This is my favorite verse from this chapter,
spoken by Ammon who is praising the Lord for the miracle among the Lamanites he and his brethren have been a part of:
12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things;
This is true for all of us. By ourselves, we are incredibly
limited and weak. But with the Lord’s help we can do anything He desires for us
to accomplish. The key is being humble and forfeiting our personal desires for
what the Lord wants.
Remember the angry Lamanites who first attacked the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, and then felt bad and went to war against the
Nephites instead? Well, they have lost the battle with the Nephites and have started attacking the defenseless Anti-Nephi-Lehies again. At this point
Ammon begs the king of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies to go to the Nephities to seek
protection. The king isn’t keen on this idea because he remembers all the plunder
and murder his own people committed against the Nephites before they converted,
and he doesn’t think the Nephites will accept them. But Ammon inquires of the
Lord what they should do, and they are commanded to go to the Nephites to ask
for help.
The Nephites are touched by the conversion and sacrifice of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies who have buried their weapons of war, and
they give them a whole city—Jershon—and agree to protect
them with the Nephite armies if they will contribute with finances and
supplies. From here on out, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies are called the People of Ammon (another
name change). I just love the people of Ammon, and I’m inspired by their faith,
conviction, and goodness. I believe the Lord watches over and rewards
people like this, and we will see examples of his blessings in later chapters.
27 And they were among the people of Nephi, and also numbered among the people who were of the church of God. And they were also distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end.28 And they did look upon shedding the blood of their brethren with the greatest abhorrence; and they never could be prevailed upon to take up arms against their brethren; and they never did look upon death with any degree of terror, for their hope and views of Christ and the resurrection; therefore, death was swallowed up to them by the victory of Christ over it.30 And thus they were a zealous and beloved people, a highly favored people of the Lord.
The Lamanites come to attack the people of Ammon, and the
Nephites protect them for the first time in a big, ugly battle. The Nephites win, but many Nephites
are killed and tons of Lamanites are killed. The book of Alma has
a big chunk of chapters later on that are known as the “war chapters” but we
will take a break from war for awhile now and read about some more preaching and
missionary efforts of Alma and Amulek.
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