Where we are
Alma 18 is the chapter that turns the violent miracle at Sebus into a conversation. The arms have been brought to the king. Lamoni is doing what any thoughtful pagan king would do — trying to fit what just happened into a category he already has. Surely, this is more than a man. The chapter is the story of how Ammon walked Lamoni out of his category and into the gospel, without ever telling him his category was wrong.
This is the Book of Mormon's master text on missionary pedagogy. Ammon does not begin by correcting Lamoni's vocabulary. He begins by accepting it. Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit? — Yea. — And Ammon said: This is God. Two sentences and the bridge is built. The Great Spirit of the Lamanite tradition turns out to be the God Lamoni did not yet have a name for. Paul will do exactly the same thing at the Areopagus in Acts 17:23 — whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. Ammon is doing it at Ishmael, eighty years before Paul stands up at Mars Hill.
The chapter has five movements: (1) the arms brought to the king and Lamoni's Great-Spirit identification (vv. 1–10); (2) the king's troubled silence and Ammon's perceptive entry (vv. 11–22); (3) the catechetical exchange (vv. 23–32); (4) the creation-to-Christ scripture tour (vv. 33–39); (5) the king's overwhelming-joy collapse (vv. 40–43).
Six verses carry most of the weight: v. 2 (Surely, this is more than a man… is it not the Great Spirit?); v. 5 (the Lamanite tradition of the Great Spirit, and Lamoni began to fear lest he had done wrong in slaying his servants); v. 13 (the Lamanite servants name Ammon Rabbanah); v. 24 (Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit? And he said, Yea. And Ammon said: This is God); v. 36 (Ammon expounded unto them the plan of redemption); v. 41 (Lamoni's cry, O Lord, have mercy, followed by his fall).
The arms and the Great-Spirit identification (verses 1–10)
And it came to pass that king Lamoni caused that his servants should stand forth and testify to all the things which they had seen concerning the matter. — Alma 18:1
Lamoni calls for eyewitnesses. He does not act on the first report; he assembles the witnesses and hears them out. The form is the Mosaic judicial form — by the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established (Deut. 19:15) — even though the Lamanite tradition has long since lost the explicit Mosaic law. The conscience kept the form even where the text was lost. The Book of Mormon teaches in passing here that the light of Christ leaves its prints in a tradition long after the scripture is gone.
And when they had all testified to the things which they had seen, and he had learned of the faithfulness of Ammon in preserving his flocks, and also of his great power in contending against those who sought to slay him, he was astonished exceedingly, and said: Surely, this is more than a man. Behold, is not this the Great Spirit who doth send such great punishments upon this people, because of their murders? — Alma 18:2
Lamoni's first thought is theological, not political. He does not ask whether Ammon will overthrow him; he asks whether Ammon is the Great Spirit who punishes the murders of this people. The implicit reference is to his own murders — his own past killings of servants whose flocks were scattered. The Spirit is already at work on him before any preaching begins.
The phrase surely, this is more than a man is the form of the Roman centurion's confession at the cross: truly this man was the Son of God (Mark 15:39, Matt. 27:54). The pagan, looking at the evidence, says the right thing in his own vocabulary. Lamoni is a pre-centurion. He recognizes the more-than-human in the work of a man who has been faithful to his master's flocks. The Book of Mormon's clearest pre-Synoptic centurion-recognition is in this verse.
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 cannot be slain by the enemies of the king; neither can they scatter the king's flocks when he is with us, because of his expertness and great strength; therefore, we know that he is a friend to the king. — Alma 18:3
The servants do exactly what John 9:25's blind man will later do at Siloam: whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. They confine themselves to what they have seen. The Book of Mormon's clearest pre-Johannine text on the discipline of eyewitness testimony — saying only what you saw, refusing to speculate past it — is in this verse. The servants do not know whether Ammon is the Great Spirit. They know he cannot be slain. They know the flocks are safe when he is there. That much they will say.
Now, when the king heard these words, he said unto them: Now I know that it is the Great Spirit; and he has come down at this time to preserve your lives, that I might not slay you as I did your brethren. Now this is the Great Spirit of whom our fathers have spoken. — Alma 18:4
Lamoni's confession contains a sharp moral self-accusation. I might not slay you as I did your brethren. He has slain shepherds before. He is in this moment looking at the killing as the murder it was. The chapter does not say so out loud, but the verse is the bend of the king's conscience. The Spirit is doing the work the chapter will only later name. The Great Spirit, he says, has come down at this time to preserve your lives. The thought is more than recognition; it is the conviction that the Lord's intervention is moral and personal.
Now this was the tradition of Lamoni, which he had received from his father, that there was a Great Spirit. Notwithstanding they believed in a Great Spirit, they supposed that whatsoever they did was right; nevertheless, Lamoni began to fear exceedingly, with fear lest he had done wrong in slaying his servants; — Alma 18:5
Mormon-the-editor gives us the doctrinal portrait of the Lamanite tradition in one sentence. They believed in a Great Spirit. They believed whatever they did was right. Those two beliefs together are the form of a paganism that retains its theology and loses its moral content. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on what happens to a tradition that keeps the name of God and discards the moral law is in the description of this Lamanite belief.
But the verse turns. Nevertheless, Lamoni began to fear exceedingly. The Spirit overrides the corrupted tradition. The Lamanite paganism said his murders were fine; the conscience said they were not. The conscience won. Paul will name the same dynamic in Romans 2:14–15 — for when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law… which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness. The Book of Mormon's clearest pre-Pauline articulation of conscience-overriding-corrupted-tradition is this verse.
The king's troubled silence (verses 11–22)
The next several verses set up an unusual scene. The king sits in silence for an hour. The servants are afraid to speak to him. Ammon, in another part of the palace, is summoned. When he comes in, the king will not speak. Ammon, by the Spirit, perceives that the king wants to talk but cannot.
And it came to pass that he said unto the king: What wilt thou that I should do for thee, O king? — Alma 18:14
Ammon breaks the silence with a servant's question. The phrasing is precise. The chief, as Mormon told us in Alma 17:18, ministers. Ammon stands before the king and offers to serve. Whatever else happens in this chapter, that posture is the foundation of it.
And the king answered him not for the space of an hour, according to their time, for he knew not what he should say unto him. — Alma 18:14
An hour of silence. The chapter slows down to let the silence weigh. Lamoni is at the seam between his old tradition and a new conviction. He does not know what to say. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the kind of conviction that takes a man's words away is this hour.
And he beheld that Ammon could discern his thoughts; but notwithstanding this, king Lamoni did open his mouth, and said unto him: Who art thou? Art thou that Great Spirit, who knows all things? — Alma 18:18
Lamoni asks the question his tradition gives him to ask. Ammon's discernment looks, to the king, like the work of the Great Spirit who knows all things. The question is also exactly the question the Samaritan woman will ask at Sychar: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet (John 4:19). Both Lamoni and the woman of John 4 are reasoning from a single fact — he knew my thoughts — to a theological conclusion. The Book of Mormon's clearest pre-Synoptic text on the pattern of discernment-leading-to-confession is in this verse.
Ammon answered and said unto him, I am not. — Alma 18:19
The chapter's most precisely chosen sentence. Ammon refuses the divine identification. He answers I am not. The grammar is the exact opposite of Christ's I am (John 8:58, John 18:5, egō eimi). When the king asks the prophet whether he is God, the prophet says I am not. Acts 14:14–15 records Paul and Barnabas saying the same thing at Lystra when the people try to sacrifice to them as gods: sirs, why do ye these things? we also are men of like passions with you. The Book of Mormon's clearest pre-Pauline text on the discipline of the priest refusing the divine attribution is in this verse. The true priest says I am not where Christ alone says I am.
And the king said: How knowest thou the thoughts of my heart? Thou mayest speak boldly, and tell me concerning these things; and also tell me by what power ye slew and smote off the arms of my brethren that scattered my flocks. And now, if thou wilt tell me concerning these things, whatsoever thou desirest I will give unto thee; and if it were needed, I would guard thee with my armies; but I know that thou art more powerful than all they; nevertheless, whatsoever thou desirest of me I will grant it unto thee. — Alma 18:20–21
The king offers Ammon anything. The form is exactly the form Herod will give to Salome's daughter in Mark 6:23 — whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. The two scenes are an instructive pair. Herod's offer of anything turns into John the Baptist's head on a platter. Lamoni's offer of anything turns into the request for the knowledge of God. One king asks for blood; the other asks for truth. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the contrast between the two kinds of king-who-offers-anything is the implicit comparison of these verses with Mark 6.
The catechetical exchange (verses 23–32)
And Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a God? And he answered, and said unto him: I do not know what that meaneth. And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit? And he said, Yea. And Ammon said: This is God. — Alma 18:24–25
The hinge of the chapter. Lamoni does not know what God means; he does know what Great Spirit means. Ammon meets him at the vocabulary he already has. Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit? — Yea. — This is God. Three sentences, and the bridge from Lamanite tradition to gospel doctrine is in place.
Paul will use exactly this method at the Areopagus in Acts 17. He will note the altar to the unknown God, accept it as a true (though incomplete) acknowledgment, and then say: whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. Paul does in Athens what Ammon does in Ishmael. Both refuse to start by correcting vocabulary; both accept the petitioner's category and fill it with the right content. The Book of Mormon's clearest pre-Pauline text on the Mars-Hill method is the believest thou that there is a Great Spirit? exchange.
And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth? And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the earth; but I do not know the heavens. And Ammon said unto him: The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels. And king Lamoni said: Is it above the earth? And Ammon said: Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning. — Alma 18:28–29
The catechism builds carefully. Creator of the earth — yes, Lamoni already believes that. The heavens — no, that piece is new. Ammon supplies it. The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels. And then the doctrinal payload: the God who lives above the earth also looks down, knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart, and made every soul from the beginning. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the missionary discipline of building doctrine layer by layer on the petitioner's existing knowledge is in this exchange.
The creation-to-Christ scripture tour (verses 33–39)
And the king said: How do you know these things? And Ammon said: An holy angel hath made them known unto me, and also unto our fathers; and also it is given unto me to know the thoughts of the king. For by his Spirit hath he taken possession of me, and I do know that whatsoever I shall say unto you, concerning that which is right, is true. — Alma 18:33–34
Ammon names his source: an angel, and the Spirit's taking possession of him. By his Spirit hath he taken possession of me, and I do know that whatsoever I shall say unto you, concerning that which is right, is true. Peter will later say something close to this in 2 Peter 1:21 — holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Book of Mormon's clearest pre-Petrine text on the prophet as mouthpiece of the Spirit is in Ammon's confession here.
And it came to pass that Ammon 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 rehearsed and laid before him the records and the holy scriptures of the people, which had been spoken by the prophets, even down to the time that their father, Lehi, left Jerusalem. And he rehearsed unto them, also, the rebellions 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 records and the scriptures from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem down to the present time. But this is not all; for he expounded unto them the plan 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 (cluster of vv. 36–38)
The chapter's master pedagogical sweep. Ammon begins at creation and walks Lamoni forward through the whole biblical story: the fall, the prophets, the departure of Lehi, the family rebellions, the records from Lehi down to now, and the plan of redemption from the foundation of the world. This is the form Jesus will later use on the Emmaus road: beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke 24:27). The Nephite missionary discipline already had the form eighty years earlier.
Two pieces of that walk are worth pausing on. The plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the world anticipates 1 Peter 1:20 — who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. And the coming of Christ gives the king, in one sentence, what the rest of Mormon's Nephite history exists to say: that the Lord is coming, and that the whole story bends toward him. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on missionary work as the rehearsal of the story is the verses Mormon gives us here.
The king's collapse (verses 40–43)
And it came to pass that after he had said all these things, and expounded them to the king, that the king believed all his words. And he began to cry unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, have mercy; according to thy abundant mercy which thou hast had upon the people of Nephi, have upon me, and my people. And now, when he had said this, he fell unto the earth, as if he were dead. — Alma 18:40–41
Lamoni's prayer is the prayer of Psalm 51 — have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. The pagan king prays a Davidic psalm he has never read. He prays it because the Spirit gave it to him; he prays it in his own words; he prays it for himself and his people both. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the king's intercession for his people — have upon me, and my people — is in this verse. Moses had done the same thing at Sinai (Ex. 32:32). Lamoni does it at Ishmael.
And it came to pass that his servants took him and carried him in unto his wife, and laid him upon a bed; and he lay as if he were dead for the space of two days and two nights; and his wife, and his sons, and his daughters mourned over him, after the manner of the Lamanites, greatly lamenting his loss. — Alma 18:43
Two days and two nights. The third day will be the rising (Alma 19). The Book of Mormon's clearest pre-Synoptic text on the Jonah-sign pattern — as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:40) — is the Lamoni collapse-and-rising over Alma 18 and 19. The pagan king is laid as if dead, mourned by his household, and will rise on the third day to preach. The form is the form of the Christ-burial-and-resurrection, lived out in advance, in a king who has just been taught that Christ will come.
The note after the manner of the Lamanites is a small ethnographic gem. The Lamanites have their own mourning customs. The Book of Mormon is willing to record that detail — that this culture had its own forms — and to record it without comment.
The chapter's architecture
Five movements. The arms and the Great-Spirit identification. The troubled silence. The catechism. The scripture tour. The collapse.
The chapter is a textbook of missionary pedagogy. Ammon does five things in order: he meets the king at his existing vocabulary; he refuses any false claim of his own divinity; he asks before he teaches; he builds doctrine on the petitioner's existing knowledge; and he tells the whole story from creation to Christ. Every Latter-day Saint missionary discipline that has come since traces back to this sequence — Preach My Gospel explicitly cites the form — and the form is recognizable, in shape and rhythm, in any patient teaching of any patient learner.
The chapter also matters for what it says about the work of the Spirit before any missionary arrives. Lamoni's conscience is not blank. He has been troubled about the servants he has killed. The Great Spirit of his tradition is not the false God of pagan invention; it is a true (though partial) name for the God who made him. The verse describing Lamanite tradition — they believed in a Great Spirit, but also supposed that whatsoever they did was right — is one of the canon's most penetrating short descriptions of a paganism that has kept the theology and lost the ethics. The Spirit's work in Lamoni begins by restoring the ethics, then proceeds to fill in the theology Ammon names.
The chapter closes by leaving the king laid as if dead and the queen mourning. The image is the pre-figuration of every Christ-burial scene in the New Testament. Alma 19, the next chapter, is the resurrection: the king rises, testifies that he has seen his Redeemer, and the entire household is converted in a single morning. The chapter that begins with severed arms ends with a man on a bed who looks like he is dead. Both are forms the Spirit will use. Both are the Lord's work.