In its final analysis, the word king means father. In patriarchal days the king ruled by right of his fatherhood. This idea was imbedded in the thinking of all the Hebrews, and the descendants of Father Lehi retained it in nearly all the annals that have been preserved by the Sacred Record unless it was during the Reign of the Judges. Father Lehi was the head and the leader and the ultimate appeal of his little colony. May we say, "He was their king." This custom held fast when Mosiah I appointed his son, Benjamin, to be king of the Nephites. Benjamin, in turn, at God's command, ordained his own son, Mosiah, "to be a king and a ruler over this people, whom the Lord our God hath given us." (Mosiah 1:10) The chronicles of these times show the fatherly interest these great and good kings had for the welfare of their subjects.
Later on we shall learn that when wickedness usurped the place of goodness and purity among the Nephites, the people, themselves, dissatisfied with the way their government was administered by ruthless and scheming men, divided themselves into tribes, every man leading his kindred and friends. This move disrupted the plans of the enemies of organized conduct in the affairs of state, and completely disorganized their republican form of government which had for ninety years been presided over by Chief Judges. Some men had larger families and more relatives and friends than did others, therefore some tribes were larger than were others. However, each tribe appointed its leader or chief who was their ruler or king. His special duty was to see that the laws which they adopted were properly carried out. (III Nephi 7:1-4)
We are not surprised to find that the father-king relationship was carried out by the sons of Laman and Lemuel, because they also had inherited this idea of government from the Hebrews, the ancestors of both the Nephites and the Lamanites.
Thus, we find implanted in Lamoni's heart, a fatherly concept, beforetime quite dormant, of his duty as king over the inhabitants of the Land of Ishmael, whom, we imagine he now regarded as his children.
Lamoni grew increasingly anxious in the work he had undertaken. He could not rest from his labors, nor slacken his zeal. The cause of the Lord and the satisfaction of its blessed requirements was the goal for which he strived. With strength made greater by Ammon's watchful care, Lamoni fearlessly wrestled with every obstacle which confronted him. He rejoiced because his people were now free to act according to their own desires. No longer would his father in the Land of Nephi seek to oppress them. No longer would the ties that bound them to the throne there by tyrannical or burdensome. The great king of all the Lamanites, whose seat of government was in the land of Nephi, had granted autonomy to the Land of Ishmael, and thus Lamoni was the supreme ruler of all who dwelt therein. (Alma 20:26)
With scarcely a pause to attend to the affairs of his kingdom, Lamoni taught his people the Way of the Lord. To their astonished ears he declared that they might now worship as they chose, and wherever they were at if it were in the land over which he reigned. Liberty to worship the Lord God no matter the form thereof or its expression was allowed to all.