Alma 17:36-39

Brant Gardner

Ammon is armed. There is no indication that any other of the servants were armed. He is armed with both a sling and his sword. Against him were a larger number of men, but without the typical weapons of war. They come at him with clubs. They had numbers, but inferior weapons.

Ammon kills six with the sling, and then turned to the sword. Clearly, Ammon was a skilled fighter and was certainly enhanced through God’s power. However, the very fact that Ammon used weapons against the intruders was probably a surprise. Later we will learn that King Lamoni could have sent an armed guard with his servants, but did not do so, apparently sending men to their deaths rather than fight them.

There will be more clues later in this story, but the most logical explanation is that the intruders were a faction within King Lamoni’s important families. They had been scattering flocks to embarrass the king, and as royalty, the servants could not fight against them. Ammon, however, was an outsider and didn’t know the subtle rules everyone else was following. Ammon surprised the intruders by fighting back. Perhaps King Lamoni intentionally sent an armed Ammon on this mission for just that reason. What was more surprising, however, was that he not only fought, but defeated the intruders. That was unexpected and leads to the next part of the story when they return to the king.

There is no chapter break at this location in the 1830 edition.

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