Ammon's Strength and Testimony
Book of Mormon Notes - Monday, August 27, 2023, Alma 18
Something that I never noticed before in my study of these chapters in the Book of Mormon is perhaps one of the reasons that Ammon’s testimony later on includes a specific acknowledgment that the miracles that he and his missionary brothers accomplished were brought about because of the strength of the Lord, and not because of his own strength:
But Ammon said unto him: I do not aboast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my bjoy is full, yea, my heart is brim with cjoy, and I will rejoice in my God.
Yea, I know that I am anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will bnot boast of myself, but I will cboast of my God, for in his dstrength I can do all ethings; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. (Alma 26:11-12)
Ammon’s incredible feats of strength must have been legendary even in his own time. It would have been very easy for him to boast in his own strength or in his own wisdom because, like an ancient American Cyrano de Bergerac, he single-handedly defeated an entire mob of enemies. Listen to the reaction of the astonished servants of the king after Ammon’s spectacular victory:
And they answered the king, and said: Whether he be the Great Spirit or a man, we know not; but this much we do know, that he acannot be slain by the enemies of the king; neither can they bscatter the king’s flocks when he is with us, because of his expertness and cgreat strength; therefore, we know that he is a friend to the king. And now, O king, we do not believe that a man has such great power, for we know he cannot be slain. (Alma 18:3)
Great strength. Great power. The king even began to suppose that Ammon was the Great Spirit, or God himself. How did Alma know about this story to record it? Someone must have told him later, perhaps when the sons of Mosiah and Alma met up again on the way to Zarahemla. Whatever the case, Alma learned of Ammon’s incredible feats and the legend lives on. But Ammon knew that it was the Lord who had strengthened him and produced these mighty miracles. If a man like Ammon, mightier than an army and more powerful than any enemy confesses that he is nothing, and that as to his strength, he is weak, what does that mean for the rest of us?
Of course Ammon humbly acknowledged from the beginning that he was only a man, and that any power that he had came from God, and not from himself:
I say unto you, what is it, that thy marvelings are so great? Behold, I am a aman, and am thy servant; therefore, whatsoever thou desirest which is right, that will I do. (Alma 18:17)
This reminds me of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s acknowledgment of his own imperfection:
When did I ever teach anything wrong from this stand? When was I ever confounded? I want to triumph in Israel before I depart hence and am no more seen. I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught. Must I, then, be thrown away as a thing of naught?
And,
Although I do wrong, I do not the wrongs that I am charged with doing: the wrong that I do is through the frailty of human nature, like other men. No man lives without fault. Do you think that even Jesus, if He were here, would be without fault in your eyes? His enemies said all manner of evil against Him—they all watched for iniquity in Him.
And,
I … went over to the store [in Nauvoo, Illinois], where a number of brethren and sisters were assembled, who had arrived this morning from the neighborhood of New York. … I told them I was but a man, and they must not expect me to be perfect; if they expected perfection from me, I should expect it from them; but if they would bear with my infirmities and the infirmities of the brethren, I would likewise bear with their infirmities.14
Joseph Smith was a man. Ammon was a man. But they were also great men, instruments in the hands of God. Ammon knew that he was just a man, and he also knew that the Holy Spirit was the real teacher:
Ammon said unto him: I am a aman; and man in the beginning was created after the image of God, and I am called by his bHoly Spirit to teach these things unto this people, that they may be brought to a knowledge of that which is just and true;
And a portion of that aSpirit dwelleth in me, which giveth me bknowledge, and also power according to my faith and desires which are in God. (Alma 18:34-35)
Ammon’s faith and desires were in God, and because Ammon was in the service of God and his fellow men, the Lord endowed him with knowledge and power, even power to discern the thoughts of the king and to teach him the plan of redemption.
Mormon’s abridgment of the story of Ammon contains a great outline for teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What did Ammon teach?
Now when Ammon had said these words, he began at the creation of the world, and also the creation of Adam, and told him all the things concerning the fall of man, and arehearsed and laid before him the brecords and the holy scriptures of the people, which had been spoken by the cprophets, even down to the time that their father, Lehi, left Jerusalem.
And he also rehearsed unto them (for it was unto the king and to his servants) all the journeyings of their fathers in the wilderness, and all their sufferings with hunger and thirst, and their travail, and so forth.
And he also rehearsed unto them concerning the arebellions of Laman and Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael, yea, all their rebellions did he relate unto them; and he expounded unto them all the brecords and scriptures from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem down to the present time.
But this is not all; for he aexpounded unto them the bplan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the world; and he also made known unto them concerning the coming of Christ, and all the works of the Lord did he make known unto them. (Alma 18:36-39, my emphasis added)
Creation, Fall, Atonement, scriptures, Book of Mormon history, the plan of redemption, the coming of Christ, all the works of the Lord… all of this reminds me that the Book of Mormon is a Temple text.
King Lamoni believed, prayed, and fell to the earth as if he were dead.