17 July 2014

Alma 20: The Release of Ammon's Brethren

After Ammon and king Lamoni had established a church, Lamoni wanted to take Ammon to the land of Nephi and introduce him to his father. (Things were getting serious...)
God had other plans for Ammon, though. He told Ammon not to go visit the king, because he would try to kill him. Instead, he wanted Ammon to go rescue his brother Aaron and his two buddies Muloki and Ammah who were in prison in the land of Middoni.
And the voice of the Lord came to Ammon saying: Thou shalt not go up to the land of Nephi, for behold, the king will seek thy life; but thou shalt go to the land of Middoni; for behold, thy brother Aaron, and also Muloki and Ammah are in prison. 20.2
King Lamoni asked to go with Ammon. He thought he might be of some help since he knew the Antiomno, the king of Middoni. Lamoni also asked how the heck he knew about this

Ammon told him that nobody told him, he just heard it from God. That was good enough for Lamoni to get his chariot ready.

So they left together for the land of Middoni. On the way, they ran across Lamoni's dad, who was the king of all the land. He was a little mad that they didn't come to the big feast that he had invited them to. He also asked them where they were going, after insulting Ammon a little bit.

Lamoni told him the truth, that they were going to rescue Ammon's brethren in the land of Middoni. The king wasn't too pleased with this, and he ordered Lamoni to run Ammon through with his sword.

Lamoni told his father that he wouldn't kill Ammon, and so his father pulled out his own sword to kill Lamoni. Ammon told him that he probably shouldn't kill his own son (it's bad politics).

 But Ammon stood forth and said unto him: Behold, thou shalt not slay thy son. 20.17
Lamoni's father thought about it for a bit, and then decided that he shouldn't kill his son after all. He should kill Ammon, since Ammon had been the one that was responsible for his son turning wicked. He started hitting Ammon with his sword, but Ammon "withstood his blows", and then hit his arm so hard that he couldn't use it anymore.
Once he was sure he was beat, Lamoni's dad started begging for his life. Ammon used this opportunity to demand that his brethren be freed from prison, and that Lamoni could continue to rule however he pleased.
The king happily agreed. He was willing to offer up to half of his kingdom to Ammon in exchange for his life, but Ammon was a stand up guy and didn't take it. Then the king had a bit of a change of heart about Ammon. After all, he did spare his life, so maybe there was something to his teachings after all. He invited Ammon to bring his brethren up to the palace sometime for a chat, once they were released.

And just like that, Ammon's brethren were freed. They were in pretty rough shape: they were naked, and had rashes from being tied up in thick rope, and they were very hungry, thirsty and had other medical problems. They didn't complain, though. I guess they knew that their suffering must have all been part of God's plan. Or something like that.
Ammon's brethren told him the short version of the story of how they ended up in prison: people didn't believe their preaching, they were cast out of each town they came to, and then eventually they were thrown in prison for "many days" until he came to let them out.
The next chapter covers Aaron's trip to Jerusalem. It will be nice to get away from Ammon for a little while.

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