Alma 26:1-29:17

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 27

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Lexical notes

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Exegesis

The Lamanites regard Ammon and his brothers as “angels sent from God to save them from everlasting destruction” (Alma 27: 4). Knowing the conversion story of the sons of Mosiah as they undoubtedly did, the Lamanite converts consciously complimented Mosiah's sons who brought them to Christ and thus saved them by equating these missionaries with the angel sent by God to save them and their friend Alma. Being equated with the angel who saved them and Alma must have deeply touched Ammon and his brothers who fully understood how much they owed that angel. Perhaps this is why the compliment is mentioned twice in Mormon’s summary of the narrative they handed down to him (Alma 24:14, 27:4). In effect, the Lamanites were saying to Ammon and his brothers "you are our angel!" For both those who gave it and those who received it, this must have seemed to be one of the greatest compliments that could be given. This compliment mentioned here adjacent to Ammon’s cri de coeur in chapter 26 may also have partly occasioned Alma’s well known cri de coeur two chapters later, “O that I were an angel” (Alma 29: 1), for Alma’s no less diligent missionary efforts seem to have borne less fruit than the efforts of his friends, the sons of Mosiah, though ironically, Alma also was repeatedly given the priveledge of standing in the place of the angel who played such an important role in saving him, e.g., in Alma 8:14-15 where that angel commissions him to return to Ammonihah and convey a message the angel gives him in these verses. (See also the exegesis for Alma 24:14 and Alma 29:1.)

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