The Faithfulness of Ammon

The Lamanite mission became a phenomenal success because of the singleness of Ammon's vision as leader of the mission—his faithfulness to the Lord, his love for Lamoni and the Lamanites, and his total self-abnegation. In this paper I will show how the account of the Lamanite conversions in Alma 17-27 evidences intriguing parallels and contrasts between Ammon's and David's biographies. One of the most striking of these is Lamoni s words regarding Ammon's “faithfulness” in Alma 18:10, which recall Abimelech’s words regarding David’s faithfulness in 1 Samuel 22:14 almost verbatim. I will further suggest that the description of Ammon's “faithfulness” in Alma 18:10 constitutes a wordplay on Ammon's name, emphasizing that his missionary approach was the perfect remedy for Lamanite unbelief.