You can read the entire chapter here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/20?lang=eng.
Ammon has just been the means by which the Lord has miraculously changed the entire trajectory of a kingdom. The hearts of many Lamanites are now softened and open to the word of God with King Lamoni, his wife, and many others in the land of Ishmael.
This chapter begins with Lamoni expressing a desire to introduce Ammon to his father, who is king over all the Lamanite lands. This seems quite natural. After having such a life-changing experience with Ammon as his guide and mentor, Lamoni seeks to share this new knowledge with his own father and almost certainly has hope that his father will accept the truth as he has, and open even more Lamanite territory and hearts to the teachings of Ammon and his fellow missionaries (verse 1).
There’s only one thing wrong with Lamoni’s idea. The Lord has other plans for Ammon. In fact, He warns Ammon that if he goes to the land of Nephi, where Lamoni’s father rules, the father will seek his life. Instead, the Lord commands Ammon to go to the land of Middoni, where Ammon is told his brother Aaron and Aaron’s companions Muloki and Ammah are imprisoned (verses 2-3).
As this chapter and the next few chapters unfold, we gain some better understanding of why the Lord commands Ammon to avoid Lamoni’s father and go to Middoni. But there isn’t a full explanation for why Ammon couldn’t simply “rinse and repeat” his approach to Lamoni with Lamoni’s father, other than that what works for one person doesn’t for someone else. It seems as though Lamoni’s father’s heart needed to be softened in a different way.
Lamoni is so loyal to Ammon that he decides if Ammon is going to Middoni, he will go with him to help him find favor in the eyes of the king there, which could be crucial if Ammon is trying to get his brother and friends released. And so they start their journey together (verses 4-7).
And who, of all people, should they meet on their way? Lamoni’s father, the very person they had been discussing earlier (verse 8). We never learn why Lamoni’s father was traveling. Was he searching specifically for Lamoni, or was he on some other errand?
Based on the father’s attitude, I wonder if he may have been very specifically searching out his son, and nursing a grudge against him. When they meet unexpectedly, Lamoni’s father basically asks him, “Why didn’t you come to the special feast I held for you and your brothers, and for all our people? And why on earth do I find you traveling with this Nephite, who we know must be a liar and terrible person because of his people?” It’s possible the father had already spent days or weeks letting feelings of offense and hurt fester within himself, and now confronted with this picture of Lamoni choosing to spend time with—of all people—a Nephite (Ammon) instead of him, he’s really angry (verses 9-10).
Lamoni makes an effort to explain what has occurred. His entire life has been transformed by Ammon coming into the picture, and these events sidetracked Lamoni from being able to attend his father’s feast (verses 11-12). But what has taken place is something very personal and has happened within the internal workings of Lamoni’s mind and heart. It can often be very difficult to communicate a change of heart, however wondrous, to someone who has not experienced the same events, and especially when that person is very committed to an established way of doing things. Lamoni’s father is very invested in the established order, as the ruler over the entire Lamanite kingdom.
Lamoni is astonished that his father doesn’t soften up after he provides his explanation (verse 13). We have already seen Lamoni soften, and so we have a sense of what is going on inside his mind. But we also saw that it took some pretty miraculous things to happen before Lamoni and his wife were converted. So it’s probably more surprising that Lamoni thought a simple explanation would suddenly turn his father’s thinking around, than the fact that this didn’t happen.
His father is totally unmoved, and seems to believe that his son has been foolishly duped into allying himself with Ammon. Feeling like his son needs some stern reminders of where his true loyalties should naturally lie, the father instructs Lamoni to kill Ammon and come with him (verse 14).
This is where the drama really heats up. The son’s conviction is being tested, and we know it is much deeper than his father thinks. Lamoni says, “Dad, I’m not coming with you, and I’m not turning against Ammon” (verse 15).
The father’s rage is kindled against his son, and it looks like he might even try to kill him with his sword. But Ammon steps between them and uses his prodigious strength, undoubtedly with heavenly help, to wound Lamoni’s father. Ammon also warns him that because Lamoni is now right with God, it is he (the father) who is actually in greater danger spiritually, because if he dies without repenting, and especially if he kills his innocent son, he would be tormented forever (verses 16-20).
A combination of fear and wonder grips Lamoni’s father. Having no real choice but to submit to Ammon, he is amazed further by the Nephite’s mercy and modest demands toward him. Instead of seeking to pressure the father into surrendering part of his kingdom, Ammon merely wants freedom for his companions held in prison in Middoni, and for Lamoni to be able to think and act for himself and his own kingdom. Ammon’s selflessness so surprises Lamoni’s father, and challenges his preconceptions about the “evil” Nephites, that he not only meets all of Ammon’s demands, but goes beyond that to ask Ammon and his companions to visit him in his capital so that he learn more about what makes them so powerful and so moral at the same time (verses 21-27).
Lamoni and Ammon proceed from there to Middoni, and they are
able to secure the release of Ammon’s companions from captivity. These
missionaries had been ill-treated from the start, and after being mocked and
beaten in various places, had been bound, imprisoned, and subject to hunger,
thirst and many other privations (verses 28-30).
