Amnon

“ Here the myth of the love of the Sun for the Fruit has been transferred to Amnon, a perfect unmythical personage. But Tamar is here quite the same as the personage whose connexion with Judah is described in Genesis; although in the legend of Amnon and Tamar it is Amnon who pursues Tamar, whereas in that of Judah and Tamar the intriguer and seducer is Tamar. When people in ancient times perceived the fruit of the tree gradually change its colour till the autumn-sun shone on it, after which it fell down ripe, they saw in this a love-affair between the Sun and Fruit, which ended with their union. ”

“ When the king was returned to Jerusalem, a sad misfortune befell his house, on the occasion following: He had a daughter, who was yet a virgin, and very handsome, insomuch that she surpassed all the most beautiful women; her name was Tamar; she had the same mother with Absalom. Now Amnon, David's eldest son, fell in love with her, and being not able to obtain his desires, on account of her virginity, and the custody she was under, was so much out of order, nay, his grief so eat up his body, that he grew lean, and his color was changed. ”

“ Amnon's outrage upon Tamar, the slaying of Amnon by Absalom and his flight to the king of Geshur, his return to Jerusalem, his rising against David, with its issues, and the tumult of Sheba (2 Sam 13-20) ; ) ; and, finally, also omits the thanksgiving psalm and the last words of David (2 Sam 22:1-23:7) . Then (b) in the history of Solomon there have been left unrecorded the attempt of Adonijah to usurp the throne, with the anointing of Solomon at Gihon, which it brought about; David's last command in reference to Joab and Shimei; the punishment of these men and of Adonijah ”

“ Repulsed by Tamar, for he knows not what reason, Amnon leaves Jerusalem, despair in his heart.
All is not lost yet. Maltreated by his own son and plagued by remorse, Achan confesses his misdeeds to the alleged Azrikam, and reveals his real origin to him. Furious, Azrikam thinks of nothing but to get rid of his father. He sets his father's house afire, but, before his death, Achan makes a confession to the court. Everything is disclosed, and everything is cleared up. Tamar, now made aware of the error she has committed, is inconsolable at having separated from Amnon. ”

“ Nay, in the [376] other extreme, we find him, in another place, talking of the martyrdom of Stephen, so many ages after; and, if so famous an author can forget his own rules of unity, time, and place, I hope you'll give a minor poet some grains of allowance."
Sir E. Godfrey's murder is disguised under that of Amnon, Tamar's rape being explained the discovery of the plot:
Baal's cabinet intrigues he open spread ”

“ But in the time in which our translation was made, Biblical criticism was in its infancy, if indeed it did exist; and we may rather wonder that we find things so well, than be surprised that they are no better.
Chapter 13 Introduction
Amnon falls in love with his half-sister Tamar, and feigns himself sick, and requests her to attend him, [220] . David sends her to him, and he violates her, [221] . He then hates her, and expels her from his house, [222] , She rends her garments, puts ashes on her head, and goes forth weeping, [223] , [224] . ”

“ Who to Ammon lifts his hands.
To the full of my endeavor,
With a willing heart forever,
I have acted unto you,
And to you, great God, I call;
For behold! now, Ammon, I,
In the midst of many peoples, all unknown,
Unnumbered as the sand,
Here I stand,
All alone;
There is no one at my side,
My warriors and chariots afeared,
Have deserted me, none heard
My voice, when to the cravens I, their king, for succor, cried. ”

“ While the voice resounds in Hermonthis, Amon arises at my behest, he stretches out his hand to me, and I cry out with joy when he hails me from behind: ‘Face to face with thee, face to face with thee, Ramses Miamun, I am with thee! It is I, thy father! My hand is with thee, and I am worth more to thee than hundreds of thousands. I am the strong one who loves valour; I have beheld in thee a courageous heart, and my heart is satisfied; my will is about to be accomplished!’ I am like Montû; from the right I shoot with the dart, from the left I seize the enemy. ”

“ But I find that Ammon's grace
Is better far to me
Than a million fighting men and ten thousand chariots be.
Yea, better than ten thousand, be they brother, be they son,
When with hearts that beat like one,
Together for to help me they are gathered in one place.
The might of men is nothing, it is Ammon who is lord,
What has happened here to me is according to your word,
And I will not now trangress your command;
But alone, as here I stand,
To you my cry I send,
Unto earth's extremest end,
Saying, 'Help me, father Ammon, against the Hittite horde."' ”

“ Seizing heavy clubs, a number of the Lamanites rushed at Ammon to kill him; but he was too smart for them. He grasped his sword and melded it with such skill that he slew their leader and also cut an arm off every man who raised his club against him. The rest fled in terror. Then Ammon returned, and, with his companions, attended to the watering of their master's flocks.
When King Lamoni heard what Ammon had done he was greatly astonished and exclaimed, "This is the Great Spirit, and he has come down at this time to preserve your lives, that I might not slay you as I did your brethren." ”

“ Ammon and his comrades lost no time in making their way to the city. But just as they were about to enter it they were seized by several men—guards of the king—and taken off to prison. The men who arrested Ammon and his brethren did not know who they were: they thought they were spies sent out by the Lamanites.
The next day Ammon and his three companions were brought before King Limhi. The king asked them who they were, and when Ammon told him they were his brethren, and that they had come from Zarahemla in search of him and his people, Limhi rejoiced and praised the Lord. ”

“ The entirely unexpected assassination of King Amon, of Judah, in the year 639, surprised and appalled the entire country, as well as Jerusalem, the capital.
King Amon had succeeded his father, Manasseh, to the throne of Judah but two years before. He had had no chance to show the character of man he was and the type of a ruler he would be, and yet, without apparent knowledge on anybody's part that a conspiracy was brewing among the princes of the royal palace itself, Amon's life was snatched away in a most cruel manner. ”

“ The light-toed villain gained upon me every yard, the clink of gold grew nearer, louder, every moment, until there could not have been twenty yards between us, and I could even hear his hissing breath. At any moment now the poisonous prick might come. The thought was unendurable. Better turn round and face sure death than wait for it to strike me from behind, I knew not when.
With this thought in my head, I leapt aside, and such was Ammon's speed that he had gone flying past a good ten yards ere he could stop himself; then, as he turned, I drew my sword out and rushed at him. ”

“ Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the earth; but I do not know the heavens.
30 And Ammon said unto him: The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels.
31 And king Lamoni said: Is it above the earth?
32 And Ammon said: Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning.
33 And king Lamoni said: I believe all these things which thou hast spoken. Art thou sent from God?
34 Ammon said unto him: I am a man ”

“ Ammon went and asked the Lord, who said to him,
"Get this people out of this land, so they will not be killed, for Satan has a great hold upon the hearts of the Amalekites. They have stirred up the Lamanites to be angry enough to kill their brethren, so take them out of this land. This generation of people are blessed, for I will preserve them." Then Ammon told King Anti-Nephi-Lehi everything that the Lord had told him. ”

“ Here Tubal Ammon laughed (or barked, were a truer name for it) and said:
"'Tis well; now we are quits, methinks, for each hath what he sorely wanted. As for your poverty, most worthy chaplain, I would right gladly barter it for mine. Yea, friend, I always thought you rich, yet was not sure of it; and now that it is clearly proven--now I learn that thou art poor! Enough; we never know the truth. Docendo discimus. Pardon such faulty Latin. But, what say you, shall we now let go a psalm upon the night? Truly, our voices are a trifle cracked, but yet methinks 'twould make a fine duetto. Hark you! ”

“ Ye are permitted to speak.
12 And now, when Ammon saw that he was permitted to speak, he went forth and bowed himself before the king; and rising again he said: O king, I am very thankful before God this day that I am yet alive, and am permitted to speak; and I will endeavor to speak with boldness;
13 For I am assured that if ye had known me ye would not have suffered that I should have worn these bands. For I am Ammon, and am a descendant of Zarahemla, and have come up out of the land of Zarahemla to inquire concerning our brethren, whom Zeniff brought up out of that land. ”

“ Little used to controversy, much less to direct opposition, the king was not softened by Ammon's interference. Savagely he turned upon him, but youth, strength, dexterity, and above all the protecting care of the Lord, were with Ammon, and he struck the king's sword arm so heavy a blow that it fell useless at his side. Realizing he was now in the power of the man he had so foully abused, he made abundant promises, even to half his kingdom, if his life were spared. This boon Ammon immediately granted, asking only favors for Lamoni and his own imprisoned brethren. ”

“ Ammon says to the king: "My heart is glad, that I have seen thy victories. I have granted that the nations of the South shall be defeated and come to thee, and the nations of the North shall be subject to the greatness of thy name. Their kings throw themselves on the belly, for they are stricken to the ground in their vallies. I have known the splendour of thy thoughts; thou hast carried out the work of my temple at Thebes, the brilliant place, which my heart loves ”

“ It is true that with the displacement of the capital town certain local deities attained a degree of power that, superficially regarded, seems to alter the entire perspective of the religion. Thus Ammon, originally the obscure local god of Thebes, was raised by the Theban monarchs of the XIIth and of the XVIIIth to XXIst Dynasties to a predominant position never equalled by any other divinity; and, by similar means, Suchos of the Fayum, Ubasti of Bubastis, and Neith of Sais, each enjoyed for a short space of time a consideration that no other cause would have secured to them. ”

“ Of all the temple estates, Amon owned two-thirds. In slaves, this god owned seven times as many as any other; of the cattle, more than four-fifths; of the ships, all but five; of the workshops, forty-six of the fifty-three were his. Regarding Amon's coffers, Ramses had inscribed: "I have filled its treasury with the products of the land of Egypt: gold, silver, every costly stone by the hundred thousand. Its granary was overflowing with barley and wheat; its lands, its herds, their multitudes were like the sands of the shore. I taxed for it the Southland as well as the Northland ”

“ Ammon, or Amen: "the hidden," a deity of the Egyptian Thebes; generally associated in attributes with some other god. As Amen-Ra he is the king of Theban gods, the divinity of the sun. He is of human form; rarely with a goat's head, as represented by the Greeks. He corresponds to the Greek Zeus. As Amen-Khem he is the god of productivity, and is represented with a flail in his hand. ”

“ Ammon perceiving this, placed the servants at various points on the outside of the flocks and he himself went forward to contend with the robbers. Though they were many, he knew he was more powerful than them all, for God was with him. The idea of one man withstanding so many was supremely ridiculous to the robbers. ”

“ Ammon replied, "that you allow your son Lamoni to retain his kingdom, and that you have my brethren released from prison."
To that the old king willingly agreed. Ammon's brethren were given their liberty, and they and their companions traveled for years among the Lamanites preaching to them the everlasting Gospel. Thousands of the Lamanites were converted to the Lord, and they remained true to the faith all the days of their life. They became a kind and industrious people, and the Lord in His mercy took the curse away from them, so that they became white like the Nephites. ”

“ Now the blessed Ammon was living by himself in the country of Nitria, and they brought unto him a certain young man who had been seized with madness and he was bound with chains; a mad dog had bitten him, and the madness of the animal had entered into him, and his body was torn by the severe pain which was in it. And when the blessed man saw that the relatives of the young man were making supplication unto him, he said unto them, “What are ye bringing to me, O men? Ye are seeking from me what is greater than my power, and besides it lieth in your own hands to help and to heal the young man. ”

“ Or maybe the plates will tell us about the very people who were destroyed. I am very curious to know how they were destroyed."
Ammon replied, "I know of a man who can translate ancient records by simply looking at them through what are called interpreters. This is a gift from God. No man can look into them unless commanded to, or else he would look for what he should not, and perish. Whoever is commanded to look into them is called a seer, or one who sees. ”