“Many Among Them Who Said That Ammon Was the Great Spirit”

Brant Gardner

We have here the basic replay of the question King Lamoni pondered in his court. There is something about Ammon, and it was easy for the people to consider him “more than a man.” However, whether or not that numenous category made him beneficent or maleficent was still at issue. Finding the king, his wife, and their inner circle of servants lying as if dead would lend credence to the “monster” theory espoused in verse 26. It should be remembered that in Mesoamerica these semi-divine characters could have both benevolent and malevolent aspects, so the presumption that Ammon was a being of power, but also evil, was a logical conclusion in their cultural milieu.

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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