved them—for they were treated as though they were angels sent from God to save them from everlasting destruction—therefore, when Ammon and his brethren saw this great work of destruction, they were moved with compassion, and they said unto the king:

5 Let us gather together this people of the Lord, and let us go down to the land of Zarahemla to our brethren the Nephites, and flee out of the hands of our enemies, that we be not destroyed.

6 But the king said unto them: Behold, the Nephites will destroy us, because of the many murders and sins we have committed against them.

7 And Ammon said: I will go and inquire of the Lord, and if he say unto us, go down unto our brethren, will ye go?

8 And the king said unto him: Yea, if the Lord saith unto us go, we will go down unto our brethren, and we will be their slaves until we repair unto them the many murders and sins which we have committed against them.

9 But Ammon said unto him: It is against the law of our brethren, which was established by my father, that there should be any slaves among them; therefore let us go down and rely upon the mercies of our brethren.

10 But the king said unto him: Inquire of the Lord, and if he saith unto us go, we will go; otherwise we will perish in the land.

11 And it came to pass that Ammon went and inquired of the Lord, and the Lord said unto him:

12 Get this people out of this land, that they perish not; for Satan has great hold on the hearts of the Amalekites, who do stir up the Lamanites to anger against their brethren to slay them; therefore get thee out of this land; and blessed are this people in this generation, for I will preserve them.

13 And now it came to pass that Ammon went and told the king all the words which the Lord had said unto him.

14 And they gathered together all their people, yea, all the people of the Lord, and did gather together all their flocks and herds, and departed out of the land, and came into the wilderness which divided the land of Nephi from the land of Zarahemla, and came over near the borders of the land.

15 And it came to pass that Ammon said unto them: Behold, I and my brethren will go forth into the land of Zarahemla, and ye shall remain here until we return; and we will try the hearts of our brethren, whether they will that ye shall come into their land.

16 And it came to pass that as Ammon was going forth into the land, that he and his brethren met Alma, over in the place of which has been spoken; and behold, this was a joyful meeting.

17 Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth.

18 Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness.

19 Now the joy of Alma in meeting his brethren was truly great, and also the joy of Aaron, of Omner, and Himni; but behold their joy was not that to exceed their strength.

20 And now it came to pass that Alma conducted his brethren back to the land of Zarahemla; even to his own house. And they went and told the chief judge all the things that had happened unto them in the land of Nephi, among their brethren, the Lamanites. (Alma 27:1-20)

We return to the account of the mission efforts of the sons of Mosiah and their brethren.

After killing a thousand of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, the Lamanites attacked the Nephites.

“And behold, now it came to pass that those Lamanites were more angry because they had slain their brethren; therefore they swore vengeance upon the Nephites; and they did no more attempt to slay the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi at that time.

“But they took their armies and went over into the borders of the land of Zarahemla, and fell upon the people who were in the land of Ammonihah and destroyed them.

“And after that, they had many battles with the Nephites, in the which they were driven and slain”

(Alma 25:1-3).

After their defeats, they ended the war and returned to the land of Nephi.

The Amalekites were angry over their defeat by the Nephites. They began to stir up people against the Anti-Nephi-Lehies and once again attacked them. “Yea, and [the Nephites] also knew the extreme hatred of the Lamanites towards their brethren, who were the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, who were called the people of Ammon—and they would not take up arms, yea, they had entered into a covenant and they would not break it—therefore, if they should fall into the hands of the Lamanites they would be destroyed” (Alma 43:11).

Once again, they refused to take up arms to defend themselves and allowed themselves to be slain by their enemies. “Now when the people saw that they were coming against them they went out to meet them, and prostrated themselves before them to the earth, and began to call on the name of the Lord; and thus they were in this attitude when the Lamanites began to fall upon them, and began to slay them with the sword” (Alma 24:21).

“Seeing the carnage, Ammon spoke to the king. He proposed they take the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi and go to Zarahemla. The king was hesitant. He feared they Nephites would kill them because of the wars with the Lamanites. “Not only was there a five-hundred-year history of Lamanite-Nephite distrust and animosity, but just three years prior to their arrival, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies had indirectly caused the annihilation of an entire Nephite city.”[1]

Seeing the problem, Ammon took Nephi’s advice to Laman and Lemuel. “And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord” (1 Nephi 15:8). He asked if the Lord tells them to go to the land of Zarahemla, will they go?

The king agreed to go to the land of Zarahemla. They offered to be their slaves until they could repair the sins which they had committed against the Nephites.

Ammon told him slavery was against King Mosiah’s law. They should rely on the mercies of the Nephites.

The king again asked Ammon to ask the Lord. If he says we must go, they would go. If not, they would remain and were willing die.

Ammon inquired of the Lord. The Lord commanded Ammon to get the people out of this land. Satan had a hold on the Amalkites. They are the ones who got the other Lamanites to attack the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. The Lord would preserve them.

Ammon told the king what the Lord commanded. They gathered the people together along with the flocks and herds. They traveled through the wilderness which divided the land of Nephi from Zarahemla.

Ammon and his brethren went ahead of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. They wanted to see how the Nephites would react to Lamanites settling in their land.

As Ammon returned to the land, he met Alma. “And now it came to pass that as Alma was journeying from the land of Gideon southward, away to the land of Manti, behold, to his astonishment, he met with the sons of Mosiah journeying towards the land of Zarahemla” (Alma 17:1).

“Ammon appears to have fallen to the earth more than any other individual in the Book of Mormon. His initial conversion experience occurred when the angel rebuked him and his brothers along with Alma (Mosiah 27:12). As discussed above, he fell to the earth again when King Lamoni and his wife were converted (Alma 19:14) and once more when he was overcome with joy as he and his brothers chanced upon Alma in the wilderness (Alma 27:17). In his Mesoamerican context, Ammon’s experiences—rather than being viewed as a sign of physical weakness or perhaps a case of spiritual hypersensitivity—would actually have imbued him with more spiritual potency as a holy man. Among the modern Tzotzil Maya of Chamula, for example, ‘the ability to cure illnesses of increasing severity is dependent upon the number of times the shaman has lost consciousness in a trance.’”[2]

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[1] “And it came to pass . . .”: The Sociopolitical Events in the Book of Mormon Leading to the Eighteenth Year of the Reign of the Judges, Dan Belnap, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 23 (2014): 137.

[2] “According to Their Language, unto Their Understanding”: The Cultural Context of Hierophanies and Theophanies in Latter-day Saint Canon, Mark Alan Wright, Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 3 (2011): 64.