Ammonites (Book of Mormon)
Encyclopedia
According to the Book of Mormon
, the Ammonites were a group of Lamanites who had been converted to the Christian religion of the Nephite
s by the missionary efforts of Ammon
and his brothers. They rejected the traditions of their fathers and embraced the traditions of the Nephites. To distinguish themselves from the Lamanites, they took upon themselves the name Anti-Nephi-Lehies. The name refers to the original leaders that lead their family out of Jerusalem and, guided by God, traveled to the Americas: Nephi and his father Lehi. In the usage here, "Anti" means "to imitate".
Prior to their conversion, the Ammonites were Lamanites, traditional enemies of the Nephites, and they had taken part in wars and battles against the Nephites. Following their conversion, they felt that their past sins were so great that they took a vow to never shed blood again and to avoid all forms of warfare, even in their own defense. To indicate the serious covenant they were making to this end, they buried all their weapons deep in the ground.
Forced from their homeland by their former Lamanite brethren, the Ammonites were re-located to the Nephite land of Jershon and the Nephites took up their defense in their behalf. The Ammonites, in return, provided provisions and material to help support the Nephite armies. When the Nephite and Lamanite nations entered into escalated warfare, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies volunteered to help the Nephites fight. Helaman
, who was the leader of the church at that time, forbade them from doing so for fear that God would punish them for breaking their oath. Instead, they sent their sons who had not taken their oath to fight under the command of Helaman. This group was called the two thousand stripling warriors
.
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
, the Ammonites were a group of Lamanites who had been converted to the Christian religion of the Nephite
Nephite
According to the Book of Mormon, a Nephite is a member of one of the four main groups of settlers of the ancient Americas. The other three groups are the Lamanites, Jaredites and Mulekites. In the Book of Mormon, the Nephites were a group of people descended from or associated with Nephi, the...
s by the missionary efforts of Ammon
Ammon (Book of Mormon)
This article is about the prominent Book of Mormon missionary. For the Book of Mormon explorer, see Ammon Ammon is a missionary in the Mormon religious text, Book of Mormon and a contemporary of Alma the Younger. The Book of Mosiah describes his original antipathy toward the Nephite Church of God...
and his brothers. They rejected the traditions of their fathers and embraced the traditions of the Nephites. To distinguish themselves from the Lamanites, they took upon themselves the name Anti-Nephi-Lehies. The name refers to the original leaders that lead their family out of Jerusalem and, guided by God, traveled to the Americas: Nephi and his father Lehi. In the usage here, "Anti" means "to imitate".
Prior to their conversion, the Ammonites were Lamanites, traditional enemies of the Nephites, and they had taken part in wars and battles against the Nephites. Following their conversion, they felt that their past sins were so great that they took a vow to never shed blood again and to avoid all forms of warfare, even in their own defense. To indicate the serious covenant they were making to this end, they buried all their weapons deep in the ground.
Forced from their homeland by their former Lamanite brethren, the Ammonites were re-located to the Nephite land of Jershon and the Nephites took up their defense in their behalf. The Ammonites, in return, provided provisions and material to help support the Nephite armies. When the Nephite and Lamanite nations entered into escalated warfare, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies volunteered to help the Nephites fight. Helaman
Helaman
According to the Book of Mormon, Helaman was a Nephite prophet and soldier who lived around the 1st century BC. He is perhaps best known in LDS theology for leading into battle an army of two thousand young warriors, which he referred to as his two thousand sons...
, who was the leader of the church at that time, forbade them from doing so for fear that God would punish them for breaking their oath. Instead, they sent their sons who had not taken their oath to fight under the command of Helaman. This group was called the two thousand stripling warriors
Two thousand stripling warriors
The two thousand stripling warriors, also known as The Army of Helaman, were an army of young men in the Book of Mormon, first mentioned in the Book of Alma They were extremely valiant and loyal warriors who were all reportedly wounded at one time or another, but none ever died from their...
.