Once more the text brings us back to the meeting of the missionaries and Alma returning from his reformation work among the Nephites (v. 16). The first time Ammon fell to the earth, it was because of exceeding joy when King Lamoni, the queen, and the servants also fell to the earth (see Alma 18:40–19:15). Ammon’s joy exhausted his strength on both occasions (Alma 27:17), but the king, queen, and servants were going through a conversion process (see Alma 19:6). The joy of Alma and the other sons (Alma 27:19) was probably not as great as that of Ammon because they had not been as fully responsible as he had been. Ammon was “the chief among them” (Alma 17:18).