“His Horses and His Chariots”

Brant Gardner

Once again we have the anomalous horses and chariots. In this context it may certainly be read that they were intended to be used as conveyances, but there is still another possibility. We have these two verses as direct conclusions to the question that was asked as to how Ammon knew that his brethren were in prison. In verse 5 we have the simple answer that God told him. Verse 6 immediately notes that Lamoni causes that the horses and chariots be made ready.

In the most typical reading, we would supposes that when the king gets his answer that he makes ready to leave. However, this does not entirely explain the text before us. First, this text appears to be part of the original source text rather than Mormon’s extrapolation. If we are seeing a copied original text, then we may consider that the connections between events were sufficiently meaningful to have been written in a particular way. In this case, we know that King Lamoni has already declared himself ready to accompany Ammon. If we see this as no more than a matter of conveyance, then we have a question and answer with little relevance tossed into an otherwise natural sequence. The entire question about how Ammon knew, and the answer, would have no response from the king, except to continue to do what he was going to do already. This diminishes the power of the question, and the impact of the answer. If we see horses and chariots as only conveyances, then the response of the King to this important question would be the equivalent of “oh, OK, let’s go then.” That is hardly the answer that one would expect of a man who has just had such an overpowering experience with Ammon’s God.

If we remember that a candidate for “horses and chariots” is a ritual conveyance carrying symbols of deity, then we have a very different, and much more appropriate response from King Lamoni. When he learns the source of the knowledge, he readies a special conveyance with high ritual significance, one that would be appropriate not only for a visiting king, but one on a mission from God. In this reading, the king actually would be changing his response to more appropriately fit the response he had just received from Ammon. This is much more in character with the king that virtually ignoring the response.

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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