Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Ammon
So I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day about the story of Ammon and the sheep (Alma 17). I used to find this passage funny. According to Mormon, the theives' reaction to getting their arms cut off is that they "began to become astonished." I could just picture them: a mean thief runs up to Ammon with a club, gets his arm whacked off, stumbles backward, and says, "Hey! He chopped my arm off! I'm beginning to become astonished!"
But this time I found the passage disturbing. Ammon is a righteous man, and his whole purpose in being there is to teach the Lamanites to keep the commandments of God, one of the most important of which is "Thou shalt not kill." Yet he kills seven of them with seemingly no more provocation than their scattering his sheep (and stealing a few of them, no doubt). I'll buy that the one he killed with his sword--the leader--was truly self-defense, because at that point they were all running at him with their clubs (and arms) raised. But what about the six he killed with his sling? A sling by its nature is a long-distance weapon, and if these thieves had had long-distance weapons themselves, you can bet they wouldn't have risked their arms by attacking him with their clubs.
My guess is that there is a lot of the story that Mormon just cut out (there are a lot of stories like that). One moment, we have Ammon telling his fellow servants to be of good cheer; the next, he's pegging them with his sling. I wonder what really happened to make Ammon feel (and be) justified in killing them at that point. It would take quite a bit to get me to do that, and Ammon is a better man than I.
Fictitious adaptation, anyone?
But this time I found the passage disturbing. Ammon is a righteous man, and his whole purpose in being there is to teach the Lamanites to keep the commandments of God, one of the most important of which is "Thou shalt not kill." Yet he kills seven of them with seemingly no more provocation than their scattering his sheep (and stealing a few of them, no doubt). I'll buy that the one he killed with his sword--the leader--was truly self-defense, because at that point they were all running at him with their clubs (and arms) raised. But what about the six he killed with his sling? A sling by its nature is a long-distance weapon, and if these thieves had had long-distance weapons themselves, you can bet they wouldn't have risked their arms by attacking him with their clubs.
My guess is that there is a lot of the story that Mormon just cut out (there are a lot of stories like that). One moment, we have Ammon telling his fellow servants to be of good cheer; the next, he's pegging them with his sling. I wonder what really happened to make Ammon feel (and be) justified in killing them at that point. It would take quite a bit to get me to do that, and Ammon is a better man than I.
Fictitious adaptation, anyone?
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